Top things to do

Created in 1995, this zone of hills, plains and deep valleys around Serpa and Mértola shelters the Rio Guadiana, one of Portugal’s largest and most important rivers. Among its rich variety of flora and fauna are sev…

This attractive place in Moreanes, 10km from Mértola on the way to São Domingos, is almost a museum thanks to its antique exhibits (including the local clients themselves!). It serves great-value, hearty helpings of…

Mértola comes to life every two years in May (dates change but it’s uneven numbered years) during the town’s Islamic Festival, when it is decorated to resemble a souk. Music, handicrafts and festivities continue for…

Mértola’s striking parish church – square, flat-faced and topped with whimsical little conical decorations – is known because in a former incarnation it was a mosque, one of the few in the country to have survived t…

This 400-year-old former convent, across the Ribeira de Oeiras, 500m southwest of Largo Vasco da Gama, has been owned since 1980 by Dutch artist Geraldine Zwanikken and her family. In a true labour of love, they hav…

Above the parish church looms Mértola’s fortified castle, most of which dates from the 13th century. It was built upon Moorish foundations next to an Islamic residence, the alcáçova, which itself overlaid the Roman …

This recently opened site contains the ruins of what was once a thriving Islamic neighbourhood. Some 20 dwellings were here, each with a classic Mediterranean layout – a main entry patio, kitchen, storage area, slee…

Next to the alcáçova (citadel), this interpretation centre is an accurately sized replica of an Islamic residence dating from the 12th century. Key features include an open central patio with a rainwater collection …

This museum, north of the old town, features a partly reconstructed line of 6th-century Roman columns and poignant funerary stones, some of which are beautifully carved with birds, hearts and wreaths. It was the sit…

The enchanting Casa Romana is located in the cellar of the câmara municipal (town hall). The clever display allows visitors to walk ‘through’ the foundations of the Roman house upon which the building rests and brin…