“On a Clear Day You Can See Forever” read the absurdly large steel letters announcing my arrival atop the Alqueva Dam. In the background, the cerulean hues of Europe’s largest artificial lake shimmer under the spring sunshine, gently lapping against the Alentejo’s montado landscape.
Across the road, I peer down nervously at the hydroelectric dam drop – nearly 315ft. A gust of wind echoes upwards, interrupting the sweet chorus of swallows’ birdsong. I’ve visited Alqueva a dozen times since moving to Portugal in 2018, but its mammoth design, spanning 96 square miles, still astounds me.
I’ve learnt that the best way to explore this vast, meandering landscape – and a necessity, given it’s a 2.5 hour drive from either Lisbon or Faro airports – is on a circular road trip. For Alqueva is as much about the land as the lake.
Hamlets are seemingly plucked straight from medieval times – and most restaurants serve only traditional, hearty dishes, accompanied by terracotta jugs of regional wine costing as little as €5 (£4.40).
The whitewashed homes of Monsaraz (Photo: Geography Photos/Universal Images Group via Getty)
In nearly all ways, the Alentejo, Portugal’s breadbasket and largest region, is timeless. But Alqueva bucks the trend. These plains were only flooded in 2002 for hydroelectric power and irrigation. Since then, Portuguese tourists have thronged here – the lake is a welcome respite during the sweltering summers – but it’s flown relatively under the radar of foreign visitors.
Handsome, hilltop Moura is always my first post-dam stop. I amble the city’s flower-pot lined streets sloping towards the medieval castle and breakfast on queijadas de requeijão (ricotta and cinnamon tarts) .
It’s around half an hour’s drive north, via the Alcarrache bridge, to the village of Luz. This was the only settlement that was submerged by the lake’s creation and rebuilt two miles north-east. The near-replica village’s museum shows how homes and the church were rebuilt over four years from 1998, stone by stone.
I stay around 10 minutes further north at the serene Herdade dos Delgados (B&B from €150), a secluded spa hotel set on an oak-dotted headland roughly halfway up the eastern shore of the lake.
Views in Alentejo (Photo: Photogilio/Getty/iStockphoto)
From here, the drive across to the western shores of the lake and uphill to medieval Monsaraz is one of anticipation and awe. The fortified, frontier hill town is a cluster of whitewashed cobbled streets bound by castle walls. From the miradouro (lookout), I survey Alqueva in its seemingly endless glory.
A gentle breeze carries the scent of porco preto (Iberian black pig), inviting me to snag a terrace table at Taverna Os Templários as the final rays of sun dance across the landscape. After a slow breakfast, I head to Monsaraz’s praia fluvial (river beach). These pockets of soft, golden sands periodically punctuate the lake with seasonal beach bars and canoe and paddleboard rentals. These are the beaches of choice for locals during the hot summer.
I opt for an hour-long boat trip with Alqueva Cruzeiros (€13.50). Gliding across the reservoir, we pass teeny vegetation-topped islands, and I think I spot a reintroduced osprey high above.
In São Pedro do Corval, home to a centuries-old clay pottery centre, I beeline to Adega Do Cachete. With its blue-trimmed windows and earthenware plates, the €18 lunch buffet showcases the Alentejana kitchen. The more lived-in city of Reguengos de Monsaraz feels like a steal – I’m always in disbelief when a glass of wine in the Núcleo Sporting bar costs just 50 cents.
Take a boat trip
I spend the golden hour splashing around at Praia Fluvial da Amieira. After dinner, I do something magical. Alqueva was designated one of the world’s first starlight tourism destinations, and a lakeside stargazing session with Dark Sky Alqueva (€25) is the perfect finale.
Squinting through a powerful telescope beside Portugal’s newest lake, my eyes searching for the universe’s oldest star, I realise those enormous letters weren’t lying. You really can see forever from here.