The Centro de Interpretação do Geoparque de Arouca in the town centre is the starting point for understanding what makes this landscape unusual. The permanent exhibition explains the geopark's geology in accessible terms: how the region formed as ancient seafloor sediment, why the trilobites are so large and so well preserved, and what the landscape looked like 465 million years ago.
Casts of the largest trilobite slabs are on display alongside information about the palaeontology of the region. The centre also sells tour tickets to the Canelas fossil sites, where the actual outcrops can be seen in situ — visiting both gives a much better sense of scale than the museum alone. The Canelas site itself requires a short walk over rough terrain; sturdy shoes are worth wearing. The centre is closed on Mondays.