Dark Sky® Alqueva has been nominated for The World Travel Awards in the category Europe’s Leading Tourist Attraction. It will be competing against such resounding names as the Eiffel Tower, the Acropolis in Athens, the Sacrada Família Cathedral, Rome’s Colosseum and Buckingham Palace.
The World Travel Awards are globally recognized as the Oscars of Tourism. Their purpose is to recognize, reward and celebrate excellence in every sector of the industry.
Dark Sky® Alqueva is the first Starlight Tourism Destination in the world. It covers an area of 10,000 square kilometers around Lake Alqueva, including Portuguese and Spanish council areas. With the quality of the sky already certificated in six Portuguese municipalities – Alandroal, Barrancos, Moura, Mourão, Reguengos de Monaraz, and Portel – Dark Sky® Alqueva offers a diversity of daytime and night-time activities.
The official Dark Sky® Observatory in Cumeada, a village near Reguengos de Monasaraz, is equipped with cutting-edge telescopes for solar and astronomical observations. These provide for a unique visual experience, from observing the planets to looking at the craters on the moon, moving on to the deeper sky with a cosmic journey among the nebulae, the galaxies and the swarms of stars which rise above us in one of the finest skies in the world. The wide open spaces around Alqueva also offer a wide variety of activities which supplement the pleasures of observing the skies – experiencing an incredible variety of sensations and tastes, such as relaxing at sunset as you enjoy a cocktail or taking part in a blind wine-tasting by starlight. Outdoors, surrounded by nature, you can go walking, enjoy horseback excursions by moonlight, or participate in astrophotography workshops, whether you are already passionate about it, or a beginner, or someone more experienced.
Beyond these activities, Dark Sky® Alqueva also has a network of partners – the Dark Sky® Alqueva Route – who are specialists in different areas and who ensure a package of different activities can be tailored to the requirements of each client, to provide unforgettable moments from sunrise to the end of the most star-filled night in the Alentejo. Among these you can choose between activities as distinct as night-time canoeing, excursion by boat on, or by balloon above, the Alqueva, stand up paddle boarding, team-building, orientation, yoga and sports events, among many others.
As rest and relaxation together with comfort are key elements in the reserve, there is a range of places to stay in the Alentejan countryside and there is gastronomy of a very high quality.
