Grown on a plateau located at the confluence of the Corgo and Cabril rivers, the city is framed in a beautiful natural landscape (Escarpas do Corgo), with the backdrop of the mountains of Alvão and, further away, Marão. With more than seven hundred years of existence, Vila Real was once known as the "Corte de Trás-os-Montes", due to the high number of emblazoned houses that it then had.