Serra da Lousã Biological Park

The Serra da Lousã Biological Park lies at Quinta da Paiva, in Miranda do Corvo, on the lower slopes of the Serra da Lousã in the district of Coimbra. It covers about 33,000 square metres of National Ecological Reserve land and has been open since 2009. It belongs to Fundação ADFP, a social solidarity foundation based in the town, which describes it as the most complete collection of Portuguese wildlife.

Paths shaded by chestnuts, oaks and strawberry trees lead past enclosures set inside the woodland. The park keeps around 68 animal species, among them Iberian wolf, lynx, otter, fox, wild boar, red and fallow deer, owls and other birds of prey, as well as the brown bear, which no longer lives wild in Portugal. Several residents are animals that cannot go back to the wild, such as a raven received in 2026 from the Montejunto wildlife recovery centre.

A teaching farm keeps native Portuguese breeds of goat, sheep, horse, donkey, cattle, rabbit and chicken. The grounds also hold a riding centre, a reptile house, a maze of fruit trees, a living museum of traditional arts and crafts with workshops, a cooperage museum and the Espaço da Mente ecomuseum. On some summer evenings there are guided night visits by lantern light, by booking, to look for genets, badgers and foxes.

The park is run as a social business: it was set up to create jobs for people with disabilities or mental illness, who take part in looking after the animals, and visitor income supports the foundation's social work. An investment backed by Turismo de Portugal provides for renewable energy points with interactive monitoring, electric vehicles for visitors with reduced mobility and a new information centre.

Miranda do Corvo is about 30 kilometres from Coimbra. The Metrobus from Coimbra stops in the town, and the park is a walk from there. The park is open every day; visits are self-guided or, for groups, guided by appointment.