Serpa is located in the Lower Alentejo, on a rise along the left bank of the Guadiana River, and is the seat of one of the largest municipalities in Portugal.

Inhabited since ancient times, Serpa was heavily influenced by both the Romans and the Arabs. It was conquered from the Moors by King Afonso Henriques in 1166, though it changed hands multiple times during the conflicts of the Reconquista. Serpa was definitively established as a municipality in 1295 by King Dinis, who ordered the town to be encircled with defensive walls.

Due to its geographical location near the border, Serpa has always been a strategic point of national defense—something made especially clear during the Restoration War, when the town was almost completely destroyed.

Thanks to its long history, Serpa offers numerous places of interest worth visiting, including:

The Castle
City Walls and the Beja Gate
Clock Tower
17th-century Aqueduct
Church of Santa Maria
Church of Salvador
Palace of the Counts of Ficalho (16th century)
Hermitage of Nossa Senhora de Guadalupe (2 km from town)

Serpa is also home to several museums:

Archaeological Museum
Ethnographic Museum
Clock Museum (the only one of its kind in the Iberian Peninsula)
Municipal Gallery of Contemporary Art

And don’t leave without tasting Serpa’s famous sheep’s cheese.