Visit Alentejo, Portugal

06/03/2026

BEYOND NATAS: PORTUGAL'S RICH WORLD OF SWEET PASTRIES

The nata: Portugal on a plate. This tasty ambassador has traveled the world, and brought home honors and accolades. But the famous nata is far from Portugal’s only sweet treat. The variety of sweets and cakes from historic convents can be found throughout Portugal, and the variety in the vast southern region known as the Alentejo is mind boggling. Often based on egg yolks, almonds and sugar (and sometimes sweetened with honey), sprinkled with cinnamon (or not), each Alentejo town has its own pasties to offer.

Official website of Turismo do Alentejo, in the south of Portugal. All information for an unforgettable vacation

05/31/2026

EXPLORE AND ENJOY ONE OF THE GREATEST MARBLE ROUTES IN THE WORLD

Do you know?
In Portugal’s Alentejo region, just an hour and a half away from Lisbon, there are massive deposits of the famous "Portuguese Marble of Estremoz" in the Vila Viçosa - Borba - Estremoz corridor, an area of 25 miles.
Formed during the Paleozoic period (541 to 251.9 million years ago) when what we now know today as Portugal was in the middle of a chain of mountains resulting from the collision between continental blocks, originating from Pangea. This was a period when Portugal and North America were united without a giant Atlantic Ocean separating us (that’s why there is also marble in the state of Vermont too). The high pressure and temperatures inside the mountain chain transformed limestone, formed in the oceanic environment in the Lower Paleozoic (500-400 Ma), into marble.
The Portuguese marbles from the "Vila Viçosa - Borba – Estremoz'' corridor represent one of the most important marble deposits in the world, the most important on the Iberian Peninsula, representing huge socio economic importance.
Ancient exploration is known through archeology, since Roman times (1st century BC) in this "marble triangle” of the Alentejo.

Official website of Turismo do Alentejo, in the south of Portugal. All information for an unforgettable vacation

05/31/2026

05/28/2026

MEET VILA VIÇOSA: A ROYAL TOWN JUST TWO HOURS FROM LISBON

There are many names attributed to Vila Viçosa, including: "Princess of Alentejo,” and Calipole (It’s ancient name the Greek Kallipolis, from kallos, "beautiful”, and polis, "city”). Vila Viçosa is also a marble town, and was a thriving aristocratic seat in the Portuguese Renaissance.” Also known as Portugal’s "marble capital” because of its "white gold” which so beautifully decorates the streets and houses of this village and is exported all over the planet.

Official website of Turismo do Alentejo, in the south of Portugal. All information for an unforgettable vacation

05/24/2026

ROMANS BRIDGES STILL STAND ACROSS PORTUGAL’S ALENTEJO

The ancient Romans ruled most of what would become Portugal from the 3rd century BCE to the 4th century ACE. They left behind their language, cities, and a network of roads. And on those Roman roads were bridges. The Romans perfected the stone bridge with uniform arches and keystones and their own unique concrete. In the highly Romanized Alentejo many of these ancient structures not only survive, but thousands of years after being built, they are still being used. And, these ancient spans represent a wonderful connection to the hundreds of Roman bridges that survived antiquity. A directory of Roman bridges shows that more than 330 Roman stone bridges still carry traffic today in Europe. Known for lasting, most Roman bridges had semicircular arches, and were built with volcanic ash, lime and gypsum.

Official website of Turismo do Alentejo, in the south of Portugal. All information for an unforgettable vacation

05/20/2026

WHEN A WHOLE TOWN DECIDES TO BLOOM: A JOURNEY TO CAMPO MAIOR’S FESTAS DO POVO

The road to Campo Maior feels like you’re heading toward quiet.

Leaving Évora behind, the Alentejo opens into wide fields, cork oaks, and whitewashed villages resting in the summer heat. It is the kind of landscape where afternoons slow down and evenings stretch long after sunset. Nothing about the drive prepares you for what happens when you arrive.

At first, it looks like any other border town — small cafés, elderly men talking politics in the shade, a church bell marking the hour. And then you turn a corner.
Above your head hangs a ceiling of color.
Not banners. Not fabric. Not lights-- just Paper.

Official website of Turismo do Alentejo, in the south of Portugal. All information for an unforgettable vacation

11/13/2025

PATHS AND PLACES OF FAITH IN THE ALENTEJO

The beauty of the Alentejo has inspired many people over the millennia, and places of faith are a part of the landscape, the culture.

The Alentejo has many prehistoric sites that were tied to the stars and religious beliefs, such as the massive Anta do Zambujeiro (Zambujeiro Dolmen) — often called a "Neolithic Cathedral,” having been built between 4,000 and 3,000 BCE. It is made up of a single-chamber, articulated horizontal body with a rectangular corridor.

This castle town São Pedro de Terena dates back to 1262 - but its religious value goes back to ancient times, as witnessed by the Santuário de Nossa Senhora da Boa Nova church. Yet, the much older fortified religious Sanctuary of Endovélico, also known as São Miguel da Mota, is a nearby archeological site to the pre-Roman deity Endovélico. It was probably built in the 1st century ACE, during the Roman period to replace an older sanctuary. In fact, human occupation of the site dates back to long before the Roman conquest.

Official website of Turismo do Alentejo, in the south of Portugal. All information for an unforgettable vacation