The City and the Mountains (Portuguese: A Cidade e as Serras) is a satirical novel comparing the emptiness of upper-class life in Paris with the pleasures found in rural Portugal.

When Zé Fernandes, a long-time friend and the narrator of the story, visits him after an absence of seven years, Jacinto is starting to find Parisian society boring.

[6] A reviewer in the UK's The Independent considered the novel to be "a smart balance of satire, irony and lyric grace – the progress of a rich brat who quits the city to find fulfilment in rural life".

[3] Another review felt that the novel offered a "wry take on fin-de-siècle life as experienced by two secular, well-heeled young men in the bustle of Paris and in the quietude of the Portuguese countryside".

[5] Several reviewers comment adversely on the end of the book, written by Eça's friend, Ramalho Ortigão, which is seen as being too flowery, predictable and sentimental for the satirical tone of the novel.