Blue Coast (Costa Azul)

One of the most valuable assets of the Costa Azul (or Blue Coast) lies in nature. The 60,000 hectares of protected areas governed by regulations and special protection measures constitute the very best that nature has to offer and mankind has been able to preserve.

Tagus, the Caparica Fossil Cliffs, Arrabida, Sado; Santo Andre, and Sancha Lagoons and Southwest Alentejan Coast are names that reflect the best of our landscape and the best preserved areas of our environment. 

The Tagus Estuary Natural Reserve with it Setubal estuarine waters, mud-flats and fens, salterns, islets and farm land has a population of 80,000 birds in Winter and is truly a sanctuary for the rarer species of Europe.

Close by the 13 kilometres of beaches is an area of huge environ mental value, which is, at one and the same time, a leisure and entertainment area.

The Caparica Fossil Cliffs Protected Landscape is a geological formation of great beauty surrounded by characteristic flora and fauna.

The Arrabida Natural Park is the natural link between Sesimbra, Palmela and Setubal, and it constitutes the meeting point of the green and majestic hills and the ocean, blue and indented, that lies beyond the cliffs, the small inaccessible beaches and the modest stretches of dunes.

The Sado Estuary is an area abundant in life and it is a point of encounter of river and ocean that has allowed channels, creeks and mud-flats to Costa de Caparica fossil cliffs, become home both to mammals such as the otter; the badger and the fox; and to about a hundred species of birds including the white stork, the marsh harrier and the heron.

Portinho da Arrabida and Porto Covo reveal the intimist scale of the small beach. Sesimbra bears witness to the Portuguese way of living the sea and shows the traditional fishing.

The Atlantic Ocean, the river of typical craft and discrete distances. Inland, the dams form their plains of water. Yachting, windsurf, water-ski, canoeing, rowing, surf, bodyboard, motor-boating, diving and angling fill the Costa Azul with activity and colour. Boat clubs, underwater activity centres and marine tourism companies provide the ever necessary support.

Typical craft of the river Tagus and the Galeoes (old salt wherries) of the river Sado provide trips through tradition and history .Boat trips invariably provide a promise of surprises, bedazzlement and dolphins. Dolphins that are the symbol of sea and nature in the Costa Azul. A year of adventure and discovery in the seas of the Costa Azul.

Museums, archaeology and monuments take you on a trip though the rich past of the Costa Azul. At the very bottom of history traces of the Neolithic, of the Chalcolithic and of the Iron Age reveal the very beginnings of the human adventure, mankind's initial gestures and the challenge of survival.

Roman presence has left throughout the entire geography of the Costa Azul important remains that include activities and facilities of an industrial nature, spas, shrines and a hippodrome. History and the passage of time have left the Costa Azul with a remarkable trail or mediaeval castles, renaissance palaces, manor houses, churches, chapels, convents and shrines that invite you to make an appointment with a representation of the world of those days.

Our museums also provide another vision of our way of life down the centuries.

The culture of a people is the memory that every day is built up and experienced at festivals, fairs and feasts, at displays of culture and handicrafts, at the bull-fight. The Costa Azul is rich and diverse in events that are organised yearly, a calendar of encounters with tradition, religious sentiment, a liking for festivity and celebration, the display of that which makes us unique, the construction of our identity.

Whatever the month or the time of year in the Costa Azul some event is always taking place, some celebration will be a cause for festivity. In every municipality, from the South where the coast and the plains come together to the Tagus, a world of happenings is waiting for you, the culture of our people still and forever to be remembered and continued.

In addition to the sea the Costa Azul has a rural, inland world where everything is softness, peace and. tranquillity .The relief is itself an invitation to the horizon where cork oaks and evergreen oaks rise up towards an intense blue and to a light of permanent Summer.

The typical houses of the Alentejo mark the presence of mankind and are gendy revealed as though glued to the landscape. The towns and villages are white, the houses gathered together in exemplary harmony, the casdes vigilant and haughty.

Tradition is not just a memory but is alive and is a part of today's world. Food that tastes of the land and handicrafts that maintain techniques and transform materials are a constant feature that is not to be lost. On the Costa Azul, the plain travels along vine-covered ground that flows to the sea.

The Costa Azul with its southness, its plains, its blue lagoons, its historic centres that constitute a heritage of great wealth.Traditions, savours, arts and crafts recalling pleasures of old.

Coast and hinterland meet in the cuisine of the Costa Azul. Fish and shellfish bring the sea to our eating habits. On the plains the taste of the Alentejo invades the dishes and retempers the palate.

To the south, as we move inland from the sea, the Fried Pork and Bread Paps and the Alentejan Bread and Garlic Soup, or the Fried Rabbit sharpen the appetite and satisfy the palate. No meal in the Costa Azul is complete without the dazzling array of our traditional sweets, in which the Pine Kernel and Honey Pinhoadas and the Pine Kernel Buns of Alcacer and the s-biscuits and tartlets of Azeitao occupy a place of honour.

It was Azeitao that lent its name to one of Portugal's most famous and appreciated cheeses. The Costa Azul is also a land of excellent wines. From the Muscatel to the reds of the Periquita grape variety and the whites of the Fernao Pires. The Wine Route of the Costa Azul is a visit to nine of the most outstanding wineries of our region and a discovery of the culture and tradition of both vine and wine.

Nature, landscape, coast, beach, gentle hills of cork-oak groves, dunes stretching beyond the horizon, diversity In the Costa Azul all this means golf. Golf adds surprise to proximity, diversity to an outstanding landscape. Costa Azul golf is five 18- hole courses joined by the geography of the region and at a distance from Lisbon that can be measured in minutes.

Five golf courses that are five reasons to come to the Costa Azul, five reasons to make a passion for golf a revelation. In the Costa Azul golf is an encounter between true moments of leisure and a magnificent landscape. Each of the five golf courses provides knowledge of a region in which nature, protected areas.

Ocean beaches and a rich heritage join together to form an exceptional scenario for golf to be played. In the Costa Azul the Troia, Montado, Quinta do Peru and Afoeira I and II golf courses provide the services, equipment and conditions to make of golf moments of pure pleasure.

To discover in materials a story, an art and a use was the destiny chosen by the artisan. In the encounter with the milieu, in the construction and reinvention of traditional techniques and skills and in the representation of the world, handicrafts have taken shape and have become objects.

Ancient knowledge and skills have been joined this century by an urban world that has found alternatives to mass production and has created new styles based on the traditions of the ornamental arts and crafts to which it added vanguardist trends, a capacity to experiment, technical in genuine and a lively imagmation.

In the Costa Azul craftsmen, studios and artisans´ workshops bring life, form and distinction to materials. Discovery of our handicraft is truly an encounter with the region, with tradition and with our way of life.

In the Costa Azul life, colour, discovery and adventure reveal the land, provide contact with nature and suggest entertainment and recreation. Walks, off-road drives, hot-air ballooning, diving, riding and equestrian events, go-karts, guided trips on the traditional boats of the Tagus and the Sado, cruises, ultralight-flying, bicycle rides, hang-gliding, parachuting, these are just a sample of what awaits you in the Costa Azul.

A world of events, undertakings and possibilities that turn a holiday idea into a true adventure. An adventure with nature, emotion and the landscape of the Costa Azul.

In the Costa Azul places and events that linger as though the memory of a visit. In a universe of artistic events and expressions, the Festroia -Troia international Film Festival (first two weeks of June), the Almada Theatre International Festival (4 to 18 July), the FIAR- Street Arts International Festival (last weekend of July), Palmela) , the Sines World Music Festival (last weekend of July) or the Seixal / Jazz ( October/November) are events of international standing.

Differing artistic expressions and various forms of feeling imbue the music, the cinema and the theatre in the Costa Azul. A region of culture cannot but extend an invitation to one of the many shows that should not be ignored by reason and by the senses. Vanguard and tradition, sounds of the world and stars of the cinema, the emotion of the theatre, the pathways of jazz and the sound of surprise. On the Costa Azul, culture and shows are synonymous with quality.

The memory of a meeting is made of colours, savours, light, emotions. The wide open places. A seminar is also a break. A moment for encounter. A space for reflection. A time to bring knowl up to date and to exchange experiences. A meeting begins by a place.

Services and equipment, facilities and hospitality. Simultaneous translation, projection equipment, the revelations of multimedia, video, sound, personalised decor, coffee- shop, bar, ancillary services.