Reguengos de Monsaraz: things to do in the wine town, 25 minutes away

Reguengos de Monsaraz is the town that runs the district Monsaraz belongs to, and it's a 25-minute drive from the house. It was European Wine City in 2015, its wine region has eleven wineries, and it's where you do the big shop when you're staying on Alqueva.

It isn't pretty the way Monsaraz is. It's a working town laid out in the nineteenth century, with a wide main square, an unexpectedly grand neo-Gothic church and the everyday commerce the lakeside villages lack. Worth a morning — and worth more as a base.

Monsaraz and Reguengos: why the seat moved

The name tells the story. According to the town council, Reguengos was two villages in the eighteenth century — Reguengos de Cima and Reguengos de Baixo — on land that had been reguengo, meaning Crown land. They grew on wool and vines, got their own parish in 1752 and, with the economic weight of the nineteenth century, took over as seat of the district from Monsaraz on 17 April 1838. The quarrel between the two only ended in 1851; on 9 December 2004 the town was raised to city status.

That's why the district is called Reguengos de Monsaraz: the new town got the administration, the medieval village kept the history. They're five minutes apart.

What to see in town

The centre is Praça da Liberdade, laid out from scratch in the second half of the nineteenth century when the mayor, Manuel Papança, decided to move the heart of the town. Two buildings matter:

• Igreja Matriz de Santo António. Designed in 1887 by António José Dias da Silva, the architect of Lisbon's Campo Pequeno bullring. The foundation stone was laid on 27 October 1887; the church wasn't inaugurated until 25 August 1912. Latin-cross plan, a bell tower in the middle of the façade and great flying buttresses — the council calls it one of the best examples of neo-Gothic architecture in Portugal. You don't expect a church like this in the Alentejo.
• Paços do Concelho. The neoclassical town hall of 1869, with a five-arched portico and double staircase.

Museums and exhibitions

Three small spaces — none takes more than half an hour:

Place	Where	What it is
Permanent Exhibition of Traditional Arts and Crafts	Municipal library, Rua Conde de Monsaraz	Around a thousand objects on vines and wine, with an old cellar recreated; also wool, clay and copper
Museu Mestre Batista	Rua 1.º de Maio	The collection of José Mestre Batista (1940–1985), a mounted bullfighter born in the district
Museu Megalítico José Maria da Fonseca	Rua de Mourão, 1	A 4.7-metre carved menhir stone around 6,000 years old

Opening hours are on the Reguengos de Monsaraz town council website; the Mestre Batista museum closes on Mondays and the megalithic museum opens weekdays only.

Reguengos blankets and the town park

The Fábrica Alentejana de Lanifícios, on Rua dos Mendes, weaves the traditional Reguengos blankets on looms and has a shop, an exhibition and guided visits where you watch the process. Check ahead that a visit is running that day.

The Parque da Cidade is the place to stop with children: playground, picnic area, a café-restaurant with a terrace and a watercourse that traces the Guadiana as it ran before the Alqueva dam.

The wineries: the main reason to come

According to the council, the Reguengos de Monsaraz wine region has eleven wineries, ten of them open to visitors. This is home to Portugal's largest wine cooperative, CARMIM, and to Herdade do Esporão, the best set up for visits, with a restaurant and the Perdigões archaeological museum in the Esporão tower. Ervideira makes the wine that ages at the bottom of the lake, and Sharish distils gin in town.

Hours, prices and what to taste at each are in the Alqueva wineries guide. One rule covers all of them: always book.

São Pedro do Corval, on the road to Monsaraz

The pottery village belongs to the Reguengos district. It's the largest pottery centre in Portugal, with 22 workshops at work according to the council, and you visit without booking, one workshop at a time. It has its own guide.

Monsaraz lake beach

Also in the district. Praia Fluvial de Monsaraz was the first lake beach on the Alqueva reservoir and holds Blue Flag status and the Praia + Acessível accessibility award. It's part of the Monsaraz nautical centre — mooring, toilets with showers, a playground, picnic area and a panoramic restaurant — and the bathing season runs from June to September. From the house it's a little over 20 minutes; Mourão's beach, 5 minutes away, is still the closest. The six lake beaches →

Market, fairs and festivals

Municipal market. Opened in 1966 and refurbished in 2013. The stalls — local produce and fresh fish — open Tuesday to Saturday, 7am to 1pm.

Mercado de Levante. An open-air market on the first Friday of each month at the Parque de Feiras e Exposições. In January, May and August it gives way to the traditional fairs on the 15th; the August one lasts two days and coincides with ExpoReg, a four-day trade fair with a bullfight.

Where to eat in Reguengos de Monsaraz

Reguengos has the widest choice in the area: Alentejo home-cooking restaurants, cafés and petiscos bars in the centre and around the market, and several wineries that serve meals by prior booking. The Herdade do Esporão restaurant is the exception to everything, with a Michelin Green Star for 2026.

The restaurant list, checked against the official listings, lives in one place: where to eat on Alqueva. The cooking is the district's — açorda (a bread, garlic and coriander broth with a poached egg), migas (fried bread with pork), lamb stew and game — with Reguengos wine.

Useful services when you're staying at the house

What Reguengos is for, most days of a stay in Mourão:

• Chain supermarkets for the big weekly shop (the Pingo Doce is on Avenida do Alentejo). Mourão has small grocers for day to day.
• Reguengos de Monsaraz health centre; the nearest hospital is in Évora, an hour away. In an emergency, call 112.
• Pharmacies, petrol stations, banks and cash machines, in the centre and on the approach roads.
• Tourist office, Rua António José de Almeida 11; open every day, morning and afternoon.

Getting there from the house

Leave Mourão on the N256, cross the bridge over Alqueva and follow the road past Monsaraz: 25 minutes. Park outside the centre and walk.

Casa de Santa Margarida is in Mourão, on the quiet side of the lake, with a private pool and the lake beach five minutes away. Reguengos is a morning's outing, and the wineries are a phone call away. See the house →