Arcos de Valdevez sits at the edge of the Serra da Peneda, the northern arm of the Peneda-Gerês National Park — Portugal's only national park and one of the least crowded in western Europe. The park covers around 700 square kilometres of granite mountains, river valleys, and oak forest, running along the Spanish border from the Lima valley north to the Minho river.
From Arcos, the road into the park climbs quickly into a landscape of terraced fields, stone villages, and open moorland. The village of Soajo, about 18 kilometres east, is worth visiting for its extraordinary communal granite granaries (espigueiros) arranged on a rocky hilltop above the village. The Castro Laboreiro plateau, further north, offers serious walking across exposed granite upland. The park information office in Arcos can supply maps and trail guides.