Falcoaria Real de Salvaterra de Magos

The Falcoaria Real (Royal Falconry) in Salvaterra de Magos is an 18th-century building made for one purpose: keeping and training the hunting birds of the Portuguese royal family. Its official site calls it the only building of its kind in the Iberian Peninsula. Today it is run by Salvaterra de Magos council as a museum where falcons and hawks still live, train and fly, and daily guided visits are free.

Salvaterra is a small town in the Ribatejo, on the flat farmland beside the Tagus. It is an easy trip from Lisbon, and the visit is short enough to fit into a day with other plans.

Visits run at set times with a guide. The official description and visitor comments on the site suggest the usual pattern:

• A short film introduces falconry and the biology of the birds.
• You meet the birds that live at the Falcoaria and hear what species they are and how they hunt.
• In the exhibition rooms, multimedia displays and interactive tables tell the story of falconry from the Neolithic to today, and why it mattered so much in Salvaterra. There are galleries of paintings and photographs, and a virtual game in which the visitor plays a falcon hunting for prey.
• If your visit coincides with a bird’s training time, you watch a free-flight demonstration. The falconer throws a lure, the “falsa presa” or fake prey, and the bird chases it through the air.

The flight is the highlight for most children, so ask when you book which visit time is most likely to include one.

The birds kept here are of the species once used in the royal hunts. The site explains that the Dutch falconers who ran the falconry in the 1700s flew two kinds of bird:

• High-flying falcons (alto-voo), which climb to 600 to 800 metres above open ground and dive on birds flushed by the falconer. The peregrine falcon, the classic high flier, can reach 300 km/h in a dive. Other falcons described on the site include the gyrfalcon from the Arctic tundra, which can weigh 2 kg, the saker falcon of Arab falconry, and the tiny merlin, at about 250 g.
• Low-flying hawks (baixo-voo), which chase prey straight from the falconer’s fist and weave through trees and scrub. These include the goshawk, the sparrowhawk (a goshawk in miniature, the males weighing about 150 g) and the Harris’s hawk from the deserts of Mexico and the southern United States, the most popular bird among falconers today.

A few details from the site that children tend to remember:

• The birds eat once a day, after training, mostly chicken, pigeon and quail meat. The next morning they cough up a pellet of the bones and feathers they couldn’t digest.
• Every bird is weighed every day. A few grams too heavy, and it may not bother coming back to the glove.
• Falconers have their own tools and words: a perch called an alcândora, a leather bag for food, a whistle that always makes the same call, a bath of clean water in the “garden” where the birds rest, and a set of scales.

Kings and queens of Portugal loved hunting, and Salvaterra was one of their favourite places to do it. The royal family had a country palace here, and the court came for hunting trips in the winter months, usually from November to February.

In 1752 about ten falconers arrived from Valkenswaard, a town in the Netherlands famous for falconry, to run the royal falconry and teach their skills. The building was designed under the architect Carlos Mardel in the style used to rebuild Lisbon after the 1755 earthquake, with Dutch influences.

When the royal family fled to Brazil during the French invasions, the falconry started to decline. After Portugal became a republic in 1910, royal property was sold at auction and the building lost its purpose. It was protected as a building of public interest in 1953, bought by the council in the 1980s from its last private owner, the Count of Monte Real, and reopened to the public, fully restored, in September 2009.

Falconry itself is now protected world heritage. UNESCO recognised it as intangible cultural heritage in 2010, and Portuguese falconry was added on 1 December 2016, after a bid led by Salvaterra de Magos council with the University of Évora and the Portuguese Falconry Association.

Children aged about four to seven will enjoy the film, the birds up close and, above all, the flight. The history will mostly pass them by, which is fine.

Children from eight upwards can follow the story of kings, Dutch falconers and a building that nearly disappeared, and the falcon game gives them something to do with their hands.

Teenagers who like animals or history will find more depth here than they expect. In July 2026 the council ran free “Manhãs na Falcoaria” (mornings at the falconry) for 14 to 18 year olds: three hours with the falconers, in groups of five, meeting the birds and learning about their work. Check the site’s news page to see whether it runs again.

The Falcoaria opens Tuesday to Sunday, including public holidays. It is closed on Mondays, Good Friday, Easter Sunday, 1 May, 24, 25 and 31 December and 1 January.

Visits start at fixed times:

• 1 October to 30 April, every day: 9:00, 10:00, 11:00, 14:00, 15:00 and 16:00
• 2 May to 30 September, weekdays: 9:00, 10:00, 11:00, 14:00, 15:00 and 16:00
• 2 May to 30 September, weekends: 10:00, 11:00, 12:00, 15:00, 16:00 and 17:00

The Falcoaria advises booking in advance so you get the day and time you want. Phone 263 509 522 or email falcoaria@cm-salvaterrademagos.pt. The daily visits were free when checked in September 2026.

• Access: the reception and exhibition spaces are step-free, with a lift to the upper exhibition rooms and a platform lift for wheelchairs in the multimedia area. There is no tactile guide path for blind visitors.
• Flights depend on the birds. They fly when it’s their training time, and a bird that isn’t in the mood, or bad weather, can change the plan.
• Quiet please. Birds of prey are easily stressed, so prepare excitable children to use calm voices near the birds.
• Schools: the Falcoaria runs a programme for pre-school to year 9 groups, with close contact with the birds and a flight demonstration. A home-education group could book this way.
• Food: the official site has a local restaurants page, but no café is listed at the Falcoaria itself.

Across the county line, A Apicultora in Coruche offers beekeeping experiences. For more birds, the EVOA wetlands at Vila Franca de Xira have bird hides on freshwater lagoons beside the Tagus estuary. Heading north, the Borboletário Tropical in Constância is a small guided butterfly house, and the Museu Nacional Ferroviário in Entroncamento has a huge collection of trains.

Is the Falcoaria Real free?

Yes. The daily guided visits were free when checked in September 2026. Booking ahead is recommended.

Will we see the falcons fly?

Usually, if your visit coincides with a bird’s training time. The falconers fly the birds to a lure, and flights can change with the weather or the birds’ condition. Ask when you book.

How long does a visit take?

Visits start every hour, so allow about an hour for the film, the birds, the exhibition and a flight. Add time to explore Salvaterra.

Is it suitable for young children?

Yes, from about four. The film and the flight hold small children’s attention; the history rooms suit older ones. There is no minimum age on the site.

Is it open on Mondays?

No. It opens Tuesday to Sunday, including public holidays, and closes on Mondays.