Gerês helipads and mountain rescue

Terras de Bouro, the municipality at the heart of Peneda-Gerês National Park, wants two helicopter landing sites to speed up rescues in the Gerês mountains: one restored at Pedra Bela and a new certified site by the Caniçada reservoir. The mayor has asked the Portuguese government for help to build them. The plan is a reminder of something every visitor should know: on the park’s trails, help can be hours away on foot.

At a glance

• Who: Terras de Bouro municipality, led by mayor Manuel Tibo
• What: restore the abandoned helipad at Pedra Bela; create a certified rescue landing site near Alqueirão beach, Vilar da Veiga, on the Caniçada reservoir
• Status: proposal only — first meeting held with ANAC, the national civil aviation authority; government support requested
• Costs and timeline: not yet announced
• In an emergency: call 112
• Last checked: 26 October 2026

Ten hours to carry one hiker out

In August 2024, a woman hurt her knee while walking with a group of ten, including three children, in the Gavieira area of Arcos de Valdevez, inside the national park. The alert reached the fire brigade at 19:10. A seven-person rescue team, nurse included, took about four and a half hours over trails and rocky ground just to reach her. Carrying her back on a stretcher, in the dark, took more than five hours. The whole operation lasted almost ten hours.

Nobody was at fault. A twisted knee is one of the most ordinary hiking accidents there is. But in Gerês, ordinary accidents happen in steep, roadless granite country, and getting people out on foot is slow, hard work for the rescuers.

How often the mountain calls for help

The GNR, Portugal’s national guard, keeps a mountain search and rescue post in Terras de Bouro. According to figures released by the GNR in August 2026, its emergency and rescue unit carried out 118 operations in Peneda-Gerês between 2024 and mid-2026: 60 in 2024, 53 in 2025 and 5 in the first half of 2026. Most were rescues, searches, first aid and help to stranded drivers; some ended with the recovery of a body.

That post is the Gerês Mountain Search and Rescue Post (Posto de Busca e Resgate em Montanha do Gerês), formally created on 1 June 2021 and based at the Centro de Animação Turística in Terras de Bouro. It belongs to the GNR’s Emergency, Protection and Rescue Unit (UEPS) and specialises in search and rescue in mountain terrain. Having a dedicated team based inside the park, rather than one sent from elsewhere, has made a real difference: its work has been widely praised and has greatly improved readiness to respond in Peneda-Gerês.

Those numbers count only the GNR. Volunteer fire brigades from the park’s municipalities, such as Arcos de Valdevez and Ponte da Barca in the case above, carry out many rescues of their own.

The helipad plan

The proposal was made public on 19 October 2026, during Terras de Bouro’s 512th municipal anniversary, and reported by Jornal de Notícias. It has two parts:

• Pedra Bela — bring back into use a helipad at Pedra Bela in Gerês, the area of the well-known viewpoint of the same name, which has been abandoned for several years.
• Caniçada reservoir — build a new, certified landing site for rescue operations near Alqueirão beach in Vilar da Veiga, on the shore of the Caniçada reservoir. The municipality has already met ANAC, the national civil aviation authority, to study the site.

The mayor, Manuel Tibo, who also chairs the Braga district civil protection commission, argues that an area with a national park and so many visitors needs a stronger response. He also suggested stationing a rescue aircraft at Braga aerodrome, without taking resources away from existing bases in Fafe or Famalicão. Portugal’s Minister of Internal Administration, Luís Neves, who attended the ceremony, said he would study the options. No costs or dates have been announced.

Where medical helicopters come from today

Portugal’s medical emergency service, INEM, has four helicopters on call 24 hours a day, plus a fifth in reserve since April 2026. Their permanent bases are in Loulé, Évora, Viseu and Macedo de Cavaleiros. None is in the Minho, the region that includes Peneda-Gerês.

A helicopter is only part of the answer. It also needs somewhere safe to land close to the casualty and to a road. That is the gap the two Terras de Bouro sites aim to fill.

Plan as if help is hours away

Helipads may come. Until they do — and even after — the best rescue is the one that never has to happen. The GNR’s advice for mountain areas comes down to a few habits:

• Don’t walk alone. Tell someone your route and when you expect to be back.
• Check the route and the weather before you go. Get up-to-date trail information and postpone if the forecast is bad. Check IPMA, Portugal’s weather institute.
• Choose a walk that matches your fitness, and start early enough to finish in daylight.
• Wear proper footwear and clothing, and carry rain gear, an extra layer, a hat, sunglasses and sun cream.
• Pack the essentials: a fully charged phone, a map or GPS, a whistle, a torch with spare batteries, an emergency blanket, a first aid kit, and enough water and food.
• Remember mobile coverage can be patchy in the park’s valleys. Download maps offline before you set out.

What to do in an emergency

1. Call 112, the European emergency number. It works from any phone in Portugal and calls are free.
2. Say where you are as precisely as you can: trail name, nearest village, and your phone’s GPS coordinates if you can read them.
3. Stay together and stay put unless you are in immediate danger. Rescuers find people faster when they don’t move.
4. Keep warm and save your battery. Put on extra layers, use the emergency blanket and switch off apps you don’t need.

Sources

• Jornal de Notícias — Terras de Bouro wants two helipads in Gerês to improve rescue (19 Oct 2026, in Portuguese)
• GNR — GNR provides protection and rescue in mountain areas, with more than 400 UEPS interventions since 2024 (13 Aug 2026, in Portuguese)
• 24noticias — GNR records more than 400 interventions in mountain areas since 2024 (13 Aug 2026, in Portuguese)
• Notícias ao Minuto — Woman rescued on a Gerês trail; operation lasted almost 10 hours (6 Aug 2024, in Portuguese)
• Euronews — INEM helicopters over Portugal ready to take off in three minutes (30 Jul 2026)
• IPMA — Portuguese Institute for Sea and Atmosphere

The Gerês mountains are wild because they are hard to reach. That is what makes them worth the walk, and what makes rescue so slow. Better landing sites would bring help closer. Good planning keeps you from needing it.