Évora is an hour from Mourão and it's the Alentejo's reference city. It isn't Alqueva — it's a walled museum-city with two thousand years of layers — but it's the best full-day trip from the lake.
The historic centre has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1986.
The essentials, in order
Roman Temple
The most photographed sight and the natural starting point. Built in the early first century AD, it's one of the best-preserved Roman temples on the whole Iberian Peninsula.
It was long called the Temple of Diana, but that attribution has no historical basis — it was probably dedicated to the imperial cult. The name stuck anyway.
It's on Largo Conde de Vila Flor, beside the cathedral. You see it from outside, at any hour, and it costs nothing.
The Cathedral
Next to the temple. It's the largest medieval cathedral in Portugal, from the 12th and 13th centuries, with cloisters, a main chapel and a Museum of Sacred Art.
Go up to the roof terrace — you get the whole city from above. It's the best view in Évora.
Chapel of Bones
Inside the Church of São Francisco. A meditation chamber built in the 16th century by three Franciscan friars, lined with the bones and skulls of around five thousand people.
The inscription at the entrance reads: "We bones that are here await yours."
It's unsettling and it's the place people remember. Open daily 9am to 5pm, closed 1 January, Easter Sunday, the afternoon of 24 December and 25 December.
Praça do Giraldo
The city's social centre. Cafés with terraces, the church of Santo Antão, and the right place for a mid-morning stop.
Água de Prata Aqueduct
From the 16th century, and the surprising part is where it enters the city: houses were built under and inside the arches. It's slightly off the main circuit, on Rua do Cano, and most visitors never get there. Worth the detour.
Planning the day
Leaving Mourão at nine puts you in Évora around ten.
Morning — Roman Temple, cathedral (with the terrace) and a wander through the surrounding streets. They're all within a few metres of each other.
Lunch — around Praça do Giraldo or the streets nearby.
Afternoon — Chapel of Bones and the Church of São Francisco, then the aqueduct and the public gardens.
Back — leaving around five puts you in Mourão by six, in time for the end of the day by the pool.
Is it worth staying overnight?
If you're based on Alqueva, no. Évora works well in a day and the drive back is easy.
People who do it the other way round — sleeping in Évora and visiting Alqueva by day — usually feel they missed out, because the lake at sunset and the sky at night are the two things that require being here at the end of the day.
On the way
The road between Mourão and Évora passes near Reguengos de Monsaraz, where the region's wineries are. You can fit a tasting in on the way back, if you book ahead.
And Monsaraz is 20 minutes from Mourão, a small detour.
