Monumento Natural das Pegadas dos Dinossáurios

Estremadura & Ribatejo


On the N357 10km south of Fátima in the village of Bairro, this extraordinary quarry is one of the most important locations for sauropod prints in the world, with more than a thousand individual prints. Visits start with a 20-minute video in Portuguese, followed by a 1.5km walk around the quarry, first seeing the prints from above then walking among them.

These, the oldest and longest sauropod tracks in the world, record walks in the mud 175 million years ago. The dinos would have been stepping through carbonated mud, later transformed into limestone. As you walk across the slope you can clearly see the large elliptical prints made by the hind feet and the smaller, half-moon prints made by the forefeet.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Estremadura & Ribatejo attractions

1. Museu de Arte Sacra e Etnologia

5.79 MILES

The most interesting of Fátima's several religious exhibitions and museums, this has a wide display of religious art and artefacts from around the world,…

2. Santuário de Fátima

6.04 MILES

It's difficult to believe that a century ago, this was rocky pastureland outside an insignificant village. This vast complex is now one of Catholicism's…

3. Museu de Cera de Fátima

6.25 MILES

It's not exactly Madame Tussauds, but this private museum gives a blow-by-blow, starry-eyed and rather static account of the story of Fátima and the…

4. Grutas de Mira de Aire

6.55 MILES

Portugal’s largest cave system, 14km southeast of Porto de Mós, is very commercial and old-fashioned, although the caves themselves are impressive. The 45…

5. Grutas da Moeda

7.12 MILES

These underground caves, 2km northwest of Fátima, are part of the surrounding limestone massif. They were discovered in 1971 when two hunters chased a fox…

7. Aqueduto de Pegões

8.95 MILES

This astonishing aqueduct, striding towards the monastery from the northwest, was built between 1593 and 1613 to supply water to thirsty monks. Its 180…

8. Convento de Cristo

9.29 MILES

Wrapped in splendour and mystery, the Knights Templar held enormous power in Portugal from the 12th to 16th centuries, and largely bankrolled the Age of…

  • placement: superzone
  • path: Destinations/POIs/superzone
  • possible size: [970, 250], [970, 90], [728, 90], [1, 1],
  • targeting:
    {
      "url": "portugal/parque-natural-das-serras-de-aire-e-candeeiros/attractions/monumento-natural-das-pegadas-dos-dinossaurios/a/poi-sig/1119910/1300087",
      "destination": "Estremadura-&-Ribatejo",
      "continent": "Europe",
      "country": "Portugal",
      "region": "Estremadura-&-Ribatejo",
      "position": "superzone"
    }