31 October and 1 November 2026 • About 50 free guided walks • All over the Alentejo • Registration closes Wednesday 28 October at 17:30
The Alentejo coastline north of Almograve. Photo: NickieB.Portugal / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).
INTRODUCTION
A Whole Region on Foot
For one weekend at the turn of October and November, the Alentejo does something unusual: it walks. On Saturday 31 October and Sunday 1 November 2026, the third Alentejo Walking Festival ("Todo o Alentejo a Caminhar", or "All of the Alentejo Walking") puts about fifty guided walks on the map, from the Atlantic dunes of the Southwest coast to the fortified border towns of the Alto Alentejo, from the vineyards of the Baixo Alentejo to the cork oak woods around Montemor-o-Novo.
The walks are free, led by local guides, and many include something more than a path: an interpretation of the landscape, a monument, a tasting or a cultural activity. The catch is that you must register in advance, walk by walk, and the deadline is close: Wednesday 28 October, 17:30. Some walks have already filled up.
If you walk the Rota Vicentina or the Fishermen's Trail with us, the festival has a great bonus: several of its walks are on or next to the Southwest coast that our guides cover.
THE FESTIVAL
From a Regional Experiment to a Showcase of Walking Trails
The Alentejo Walking Festival is run by the Entidade Regional de Turismo do Alentejo e Ribatejo (the regional tourism board), with the regional tourism promotion agency ARPTA and the region's municipalities. Its idea is simple: the Alentejo has spent roughly the last fifteen years creating and signposting walking routes, and the festival is a way of showing them to the public and to the tourism industry. A municipal source even notes that walking trails are the only tourist product present in every single municipality of the Alentejo. The board's president, José Manuel Santos, describes the event as a shop window for the region's best trails and says the goal is for the Alentejo to be recognised as a destination for people who enjoy walking.
The numbers show that it is catching on:
- 2024, first edition under this name: celebrated from 10 to 20 October, with 55 walks and all 47 municipalities of the Alentejo involved, and about 800 participants. The brothers of the band Os Anjos were its ambassadors.
- 2025: about 1,300 walkers on 51 routes, an increase of around 62% in participants, with the public weekend on 8 and 9 November.
- 2026: about 50 walks on the weekend of 31 October and 1 November. Each walk takes up to 50 people unless otherwise stated, so the festival can welcome around 2,500 walkers at most.
Behind the public weekend, there is also a professional programme: a conference on the governance and integrated management of walking trails in Gavião (29 October), a business-to-business workshop for tour operators in Nisa (30 October), a national familiarisation trip (29 October to 1 November) and an international press trip (5 to 8 November). In other words, while locals and visitors walk, the region is also selling itself to the walking-holiday market.
HOW TO TAKE PART
Free, but You Must Register Walk by Walk
There is no single registration for the whole festival. Each walk has its own page on the official website, alentejowalkingfestival.pt, with its own form. You will be asked for your name, contact details, an emergency contact, your date of birth and your tax number, and each walk is capped at about 50 people (the Almograve dunes walk is limited to 20). Registration closes on 28 October at 17:30, or earlier when a walk is full.
The official advice is practical: follow the guides' instructions, wear suitable clothing and footwear and a hat, carry enough water and food, a phone and a small first-aid kit, stay on the marked paths, respect private property and leave gates as you found them, keep a safe distance from livestock and wildlife, light no fires and take your rubbish with you. The festival's walk pages do not list distances or difficulty levels (the Porto Covo route's figures come from the parish council), so contact the municipality named on each walk's page if you need to know how long or how hard a route is.
Also note that Sunday 1 November is All Saints' Day, a public holiday in Portugal, and that accommodation can be tighter and more expensive in some towns that weekend.
THE WALKS
The Alentejo Litoral: Where the Rota Vicentina Begins
The coast is the part of the festival closest to our own routes, and Expresso's Boa Cama Boa Mesa singled out two of its walks, Almograve and Porto Covo, among the highlights of the whole programme. Both lie in the Southwest Alentejo and Vicentine Coast Natural Park, and both will be familiar to anyone who has read our Fishermen's Trail guides.
Dunas do Almograve (Odemira), Saturday 31 October, 9:00. The walk starts at the Almograve tourist office and takes in some of the most emblematic scenery of the Vicentine Coast: dunes, a rocky shoreline and the Atlantic. Its special feature is a visit to the tide pools of Praia do Almograve with marine biologist Ariana Alexandre, who gives a short presentation on the ecology of the intertidal zone and then guides the group in observing organisms such as crabs and algae, with plenty of curiosities about the species you find. The group is limited to 20 people, and registration had already sold out at the time of writing (25 October). Almograve is the end of Stage 3 and the start of Stage 4 of the Fishermen's Trail.
Praia do Almograve, with its dunes and rocky shoreline. Photo: Vitor Oliveira / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0).
PR4 SNS Planalto de Porto Covo (Sines), Saturday 31 October, 9:30. This is a circular route of about 10.4 km, which takes roughly two to three hours at a steady pace, with a medium-low difficulty rating, on rural tracks and secondary roads. It starts and ends at the Porto Covo parish council (Junta de Freguesia), on Rua do Mar. As Expresso notes, it offers a different perspective on the coastal village: instead of the beaches and cliffs most visitors know, it explores the plateau of Porto Covo. Registration for this walk had closed at the time of writing. Porto Covo is the end of Stage 1 and the start of Stage 2 of the Fishermen's Trail.
The coast of Porto Covo, with the Pessegueiro Island on the horizon. Photo: Alvesgaspar / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Rota Vicentina, Vale Seco to Cercal (Santiago do Cacém), Sunday 1 November, 9:00. The festival also borrows a piece of the Rota Vicentina itself: the first half of the stage between Vale Seco and Cercal do Alentejo, as far as the Campilhas dam, with a bus from the town hall at 8:30. It was sold out at the time of writing.
A little further inland, Grândola has two choices: the Lousal Geomegalítico route on Saturday, starting at the Lousal Ciência Viva science centre in the old mining village, and a walk in the Serra de Grândola on Sunday. Alcácer do Sal offers the Rota do Senhor dos Mártires, a route linked to the town's archaeological heritage, on Sunday morning from Praça Pedro Nunes. Whatever the status of the registrations, it is worth checking the festival website for cancellations until the last minute.
The old mine at Lousal, in Grândola. Photo: Vitor Oliveira / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0).
The Alto Alentejo: Castles, Dolmens and the Border
The Alto Alentejo has the most walks and some of the most dramatic backdrops. In Marvão, the PR1 MRV walk starts at Largo das Almas, in Portagem, below the hilltop village. Castelo de Vide invites you to follow its village fountains on Saturday, and Campo Maior offers a border-themed walk, Ouguela, Sentinela da Raia, starting at the castle of Ouguela on Sunday. Elvas has the Linhas de Elvas "Pão por Deus" memory route among forts and walls, from the Forte da Graça. Monforte takes you to the dolmens of Rabuje on Saturday, and Nisa has two walks: from the Portas de Ródão to Arneiro and the old Conhal gold mine on Saturday, and from Alpalhão to the Anta dos Saragonheiros, on a stretch of the Camino de Santiago, on Sunday. Avis offers a Sunday route around the Maranhão reservoir, where cork oaks, olive groves and a bird-rich lagoon share the view.
Marvão seen from its castle. Photo: Pedro Paulo Palazzo / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0).
The castle of Ouguela, above the plain of the Alto Alentejo. Photo: Vitor Oliveira / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0).
The Forte da Graça, in Elvas. Photo: Alvesgaspar / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).
The Fonte da Vila, in Castelo de Vide. Photo: Vitor Oliveira / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0).
The Alentejo Central: Cork, Wine and the Night Sky
In the heart of the region, Évora offers a walk from the city to the Alto de São Bento, starting near the Água de Prata Aqueduct, while Arraiolos has "Entre Pontos e Colinas" and Estremoz a route among its monuments. Montemor-o-Novo takes you through the cork woods of Cortiçadas de Lavre, starting at Largo José Saramago. The most unusual walks are probably the afternoon and evening ones: the Rota do Giro night walk in Alandroal starts at 21:00, and the Amieira to Alqueva walk in Portel starts at 15:00 and includes a night-sky session with a telescope and a medronho tasting. Reguengos de Monsaraz ends its Rota do Comboio with a regional wine tasting (sold out at the time of writing), Vila Viçosa follows the Estrada Real, old roads tied to the history of the House of Braganza, Redondo follows the trail of the hermits from Aldeia da Serra d'Ossa, and Vendas Novas has a Rota da Bifana, named after the classic Portuguese pork sandwich.
The Água de Prata Aqueduct, in Évora. Photo: Vitor Oliveira / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0).
The Baixo Alentejo: Vines, Olive Oil and the Guadiana
The south of the region is a good bet for food and wine. Cuba goes through the centenary vines of Vila Alva, Vidigueira through the vineyards of São Cucufate, beside the Roman ruins of the same name, and Ferreira do Alentejo follows a Rota do Azeite (olive oil route) from the Lagar do Marmelo, with transport provided from the bus terminal. Mértola and Serpa walk beside the Guadiana, in Mértola along "the great river of the south" and in Serpa to the old mills, while Almodôvar leads from the Mira river to one of the most important archaeological sites in the south of the country ("Do Mira às Mesas do Castelinho"), Barrancos climbs from the Serra Colorada to the Cerro do Calvário through a landscape far from the usual image of Alentejo plains, Aljustrel explores its mining past, Moura follows the water, Castro Verde the paths of the Order of Santiago and Beja the plains down to the Terges stream.
The Guadiana and the Azenhas do Guadiana, in Mértola. Photo: Vitor Oliveira / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0).
PLANNING YOUR WEEKEND
Choosing, Getting There and Making It Easy
Most walks start at 9:30 on Saturday or Sunday, so pick one near where you are sleeping, or build a weekend around two walks in neighbouring regions. Some are by the coast, others hours inland. Regional press coverage suggests carpooling, packing your own food and water, and booking accommodation early, because the festival falls on a holiday weekend.
This is where we can help. If you are coming for the coastal walks and want to combine them with the first stages of the Fishermen's Trail, between Sines, Porto Covo, Vila Nova de Milfontes and Almograve, Traking Transfers can move you and your luggage between your accommodation and the starting points of nearby walks. And if you are walking a stage of the Fishermen's Trail the same weekend, we will carry your bags to the next night's accommodation, so you can join a festival walk with a light daypack.
EXTRA TIME
Why It Matters
The Alentejo is often described as a land of wide horizons and slow time, and walking is the best way to feel both. The festival shows that a trail does not need to be famous to be worth walking: the routes of Almograve, Marvão or Mértola exist all year round, and the festival is simply the weekend when somebody local walks them with you. If you miss this edition, most of them can be walked on your own on any day.
Walk, taste, listen. We take care of your luggage and your transfers while you take care of the walking.
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