Parque da Cidade

City Park

Around 1916/1918, Ezequiel de Campos acquired land to build a park. In the 1960s, Robert Auzelle’s urbanisation plan reserved this land, but the first conceptual studies only began in 1982. In 1991, construction began based on plans by the landscape architect Sidónio Pardal.
Covering around 80 hectares, the Porto City Park is considered the largest urban park in the country. The green areas spread out over multiple panoramic fields that extend all the way to the edge of the sea, making it unusual anywhere in the world.
The City Park features various habitats that provide shelter to a large diversity of plants and animals. The flora is extremely rich, with over 159 types of trees and shrubs, including exotic species – such as sycamores, and camellias – and indigenous species – such as European oaks, stone pines, common hawthorns and yellow irises. The proximity of the sea, and the lakes and small pools bring a diversity of birds, of which over 18 species have been identified, and amphibians such as newts and Iberian water frogs. Although they are far harder to spot, the park is also home to many micromammals, such as wood-mice and European hedgehogs.