Map of World Heritage Sites in Spain and Portugal

World Heritage Sites in Spain and Portugal, Spain and Portugal

Portugal Sites (by Region)

Alentejo :
Historic Centre of Évora	Évora	Évora	The historic centre of Évora is not definable in a single word, as it spans from Roman times to the 18th century.

Azores :
Landscape of the Pico Island Vineyard Culture	Madalena	Pico Island	An extraordinary man-made landscape, consisting of walls to protect the vineyards from the elements, the fields within, and an assembly of "houses, early 19th-century manor houses, wine-cellars, churches and ports." Its origins go back to the 15th century.
Central Zone of the Town of Angra do Heroísmo	Angra do Heroismo	Terceira Island	Angra do Heroísmo was an obligatory stop for transatlantic shipping from the 15th century until the 19th. It was severely damaged by an earthquake in 1980 and reconstruction is still taking place.

Centro :
Mosteiro da Batalha	Batalha	Leiria	14th-16th century monastery commemorating the Battle of Aljubarrota.
Convento de Cristo	Tomar	Santarém	Stronghold first of the Knights Templar, then of the Order of Christ.
Mosteiro de Santa Maria d'Alcobaça	Alcobaça	Leiria	12th century Cistercian monastery.

Lisboa :
Hieronymites Monastery and Tower of Belem	Belém	Lisbon	The Jerónimos is a 16th-century monastery and culmination of the extravagant Manueline style of architecture. The 5th-century Torre de Belém commemorates Vasco da Gama's expedition to India
Cultural Landscape of Sintra	Sintra	Lisbon	Sintra was the European culmination of Romanticism, with all the extravagances that implies - palaces, castles, parks and gardens.

Madeira :
Laurisilva of Madeira	Madeira Natural Park	Madeira Island	Laurisilva is the ancient forest which covered most of the Mediterranean basin in the Pliocene age, 5,000 to 1,000 million years ago. It used to be common throughout the Spanish and Portuguese Atlantic islands, but is now threatened.

Norte :
Historic Centre of Guimarães	Guimarães	Minho, Braga	Guimarães was the first capital of the new kingdom (1139) of Portugal, so is considered the cradles of the nation. It is a World Heritage site, though, because "its rich building typology exemplifies the specific development of Portuguese architecture from the 15th to 19th century."
Historic Centre of Oporto	Oporto	Porto	Oporto's historic centre is a hilly maze, spilling you down towards the waterfront.
Prehistoric Rock-Art Sites of the Côa Valley	Côa Valley	Porto	"Exceptional concentration of rock carvings from the Upper Palaeolithic (22,000–10,000 B.C.), the most outstanding example of early human artistic activity in this form anywhere in the world," according to the World Heritage Centre.
Alto Douro Wine Region	Alto Douro	Trás-os-Montes	It is officially a cultural World Heritage site, as a "cultural landscape... that reflects its technological, social and economic evolution," but you may prefer to visit it because of its "outstanding beauty."

Spain Sites (by Region)

Andalusia :
Historic Centre of Córdoba	Cordoba	Córdoba	The Great Mosque is the highlight, but the former capital of Al-Andalus has a fine Jewish quarter and much more.
Alhambra, Generalife and Albayzín, Granada	Granada	Granada	The fortified palace complex of the Nasrid dynasty, the last Muslim rulers of Spain.
Doñana National Park	Doñana	Huelva and Sevilla	Outstanding wetlands, with a biodiversity which is "unique in Europe." Because of its proximity to Africa, it is particularly important as a refuge for migratory birds, but mammals such as fallow and red deer, badgers and Iberian lynx are also found there.
Renaissance Monumental Ensembles of Úbeda and Baeza	Úbeda and Baeza	Jaén	The adjacent towns of Úbeda and Baeza experienced an economic boom at the beginning of the 16th century, and both were subjected to urban renovation along Italian Renaissance lines. This was to have great influence on architecture in Latin America.
Cathedral, Alcázar and Archivo de Indias in Seville	Seville	Sevilla	Seville Cathedral is the largest Gothic cathedral in the world, but more famous for its bell-tower, once a minaret, the Giralda. The Archive of the Indies was the repository for documents related with the Spanish American colonies, and the Real Alcázar is a huge complex of palaces and gardens.

Aragón :
Monte Perdido / Mont Perdu	Pyrenees	Huesca	A transnational nature reserve spanning one of the most beautiful parts of the Pyrenees, Monte Perdido is "also a pastoral landscape reflecting an agricultural way of life that was once widespread in the upland regions of Europe but now survives only in this part of the Pyrénées."
Mudejar Architecture of Aragon	Aragón	Teruel, Zaragoza	Mudejar refers to the Muslim artisans and style which perdured in the territories taken by the advancing reconquista.

Asturias :
Monuments of Oviedo and the Kingdom of Asturias	Oviedo	Asturias	The best known ecclesiastical architecture of Asturias is its characteristic pre-Romanesque churches, but churches like Santa María del Naranco, San Miguel de Lillo, Santa Cristina de Lena, the Cámara Santa and San Julián de los Prados, in and around the ancient capital city of Oviedo are also remarkable.

Balearic Islands :
Ibiza, Biodiversity and Culture	Ibiza	Ibiza	The list of criteria for Ibiza's World Heritageinscription must be one of the longest. It begins in the sea, with its shoreline and the Posodonia beds, threatened almost everywhere else in the Mediterranean, but thriving in Ibiza and supporting a rich diversity of marine life. It goes on to mention the island's history as shown in its 16th-century fortifications and the Phoenician ruins and Phoenician-Punic cemetery at Sa Caleta and Puig des Molins, respectively, and concludes with the Upper Town of Ibiza, a fortified acropolis which preserves "in its urban fabric successive imprints of the earliest Phoenicians settlements and the Arab and Catalan periods through to the Renaissance bastions."

Basque Country :
Vizcaya Bridge	Portugalete and Las Arenas	Vizcaya	Built towards the end of the 19th century, the Transbordador was the first bridge in the world to carry people and vehicles in a suspended gondola. It was innovative and elegant, and was much imitated, though few of its imitators survive.

Canary Islands :
Garajonay National Park	La Gomera	Santa Cruz de Tenerife	Ancient laurel forest.
San Cristóbal de La Laguna	Tenerife	Santa Cruz de Tenerife	San Cristóbal de La Laguna has two centres, the older, unplanned Upper Town and the Lower Town below, "the first ideal 'city-territory' laid out according to philosophical principles." This layout was the model for much colonial development in the New World.
Teide National Park	Tenerife	Santa Cruz de Tenerife	The Teide is Spain's highest peak at 3,718 metres, and the national park is a spectacular volcanic landscape.

Cantabria :
Cave of Altamira and Cave Art of Northern Spain	Cantabria, Asturias and the Basque Country	Cantabria, Asturias and the Basque Country	Altamira Cave and other sites in Asturias, Cantabria and the Basque Country.Altamira itself is now closed to visitors altogether.

Castile and León :
Old Town of Ávila with its Extra-Muros Churches	Ávila	Ávila	Ávila's most striking feature is its enormous, city walls, which, "with their 82 semicircular towers and nine gates, are the most complete in Spain." Its immense cathedral is also awesome, this being the home of Saint Teresa of Ávila and probably the h most mystical place in the country.
Burgos Cathedral	Burgos	Burgos	One of the finest Gothic cathedrals in Europe and the only cathedral in Spain with World Heritage status.
Archaeological Site of Atapuerca	Sierra de Atapuerca	Burgos	The Sierra de Atapuerca has been known to hold one of the most important groups of archaeological sites in Europe almost since the day the first was accidentally laid open by the contstruction of a railway cutting back in 1910. Fossils and the remains of stone tools there show how hominids of different kinds lived hundreds of thousands of years ago, and possibly over a million years ago.
Las Médulas	Ponferrada	León	Las Médulas is the alien landscape left by Roman hydralulic mining for gold, which carved out enormous tunnels and galleries in the mountains.
Old City of Salamanca	Salamanca	Salamanca	"Old" here means really old - Salamanca was conquered by the Carthaginians, settled by Romans, and ruled by Muslims. Its university is also one of the oldest in Europe, being definitively founded in 1243, and its Plaza Mayor is considered the most perfect in Spain.
Old Town of Segovia and its Aqueduct	Segovia	Segovia	Legend has it that Segovia's aqueduct was built overnight by Satan himself. The town's historic centre is impressive, the cathedral is one of Spain's most imposing, and Segovia Alcázar is perhaps Spain's finest.

Castile-La Mancha :
Historic Walled Town of Cuenca	Cuenca	Cuenca	Founded by the Moors and conquered by the Christians, Cuenca is a mediaeval walled town and particularly well preserved. Its cathedral was the first Gothic cathedral in Spain, and the casas colgadas hanging over the river far below are world-famous.
Historic City of Toledo	Toledo	Toledo	Toledo has been "successively a Roman municipium, the capital of the Visigothic Kingdom, a fortress of the Emirate of Cordoba, an outpost of the Christian kingdoms fighting the Moors and, in the 16th century, the temporary seat of supreme power under Charles V." It is also historically notable as "the city of three cultures," Christian, Muslim and Jewish, which coexisted here more or less happily, and for its Alcázar.

Catalonia :
Works of Antoni Gaudi,	Barcelona	Barcelona	Seven properties built by Catalan art nouveau architect Antoni Gaudi in or near Barcelona, including the Sagrada Familia basilica marked on this map, the Parque Güell, Palacio Güell and the Casa Milà.
Palau de la Música Catalana and Hospital de Sant Pau,	Barcelona	Barcelona	Modernist (Catalan art nouveau) buildings.
Catalan Romanesque Churches of the Vall de Boí	Various villages in the Vall de Boí	Lleida	The high, narrow, steep-sided Vall de Boí in the Catalan Pyrenees contains nine Romanesque churches, one per village (as well as the Boí-Taüll ski resort, the highest in the Pyrenees).
Poblet Monastery	Vimbodi	Tarragona	A huge Cistercian monastery, founded in 1151.
Archaeological Ensemble of Tárraco	Tarragona	Tarragona	Tarragona, Tárraco, was the capital of the Roman province of Hispania Tarraconensis, the largest of the three provinces in the Iberian Peninsula.

Extremadura :
Archaeological Ensemble of Mérida	Mérida	Badajoz	The town of Augustus Emerita - Mérida - was the capital of the Roman province of Lusitania. The visitable Roman remains include a theatre, an amphitheatre, and a circus, and the adjacent Museo Nacional de Arte Romano is exemplary, attractive and entertainingbut instructive.
Old Town of Cáceres	Cáceres	Cáceres	The history of the mediaeval old town of Cáceres is shown in its architectural mix, a "blend of Roman, Islamic, Northern Gothic and Italian Renaissance styles." Its Arab towers are especially notable, the Torre del Bujaco being the most famous.
Royal Monastery of Santa María de Guadalupe	Guadalupe	Cáceres	Ancient monastery, associated with but predating the Events of 1492 - the conclusion of the Reconquest and the discovery of the New World. Its influence is echoed in many religious and other place names in Central and South America.

Galicia :
Santiago de Compostela (Old Town)	Santiago de Compostela	A Coruña	Santiago de Compostela is the destination of the Camino de Santiago, Way of Saint James, the great mediaeval pilgrimage route which has becom popular again with walkers, cyclists and others who enjoy the journey as much as arriving. It was destroyed by Almansur in the 10th century and completely rebuilt, and its historic centre essentially dates from that time. Even if you are not a pilgrim, most visitors to an extent play at being pilgrims, and the cathedral and tomb of Saint James are Santiago's most unmissable sights.
Route of Santiago de Compostela	Santiago de Compostela	A Coruña, León, Palencia, Burgos, La Rioja and Navarre	The great mediaeval pilgrimage route from France to Santiago de Compostela, the Camino de Santiago or Way of Saint James. This World Heritage route is more accurately referred to as "The French Way" and takes in Navarre, La Rioja, Burgos, Palencia and León, as well as Galicia.
Roman Walls of Lugo	Lugo	Lugo	Back in the 3rd century, when Lugo was called Lucus, its Roman inhabitants surrounded it with these walls, which have survived intact and are considered "the finest example of late Roman fortifications in western Europe."

La Rioja :
San Millán Yuso and Suso Monasteries	San Millán de la Cogolla	Sierra de la Demanda	Suso Monastery is the oldest in Spain, with Visigothic origins. It is also the source of a codex containing the earliest written examples of both the Spanish and Basque languages. Yuso is 11th-century in origin but a largely Baroque building, and still a working monastery.

Madrid :
Monasterio de El Escorial	San Lorenzo de El Escorial	Madrid	The awe-inspiring royal seat of El Escorial, the "Escurial," palace, monastery and centre of the Spanish Empire.
University and Historic Precinct of Alcalá de Henares	Alcalá de Henares	Madrid	Alcalá de Henares was the world's first campus town, the Universidad Complutense being founded here by Cardinal Cisneros in 1496. Its name was taken from the Roman settlement here, Complutum. The "new" town developed around the university was conceived as an ideal, a Civitas Dei, city of God. Alcalá was always important in linguistics, and it does not surprise that the most famous person to come from there, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, author of Don Quixote, is considered the greatest Spanish writer.
Aranjuez Cultural Landscape	Aranjuez	Madrid	Aranjuez is a Royal Seat, with palaces and stately buildings, and gardens of various styles, vertebrated by the River Tagus.

Murcia :
Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin on the Iberian Peninsula	Various locations	Aragon, Castile-La Mancha, Catalonia, Murcia and the Valencian Community	According to the World Heritage Centre, "the corpus of late prehistoric mural paintings in the Mediterranean basin of eastern Spain is the largest group of rock-art sites anywhere in Europe, and provides an exceptional picture of human life in a seminal period of human cultural evolution."

Valencia :
Palmeral of Elche.	Elche	Alicante	Elche's palmeral, palm grove, is a unique example of a North African man-made landscape recreated in Europe. It is an oasis in the strict sense of the word, a fertile area wrested from the aridness by irrigation and horticulture, created in the tenth century and miraculously preserved to the present day. Elche's mediaeval mystery play, the Misteri d'Elx, has also been classified by UNESCO as a "Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity."
La Lonja de la Seda de Valencia	Valencia	Valencia	The mediaeval silk exchange is an unusual, evocative example of secular Gothic.