From Arenas to Chapels

There are two mooring sites: one providing access to the village, and the other near the Alqueva Dam. This ancient village, dating back to the 13th century, was built around the chapel dedicated to Saint Lourenço, a Christian martyr deeply venerated in Alentejo. Today, Alqueva is a peaceful village offering all essential services: restaurants, cafés, a grocery store, a bakery, and a pastry shop. Just beyond the village, you can moor your license-free boat near the Alqueva Dam. There, an exhibition space invites you to learn about the dam’s construction,an idea conceived as early as the 1950s. Discover how the valley was flooded by the Guadiana River, and how entire bat colonies (a protected species) had to be relocated to another cave after their natural habitat was submerged. A fascinating and unusual visit, well worth the stop.

A small lakeside village with just a few hundred residents. Centered around its parish church, it offers restaurants, cafés, a grocery store, post office, and bank.

A unique village entirely rebuilt, stone by stone, after its original site was submerged by the Great Lake reservoir. The church, cemetery, even residents’ trees were relocated identically. Streets were widened to allow two-way traffic,an impressive example of preserving collective heritage, narrated at the Luz museum.

The name Mourão echoes its Moorish past. This fortified medieval town features 13th-century ramparts, a castle, churches, and chapels. Visitors enjoy local shops, restaurants, a swimming pool, tourist office, and banks.