Pego Fundo River Beach
Local tips
Bathing season dates change every year, and outside the season there are no lifeguards and the bar is shut. Check with Alcoutim council (+351 281 540 500) before you go. The castle is a few minutes away and pairs well with a swim.
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Alcoutim
Alcoutim is a small town in the far north-east of the Algarve, on the bank of the Guadiana and directly opposite the Andalusian village of Sanlúcar de Guadiana. It grew up after the Treaty of Alcanizes (1297) made the river a border: King Dinis had the castle built around 1304, the year of the town charter, on a hill between the Guadiana and the Cadavais stream. In 1371 the kings of Portugal and Castile signed the Peace of Alcoutim here. From the castle, which houses the archaeology museum, winding streets lead down to the quay, in much the same spot as its medieval predecessor. Beside it, on a small rise, stands the parish church of São Salvador, from the first half of the 14th century. The Pego Fundo river beach is about 500 metres from the centre, and 1 km from town, above the river, are the ruins of Castelo Velho, an Islamic fort founded in the 8th or 9th century. The river still links the two banks. A boat crosses to Sanlúcar, and the zipline over the Guadiana starts on the Spanish side and lands in Alcoutim: 720 metres in under a minute.
Alcoutim
Álamo Roman Dam
At the edge of the hamlet of Álamo, about 11 km south of Alcoutim, stands a Roman dam. It sits in the Fornalha gully, a tributary of the Guadiana. It is a straight wall about 40 metres long, more than 8 metres high and 2.8 metres thick, built of mortared greywacke blocks laid in horizontal courses. Seven buttresses are visible on the south side. It is thought to have held around 2,100 cubic metres of water in a reservoir some 90 metres long. The archaeologist Estácio da Veiga identified and recorded it in the late 19th century, and it probably supplied the Roman villa of Álamo nearby. It has been a listed monument since 1992.
Alcoutim
Alcoutim Castle
Alcoutim Castle was built on the orders of King Dinis around 1304, when the Guadiana became the border with Castile. It stands on a hill between the river and the Cadavais stream, and it was in this town that the Iberian kings signed the Peace of Alcoutim in 1371. From the wall walk you look out over the Guadiana to Sanlúcar on the far bank. On the north side a viewing scope points at Castelo Velho, the Islamic fort 1 km outside town. Inside is the archaeology museum, opened in 2000, with an exhibition running from the Neolithic to the 20th century. The old powder magazine holds 'Jogos Intemporais': 39 game boards carved into slabs of schist and 18 gaming pieces, all found at Castelo Velho. It is the largest set of Islamic-period games from a single archaeological site in Portugal.
Alcoutim
Guerreiros do Rio
Guerreiros do Rio is a riverside village on the Guadiana, about 8 km south of Alcoutim. Life here has always faced the river: for part of the 20th century it was a hub for smuggling with Spain, mostly dried fruit and other foodstuffs, wine and textiles. The village is home to the Museu do Rio, a branch of Alcoutim's municipal museum. It began in 1994 with an exhibition in the old village primary school, was extended from 2003 and reopened in September 2006 with the exhibition 'Olhar o Guadiana por dentro'. It tells the river's story: navigation and ore transport, traditional fishing, smuggling and the villages along the banks. Since 2008 it has also shown 'Barcos Tradicionais do Baixo Guadiana', scale models of the boats that worked the river until the mid-1960s, built by José Murta Pereira, who was born in the village. The GR15 Rota do Guadiana trail passes through on its stretch between Álamo and Alcoutim.
Alcoutim