Poiares has a remarkable prehistoric document, a cave painting of an otter (for some a cat), slapped on the forehead of a rock that rises up on the famous Calçada de Alpajares. This steep Roman road passed (it was washed away or destroyed by the force of the waters of the Ribeira do Mosteiro) over a bridge of such bold construction that people say it was the work of the Devil. It is zigzagged and made of hard quartzite in elegant loops.

Poiares is filled with grandeur that reaches its greatest expression in the cyclopean rock of Penedo Durão and in the fantastic natural spectacle of the Silurian cliffs of Ribeira do Mosteiro.

The district is made up of two distinct regions. Further north, the highest altitude regions constitute the Terra Fria Transmontana, where the landscape is dominated by the low slopes of the Transmontano plateau; to the south, there is the Terra Quente Transmontana, with a milder climate, marked by the Douro River valley and the valleys of its tributaries. In general, the district of Bragança is a very mountainous district dominated by hills, mountains and plateaus.

In fact, the Douro is the most important geographical feature, as it serves as the district's boundary along its entire southern border, and most of its eastern border, up to the northeastern tip of Portuguese territory. The Douro Valley is home to the lowest altitude terrain in the district, almost all of which is above 400 metres, with the exception of the valleys of the main rivers and the Mirandela region.