São Lourenço do Barrocal
São Lourenço do Barrocal is a 780-hectare, certified organic farm estate near Monsaraz, in the Alentejo, held by the same family for more th…
Nature-based Learning
Lessons the land teaches best: forest-school days at Bosque do Pisco near Estoril, hands-on stays at Terra Alta near Sintra, and living classrooms like Quinta Vale da Lama. Learning by doing, outdoors.
Projects in this focus
ABAE – Associação Bandeira Azul da Europa
ABAAE (Associação Bandeira Azul de Ambiente e Educação) is a national non-profit environmental NGO that runs recognised programmes such as B…
iNature – Turismo de Natureza
iNature is a nature tourism network covering 12 classified natural areas in Central Portugal, with trails, accommodation and outdoor experie…
Aldeias do Xisto
Aldeias do Xisto is a territorial network of 28 schist villages in central Portugal, managed by ADXTUR, offering sustainable tourism, nature…
AlgarvianRoots
AlgarvianRoots is an ecotourism company based in Silves, Algarve, offering guided hikes, e-bike tours, birdwatching and cultural workshops t…
Oriolus Ecotours
Oriolus Ecotours is a Porto-based ecotourism company offering guided birdwatching, wildlife and nature photography tours across the Douro an…
Feel Sustainable
A Portuguese project that combines sustainability, Feng Shui and spirituality to design nature-based experiences, tourism strategies and eco…
Cooperativa Ser Natureza
Cooperativa Ser Natureza, in Terroso, Póvoa de Varzim, works to reconnect people with nature and other species through education, health and…
TERRA Associação de Educação Integral do Minho
TERRA is a non-profit association in Alvarães, Viana do Castelo, founded in 2016. It offers nature-based, integral education for children th…
Eco Life Experience
A sustainable eco-tourism and education platform in Sintra offering workshops, reconnection activities and eco-village experiences that prom…
Ceiba Permacultura
A permaculture education and consultancy initiative based in Vila Nova de Famalicão, Portugal, running courses, workshops and community gard…
Enraizar - Associação de Aprendizagem Comunitária
Enraizar is a non-profit Learning Community in Santo Isidoro, Mafra, that supports children and families through nature-based, participatory…
Casa das Palmeiras
Casa das Palmeiras is a sustainable rural tourism farmhouse in Gandufe, Mangualde, in the Serra da Estrela, with a pedagogical farm, animal-…
Isatour Ecotourism
Isatour is a Biosphere-certified provider of rural accommodation and tourist activities in Adsamo, Vouzela, inside the Vouga-Caramulo Natura…
K-Evolution
K-Evolution is a Portuguese non-profit association, founded in 2013, that promotes sustainability, citizenship and entrepreneurship through …
Sementes - Núcleo de Capacitação Pessoal e Comunitária
Sementes is a Centre for Support to Home Education (Centro de Apoio ao Ensino Doméstico) in Torres Novas. It offers children of mixed ages a…
Bem da Terra
Bem da Terra is a sustainability education space in Portugal offering permaculture design, sensory walks, a food forest and workshops that r…
Bosque do Pisco
A nature and arts space in a small forest inside a quinta in São João do Estoril, with playgroups, family workshops, holiday programmes and …
Associação Margem Esquerda do Guadiana (AMEG)
AMEG is a nonprofit environmental association that works to raise awareness of the natural heritage on the left bank of the Guadiana river i…
Pé Descalço
Pé Descalço is a nature-based learning centre in Porto de Mós, Portugal, offering school visits, traditional workshops, weekly community gat…
Grupo de Aprendizagem Livre
A Waldorf-inspired educational community for homeschooled teenagers in Colares, Sintra, combining academic content with art and experiences …
Novas Descobertas Association
A non-profit near Lagos, Algarve, running educational and regenerative programmes all year that connect people with nature, community and th…
Terra Alta Permaculture
Terra Alta Permaculture is an off-grid permaculture education and research centre in a protected valley near Sintra, Portugal. It runs immer…
Aldeia do Vale
Aldeia do Vale is an agroecological and permaculture project between Sintra and Mafra, Portugal, with courses, workshops and practical exper…
Biovilla Sustentabilidade
Biovilla Sustentabilidade is a sustainable development cooperative on the Herdade de Pinhal Basto in Palmela, combining nature tourism, sust…
Re.Rural – Centro Co.Re
Re.Rural – Centro Co.Re is a Rural Learning Centre in São Luís, a Transition Village in Odemira. It is committed to regenerating rural commu…
Nature-based learning in Portugal
Forest school arrived here late and grew fast, helped by a climate that makes outdoor days possible most of the year and by families who moved to the countryside and then had to answer the schooling question.
Folha Verde runs bilingual natural education in the Benfeita valley near Arganil. Novas Descobertas works with children year-round near Lagos. Biovilla teaches on an estate in Palmela within reach of Lisbon, and Faia Brava takes school groups onto rewilded land in the Côa.
Some are alternative schools, some are an extension of a farm or a reserve, and the legal shape varies as much as the pedagogy, worth asking early. Related focuses: sustainability in schools, community education and eco-tourism and experiential learning. Dated programmes appear on our events calendar.