Marvao
Walled Hilltop Village And Castle At About 860 M In The Serra De Sao Mamede Natural Park, On Portugal'S UNESCO Tentative List · Marvao, Portalegre
Marvao is a tiny walled village and castle on a granite crag about 860 m high in the Serra de Sao Mamede, a few kilometres from the Spanish border in the north of the Alentejo. The name is said to come from Ibn Marwan, a ninth-century rebel who fortified the rock; the castle was rebuilt by Portuguese kings from the thirteenth century and strengthened with bastions in the seventeenth-century wars with Spain. People come for the castle keep and its great cistern, the walk round the walls, and the view, which reaches deep into Spain and across a huge sweep of the Alentejo. Below the crag lie the Roman town of Ammaia and its small museum, and the lovely town of Castelo de Vide is 10 km away. The village is on Portugal's UNESCO tentative list. The honest caveat: it is very small and very quiet, with only a few lanes inside the walls and almost no parking; a visit is a half day unless you stay the night, and staying is the point - the sunset and the empty lanes after the day visitors leave.
Marvao, the walled village and castle on a granite crag of the Serra de Sao Mamede, about 20 km north of Portalegre and 10 km from the Spanish border, Marvao, Portalegre, Portugal
The village is open all year. The castle usually opens daily, roughly from morning to evening in summer and to late afternoon in winter, with a small ticket; the Municipal Museum and the Ammaia site have their own hours and may close on some days - confirm each. There is no train: come by car (about 2.5-3 hours from Lisbon) or by bus to Portalegre and a taxi. Park outside the walls. Book rooms ahead for the music festival and the chestnut festival.