Dark Sky Alqueva Wins Prize for being Europe’s Best Destination ♦ The touristic experience for sky and stars observation is located on the Great Lake of Alentejo, which is expanding to other territories such as the shale villages, won Europe’s Leading Tourist Destination award at the Corporate Travel Awards. The official Dark Sky® Observatory in Cumeada, a village near Reguengos de Monsaraz, 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. Secrets From Portugal, other than just giving you this amazing news is here to let you know something you can do next weekend: start taking notes.
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Dark Sky Alqueva was distinguished as ‘Europe’s Leading Tourist Destination’ at the Corporate Travel Awards of the CEO Today magazine.
Another award for Portugal from CEO Today at the start of 2020 was the Pestana Porto Santo, voted the best resort in Europe in ‘all-inclusive’.
Dark Sky Alqueva has been diversifying its offer and increasing the network of local partners, with its geographical expansion throughout the country standing out as a result of regional partnerships, which has already created the Dark Sky Aldeias do Xisto brand, which also brings together ADXTUR (association that coordinates the schist villages network, in the centre of the country), in addition to the Dark Sky Vale do Tua together with the association ADRVT.
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.
