Mourão is a small village, and festivals show. For a few days a year it fills with people who've come home, a stage goes up in the square, and everyone eats in the street until late.
If you happen to be here for one, it's among the best things that can happen to your trip. Worth planning around.
The village feast: Nossa Senhora das Candeias
The feast of Nossa Senhora das Candeias, Mourão's patron saint, is the biggest event of the year and the one that fills the village. It runs for ten days, from late January into early February: a novena every evening, the arrival of the banner with the Mourão municipal band, live music and a bullfighting festival.
The main day is 2 February, with solemn mass, the blessing of the candles and a procession through the streets, ending in fireworks.
In 2026 it ran from 24 January to 3 February. The dates follow the religious calendar and shift slightly each year, but 2 February is fixed.
It's a feast for people from here, not something staged for visitors. You go, you eat, you watch.
The Congresso das Migas, held in May, now has its own guide with the known dates and what to expect.
The rest of the year
Beyond those two, a few things recur:
- 25 April commemorations — a municipal programme on 24 and 25 April.
- Museu da Luz — runs temporary exhibitions for most of the year, at Aldeia da Luz, twenty minutes away. It's the most interesting museum in the area and worth the trip with no festival on at all.
- Christmas — lights, a market and an ice rink from late November into early January.
- Summer — the programme follows the lake beach season, which in 2026 ran from 13 June to 13 September.
Around the region
Two things outside Mourão tend to be worth the detour:
- Monsaraz holds events tied to its medieval past and to wine, which fill the walled village. Twenty minutes away.
- Reguengos de Monsaraz has programming around the wineries and the harvest, in late summer. Twenty-five minutes.
As in Mourão, check the dates on the respective councils' sites.
And if nothing's on
That's fine too. The village on an ordinary day is what most people come for: quiet, a lake beach five minutes away, Monsaraz at twenty and a night sky that has all but vanished from Europe.
Common questions
When are Mourão's festivities?
The feast of Nossa Senhora das Candeias, the village's patron saint, runs for ten days between late January and early February. In 2026 it ran from 24 January to 3 February. The dates follow the religious calendar and shift slightly year to year, but the main day is always 2 February.
What happens on 2 February?
Solemn mass, the blessing of the candles and the procession through the village streets, ending in fireworks. On the days before there's a novena every night, the arrival of the banner with the town band, an open-air party with live music and a bullfighting event.
Are the festivities aimed at tourists?
No. It's a festival of local people, including those who come back for it. You go to the arraial, you eat, and you watch — which is what makes it good.
