Castro Marim Salt Flats

Park

The Reserva Natural do Sapal de Castro Marim e Vila Real de Santo Antonio protects 2,312 hectares of salt marsh, salt pans and wetland along the Guadiana river estuary at the Algarve's eastern extremity, hard against the Spanish border. The reserve was created in 1975 and encompasses both working salt pans and abandoned pans that have reverted to natural marsh habitat.

Salt production in this area dates back to the Phoenicians and has continued without interruption for over two thousand years. The traditional method involves channelling seawater into shallow clay-lined pans where it evaporates under the summer sun, leaving behind crystals of sea salt and the prized flor de sal, the thin crust of crystals that forms on the surface and is harvested by hand. Several producers within the reserve offer tours and sell their salt directly.

The wetland habitats support significant populations of waterbirds. Flamingos are present year-round, their numbers peaking in late summer when flocks of several hundred gather on the salt pans. Avocets, black-winged stilts, spoonbills, herons and egrets feed across the marshes, while ospreys and marsh harriers patrol overhead. The reserve is also home to the Mediterranean chameleon, a protected species found in Portugal only in the eastern Algarve and parts of the Alentejo coast.

Castro Marim itself is dominated by a thirteenth-century castle that overlooks the marshes and the Guadiana river. The castle hosts an annual medieval festival in August, and the town's quiet streets and traditional restaurants offer a marked contrast to the resort towns further west.