Odemira

Odemira is a coastal town in Baixo Alentejo, Portugal. The municipality includes the small seaside village of Zambujeira do Mar. It has some fine sandy beaches and picture perfect traditional architecture, making it a small but well loved destination for visitors. Zambujeira's coast is part of the Nature Park of the Southwest Alentejo.

Understand




Odemira (/ɔ.dɨ.ˈmi.ɾɐ/, aw-d(ih)-MEE-ruh) has just over 20,000 residents (2011). With an area of, it's Portugal's largest municipality.

In 2011, Zambujeira was home to about 900 people. The coast of Zambujeira is included within the Nature Park of the Southwest Alentejo and St. Vincent Coast (Parque Natural do Sudoeste Alentejano e Costa Vicentina), covering the various folding clifftops and small beaches/coves of the coast. In addition to the central coastal beach of Zambujeira, the beaches of Alteirinhos, Nossa Senhora, Arquinha and Tonel are geologically significant, as well as attracting summer tourists and vacationers.

The principal activity in the village is tourism, although agriculture, cattle breeding and fishing are common activities for the industrial sectors of the economy. There are four ports along the coast that shelter the fishery ships in the area called Entradas da Barca. By the last half of the 20th century, rural tourism began to punctuate some of the areas of the parish, concentrated on providing quality leisure services associated with rural/farm activities.

Visitor information
Additional tourist offices can be found at Almograve, Santa Clara-a-Velha, and Vila Nova de Milfontes.

Get in
Zambujeira do Mar is about from São Teotónio and twice as far from Odemira town.

Intercity bus service is available from Rede Expressos and Rodoviária do Tejo.



Get around
If you're staying in the village, it's easy enough to walk around. If you're staying further of, e.g. in one of the many "rural tourism" holiday houses out of town, you could opt for a taxi. You can usually find one at the entrance of the beach, where the main street ends.

See
The town has some charming traditional buildings. Among the most notable ones are the fountains of Amores and Santa Catarina.

Do
There are several festivals worth visiting in summer: