Aveiro Salt Pans

The salt pans of Aveiro are shallow basins in the Ria de Aveiro where sea salt is made by evaporation, worked since the Middle Ages and still in production. One of them, the Marinha da Troncalhada, is an open-air ecomuseum of the city, at the Cais das Pirâmides in Aveiro.

The salt is made between June and September, when the sun and the wind dry the water in the pans.

What to see at the Aveiro salt pans

Marinha da Troncalhada: the ecomuseum salt pan, where the hand methods of salt making are shown, with free entry.
Salt pan landscape: the grid of basins, dykes and channels between the city and the lagoon.
Birds: waders and other water birds that feed in the pans and the mudflats.
Sunset: the walk along the pans and the canal of São Roque, looking west over the water.

Visiting the Aveiro salt pans

Location: the Troncalhada ecomuseum is at the Cais das Pirâmides, a walk of about twenty minutes from the city centre along the canal.
Season: the salt is harvested in summer, when the pans are worked.
Guided visits: the Museu da Cidade de Aveiro arranges guided visits to the salt pan.