Fortaleza de Sagres

At the south-western tip of Europe, the Fortaleza de Sagres stands on a windswept promontory above the Atlantic. Its walls enclose a vast headland of cliffs and grassland, and its history is bound up with the Portuguese voyages of discovery and the figure of Prince Henry the Navigator.

A fortress at the end of Europe

The fortress was built in the fifteenth century, when Sagres was associated with the preparation of the voyages that opened the sea route to India and Brazil. Destroyed by the earthquake of 1755 and rebuilt, it preserves its long walls, its gateway and its church, within a landscape that still feels like the edge of the world.

What to see

• The walls and the monumental gateway.
• The large compass rose marked on the ground.
• The church of Nossa Senhora da Graça and the old buildings within the walls.
• The cliffs and the views along the wild Atlantic coast.

Visiting the fortress

The fortress is at Sagres, in the municipality of Vila do Bispo, in the Algarve. Opening hours and tickets are published on the official website, so check before your visit.

Visitor information: cm-viladobispo.pt.

Image credit: Fortaleza de Sagres, by Vitor Oliveira, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.