Portugal 
In numbers.
75m
Height
OpenStreetMap
0.69m³/s
Average flow
estimate
Feb–Mar
Nov–Dec
Best months
511kW
Water power
estimate
The water at Cascata da Frecha da Mizarela, month by month
It roars from November to March.
The fullest months: from November to March. The thinnest: from June to September.
- 1.6 m³/sJan
- 1.3 m³/sFeb
- 1.3 m³/sMar
- 1.1 m³/sApr
- 0.7 m³/sMay
- 0.3 m³/sJun
- 0.2 m³/sJul
- 0.1 m³/sAug
- 0.2 m³/sSep
- 1.0 m³/sOct
- 1.5 m³/sNov
- 1.5 m³/sDec
From about 0.13 m³/s in the lowest month to 1.6 m³/s in the highest. Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: from February to March and from November to December.
Estimate: the timing comes from rain, snowmelt and evaporation (NASA POWER, 1991–2020); the amounts from the river model of HydroATLAS (WaterGAP, 1971–2000). Dams upstream can change the real flow.
Cascata da Frecha da Mizarela is a waterfall in Portugal. The water falls 75 m.
Getting there.
- Macieira de Cambranearest town · 7.6 km in a straight line
- Parking 400 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Aerodromo Goncalves Lobato (Viseu Airport) (VSE)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 37 km in a straight lineCar hire at OPO airport (Porto)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From February to March and from November to Decemberbest months to go (estimate)
Plan your visit
Stay, explore and get there
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
How big is it?
How big it really is.
Height of the drop as mapped in OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors). Buildings and the person are drawn at the same scale.
511 kW
About 0.69 m³/s falling 75 m: the power of the water as it drops.
- enough to power about 128 homes, if it were all turned into electricity
Power of falling water = density × gravity × flow × height. Average flow and height as shown above; an estimate.
Seen from the sky.
8 × 8 km of cloud-free satellite image, with what OpenStreetMap knows around the falls.
N
2 km
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 8 × 8 km, north up. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.
The line follows the river as mapped in OpenStreetMap; heights from the 30 m Copernicus model, which smooths narrow drops — the published height of the falls is the one above.
Around the falls the river drops 330 m in 2.9 km. Here the river runs about 142 m below the lower rim of its valley.
What is around.
- 4viewpointsMiradouro do Cabeço da Gralheira, Miradouro da Frecha da Mizarela and 2 more
- 11waymarked walking routesNas Escarpas da Mizarela, Por Montes e Vales de Arouca, Viagem à Pré-história and 8 more
- 8car parks
- 1swimming spotsPraia Fluvial de Albergaria da Serra
- 10picnic sites
- 2toilets
- 7information boards and visitor centres
- —bus stops within 1 km
- 5other named waterfalls within 4 kmCascata das Porqueiras, Cascata do Côto do Boi, Poço do Teixeira and 2 more
- —caves
- 3campsitesParque de Campismo do Merujal, Greenval Parque
- 20hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 kmQuinta do Bôco, Casa da Nininha, Toutuço and 17 more
- 12restaurants and cafés within 3 km
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, up to 2 km around the falls (unless noted). A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet. © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
Towns nearby
- Macieira de Cambra7.6 km in a straight line
- Arouca8.2 km in a straight line
- Vale de Cambra9.4 km in a straight line
- Vila Chã15 km in a straight line
- São Roque16 km in a straight line
- Oliveira de Azemeis16 km in a straight line
- Milheirós de Poiares17 km in a straight line
- São João da Madeira18 km in a straight line
Weather
The weather, month by month.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon °C | 8 | 9 | 12 | 14 | 18 | 23 | 27 | 27 | 24 | 17 | 11 | 8 |
| Night °C | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 9 | 11 | 11 | 9 | 7 | 3 | 0 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 134 | 95 | 114 | 90 | 58 | 33 | 14 | 22 | 47 | 134 | 137 | 120 |
| Wet days | 13 | 10 | 10 | 12 | 10 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 13 | 14 | 13 |
| Sun h/day | 3.8 | 5.5 | 6.4 | 7.9 | 9.6 | 10.4 | 11.3 | 10.5 | 8.8 | 5.8 | 4.4 | 3.9 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (864 m) at −6.5 °C per 1,000 m. Not a forecast.
Photos
Through visitors' eyes.
Recent years
Wet years and dry years
Rain of each month as a share of the 1991–2020 average. A wet season above 100 % usually means a fuller waterfall.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 87% | 32% | 131% | 212% | 112% | 40% | 95% | 207% | 154% | 147% | 118% | 148% |
| 2021 | 110% | 193% | 27% | 117% | 106% | 259% | 40% | 23% | 174% | 57% | 7% | 85% |
| 2022 | 14% | 12% | 100% | 69% | 19% | 118% | 201% | 13% | 169% | 109% | 170% | 188% |
| 2023 | 123% | 11% | 47% | 33% | 73% | 244% | 24% | 9% | 165% | 180% | 113% | 63% |
| 2024 | 91% | 114% | 151% | 74% | 101% | 176% | 97% | 4% | 100% | 122% | 51% | 14% |
| 2025 | 151% | 57% | 135% | 137% | 119% | 48% | 49% | 14% | 83% | 88% | 139% | 111% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Cascata da Frecha da Mizarela
Portugal
- 75 mHeight
- 0.69 m³/sAverage flow
- Feb–Mar, Nov–DecBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q17294194) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Height of the drop | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| River flow and catchment | HydroATLAS / RiverATLAS v1.0 (Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate | NASA POWER, 1991–2020 |
| Relief, river profile, 3D model | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| Paths, viewpoints, parking | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
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