8 Best Things to Do in Serpa, Portugal

The Alentejo is full of picturesque villages and little towns, and Serpa is one of them. This historic town with an impressive castle, white houses and an old aqueduct sits among rolling hills covered in olive groves and vineyards. We stopped in Serpa on our road trip through the eastern Alentejo, on the way from the old copper mine of São Domingos to Monsaraz. If you’re travelling through this part of Portugal, it’s well worth a stop.

Church tower above the rooftops of Serpa at sunset

Where is Serpa?

Serpa is in the south-east of Portugal, close to the Spanish border. It’s a little off the usual tourist trail, but if you’re driving from the Algarve up to Évora, it’s only a small detour. Combine it with the white fortress village of Monsaraz, just over an hour’s drive to the north, and with the abandoned copper mine of São Domingos, about an hour to the south.

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→ Discover the 10 best things to do in Évora
→ Discover the 6 best things to do in Monsaraz

View from the castle wall over the streets of Serpa

Where to stay in Serpa?

Serpa is easy to do as a stopover, but it also makes a quiet base for the Pulo do Lobo, Mértola and the copper mine. You can choose between a place inside the town walls or a country estate in the hills around it.

#1 Casa de Serpa is a traditional Alentejo house in the historic centre, with an open fire in the living room and a small saltwater pool on the terrace. The castle and the aqueduct are a few minutes’ walk away.

#2 Monte da Morena is a small agritourism stay in a converted farmhouse, about two kilometres from the town walls. With a pool in the garden, wide views over the fields and apartments for families, it’s a lovely place to stay a few days.

#3 Herdade do Vau is a wine estate on the Guadiana, about a twenty-minute drive from Serpa. The spacious rooms with arched windows look out over the vineyards, and the wine at dinner comes from their own land.

White buildings on the main square of Serpa

The best things to do in Serpa

#1 The medieval town wall and the Porta de Beja

You can tell straight away that Serpa has a long history. The historic centre is still surrounded by a medieval town wall, and the main entrance, the Porta de Beja, looks untouched by time. The only other surviving gate is the Porta de Moura, but it’s smaller and less impressive.

#2 The aqueduct and the old pump house

Before you walk through the Porta de Beja, turn right for a moment. Here the town wall merges into an impressive aqueduct, built to supply water to the palace of the Counts of Ficalho. Walk on to the corner to see the old pump house, with the wheel once used to raise the water.

#3 The Castelo de Serpa

Through the Porta de Beja or one of the other openings in the wall, you’ll end up on the main square, the Praça da República, where every street seems to lead. From here, steps climb up to the church of Santa Maria and on to the castle. The Castelo de Serpa is the town’s main attraction. You walk through a narrow passage where the castle gate once stood into the castle courtyard, and from there you can climb onto the walls for a beautiful view over fields of olive trees and vines.

Entrance to the Castelo de Serpa with its collapsed tower

#4 The Torre do Relógio

Next to the church of Santa Maria, at the top of the steps, stands the Torre do Relógio. Its clock has been there since 1440, making it one of the oldest clock towers in the country.

#5 The Museu do Relógio

Now that you’re thinking about time, carry on to the Museu do Relógio in a sixteenth-century convent. A collector spent his whole life gathering thousands of timepieces here, from old tower clocks to tiny pocket watches. It’s the only museum of its kind on the Iberian Peninsula, and a lot more fun than you might expect.

#6 The Museu do Cante

Serpa is also the town of cante alentejano, the Alentejo’s polyphonic singing that has been on UNESCO’s list of intangible cultural heritage since 2014. At the Museu do Cante you can listen to recordings of the choirs and learn how this song of the countryside became the symbol of the whole region.

#7 Taste the queijo de Serpa

Don’t leave without tasting queijo de Serpa, a creamy sheep’s cheese with protected designation of origin. When it’s well matured, it’s so soft you spoon it straight out of the rind, and you’ll find it in almost every restaurant and shop in the centre.

#8 The Pulo do Lobo

From Serpa it’s just over half an hour’s drive to the Pulo do Lobo, one of the largest waterfalls in Portugal. The Guadiana squeezes through a gorge here that, according to legend, was once narrow enough for a wolf to leap across. On this side of the river a long staircase takes you down to the bank, and from the rocks you see the water thundering down.

→ Discover the abandoned copper mine of Minas de São Domingos and the Pulo do Lobo

Written by Maartje

More tips for your trip to Serpa