Visiting Elvas | Portugal: what to see and do in the Fortified City

We all know that visiting Elvas is like touring the largest fortress city in the world. At the gates of Spain, just eight kilometers from neighboring Badajoz, Elvas became the most important stronghold on the Portuguese border and is today one of the most emblematic cities in the Alentejo.

UNESCO attests to this, listing the "border and garrison city of Elvas and its fortifications" as a World Heritage Site in 2012.

The historic center, Islamic, medieval, and seventeenth-century walls, the forts of Santa Luzia and Graça, three small forts, and the Amoreira Aqueduct constitute the largest bastioned fortification in the world.

You read the previous paragraph and think you already know what to see in Elvas. Think again.

In religious heritage alone, the municipality of Elvas has nearly forty churches and convents, not including hermitages; Just get lost in the streets, and the civil architecture boasts over thirty examples, including fountains, water features, arches, and pillories.

The military buildings of the old fortress of Elvas number more than twenty. Add museums, megalithic and archaeological monuments, dolmens, necropolises, Muslim remains, and Roman villas. It's easy to understand why Elvas is on national and international lists of must-see places in our Alentejo region.

It's easy to be seduced by the history it evokes, and visiting Elvas will certainly hold many surprises. If that's not enough reason to explore this charming corner of Portugal, we'll show you the must-see places in Elvas to convince you that the Fortified City is well worth a visit.

The border city of Elvas was designed and built with a single purpose in mind: to ensure national defense on the border between Portugal and Spain by building the largest walled fortress in a strategic location. And in the 17th century, Elvas earned the title of the most fortified city in Europe, earning it the nickname Queen of the Frontier.

Its origins date back millennia: the Celts were the first settlers, the Roman villae attest to the Roman presence, Muslim rule gave it the name "al-Bash," the conquest under Afonso Henriques and the reconquest, this time definitive, by King Sancho II, followed by conflicts with Castile, and under the Philippine dynasty, "we were from Spain." In 1513, it was elevated to city status, and royal weddings were celebrated here.

These border people endured trials and paid in blood. During the Restoration War of 1640, sieges, battles, bombardments, and epidemics threatened the nation, and were it not for the population, the soldiers, and a force from Estremoz, Portugal today might be just a name in the history books.

With the Portuguese victory in the Battle of the Lines of Elvas, it gained another nickname: "Key to the Kingdom." Whoever opened the entrance to Elvas reached Lisbon.

Elvas, considered the second Alentejo city with the best quality of life, preceded by the monumental Évora, offers the key to the world, opening its doors wide and surprising visitors with its full potential as a rural tourism and military tourism destination. 

Map of Elvas (Download)