() is a mountain range in Portugal, formerly included in the province of . The highest point in the range is the at , which has views over the , the Mondego River valley and the Atlantic Ocean.

In 2026, the Bussaco National Forest () received international certification as a , thus becoming the first site of its kind certified on the Iberian Peninsula and the fourth worldwide.

History The includes the buildings of a secularized Carmelite monastery, founded in 1628. The convent woods have long been known for their cypress, plane, evergreen oak, cork and other forest trees, many of which have stood for centuries and attained an immense size. A bull of Pope Gregory XV (1623), anathematizing trespassers and forbidding women to approach, is inscribed on a tablet at the main entrance; another bull, of Pope Urban VIII (1643), threatens with excommunication any person harming the trees. Located in the northwestern corner is the (Bussaco Forest), an ancient walled arboretum.

Towards the close of the 19th century the became one of the regular halting-places for foreign, and especially for British, tourists, on the overland route between Lisbon and Porto. The Palace Hotel of Bussaco (), built between 1888 and 1905 in an exuberant Neo-Manueline style, still attracts tourists.

In 1873 a monument was erected, on the southern slopes of the , to commemorate the Battle of Bussaco, in which the French, under Marshal Masséna, were defeated by the Anglo-Portuguese Army, under Lord Wellington, on 27 September 1810.

Therapeutic forest In July 2026, the Bussaco National Forest () received international certification as a , awarded on 17 July by the International Certification Office Healing Forest. It became the first site of its kind certified on the Iberian Peninsula and the fourth worldwide, joining the Benedictine Abbey of Göttweig in Austria and two German sites, and . The certificate The designation recognizes natural areas managed for wellness and forest-therapy programs supervised by certified specialists, a practice inspired by the Japanese concept of ().

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