estremoz

A small place of Roman origin situated right in the heart of the verdant Upper Alentejo region, Alter do Chão is a pretty town with a long equestrian history.

Perhaps the most striking of all the marble towns in the Alentejo region, Vila Viçosa might be small in stature but it’s an immense place in the overall context of Portugal’s long and chequered history.

The country seat and preferred residence of the Dukes of Bragança (Portugal’s last ruling dynasty), Vila Viçosa’s Ducal Palace (Paço Ducal) once comprised more marble, azulejo tiles, tapestries and elaborate ironwork than any other noble edifice in the country.

Rising conspicuously from the vast open plain, about an hour’s drive north-east of Évora, the lovely town of Estremoz is one of the most rewarding places to visit in Portugal’s picturesque Alentejo region.

Nestling on the northern slopes of the Serra de Borba mountains, the pretty town of Borba rises neatly above the vast plains in the heart of Portugal’s enchanting Alentejo region.

With its colourful vistas, wide-open roads and dazzling whitewashed villages, the great expanse of the Alentejo is perhaps the most vivid of Portugal’s landscapes.

Set on a great granite escarpment with sweeping views across the vast plains of the Alentejo region, the walled village of Marvão is one of the prettiest places in the whole of southern Europe.