Reservoir · Portugal
Alqueva Reservoir
Reservoir in Portugal
- Area
- 244km²
- Average depth
- 17m
- Elevation
- 152m a.s.l.
- Shoreline
- 326km
- Volume
- 4.2km³
Alqueva Reservoir is a reservoir in Portugal. It covers 244 km². On average it is 17 m deep. Its surface lies 152 m above sea level.
Plan your visit
Stay, sail and get there
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The water
How warm is Alqueva Reservoir?
The water is warmest in August, around 27 °C at the surface, and coldest in January, around 12 °C. The surface averages 20 °C or more from May to October: comfortable for most swimmers.
It does not normally freeze in winter.
On the shore, afternoons reach 35 °C on average in August and 13 °C in January. The driest month is July (3 mm of rain), the wettest October (81 mm).
Average surface temperature measured by the Landsat 8 satellite between 2013 and 2021 at the point furthest from the shore (103 readings). Shallow bays and beaches are often warmer.
From above
The whole lake from space
Month by month
The year at the lake, month by month
Not a forecast: these are averages over many years. Water is the 2013–2021 average; air, rain, sun and wind are the 1991–2020 average.
Water: 2013–2021 averageClimate: 1991–2020 average
| Month | Water°C | Water high°C | Air high°C | Air low°C | Rainmm | Rainy daysdays | Sunh/day | Windkm/h |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 12 | 12 | 13 | 3 | 56 | 9 | 5.2 | 14 |
| February | 12 | 13 | 14 | 4 | 51 | 8 | 6.4 | 15 |
| March | 14 | 16 | 18 | 6 | 63 | 8 | 7.2 | 15 |
| April | 18 | 20 | 20 | 8 | 57 | 9 | 8.4 | 14 |
| May | 22 | 24 | 25 | 12 | 37 | 7 | 10.2 | 14 |
| June | 25 | 27 | 31 | 15 | 13 | 3 | 11.9 | 14 |
| July | 27 | 28 | 35 | 17 | 3 | 1 | 13.0 | 15 |
| August | 27 | 28 | 35 | 18 | 5 | 1 | 11.8 | 14 |
| September | 26 | 27 | 30 | 16 | 29 | 5 | 9.4 | 12 |
| October | 22 | 24 | 24 | 12 | 81 | 9 | 6.9 | 14 |
| November | 18 | 20 | 17 | 7 | 80 | 10 | 5.6 | 14 |
| December | 14 | 16 | 14 | 4 | 60 | 10 | 5.0 | 14 |
Water: LakeTEMP (Landsat 8, 2013–2021). Air, rain, sun and wind: NASA POWER, 1991–2020 averages. A rainy day has at least 1 mm of rain. Sunshine hours are derived from measured solar radiation.
Size & depth
How big, how deep
- On average, water stays in the lake for about 11 months before flowing out.
- Its catchment drains 55,045 km² of land.
- About 144 m³ of water flow out every second, on average.
- Its shoreline is 5.9 times longer than a circle of the same area: plenty of bays and inlets.
Around the shore
What's around Alqueva Reservoir
Counted within 1.5 km of the shoreline in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit.
- 10beaches and swimming spots
Praia Fluvial do Lago, Playa de Cheles, Praia Fluvial de Monsaraz, Praia Fluvial de Mourão, Praia Fluvial de Azenhas d'El Rei and 5 more
- 6campsites
Rosário Rural Campsite and 5 more
- —boat hire and water-sport clubs
- 22marinas and slipways
Amieira Marina, Cais Ancoradouro da Barragem de Alqueva, Cais Ancoradouro da Estrela, Cais de Alqueva, Alquevatours and 17 more
- —ferry piers
- 6viewpoints
Miradouro da Luz and 5 more
- 19hotels, B&Bs and chalets
Hostel de Alqueva, Monte do Caneiro, Hostal "La Casa Verde", Herdade Monte da Tapada, Monte Alerta Turismo Rural and 14 more
- —fishing spots
- 33restaurants and cafés
Towns on the shore
- Cheles1,313 people
- Mourão
Nearest airport with scheduled flights: Badajoz Airport (BJZ), 86 km in a straight line.
Car hire at BJZ airport (Badajoz)Discover Cars · Affiliate linkOpenStreetMap is built by volunteers: when a number is low, it may just mean nobody has mapped it yet.
Photos
Seen by visitors
Recent years
How each month compared
Afternoon high on the shore. The first row is the reference, the 1991–2020 average in °C; the years below show the difference from it: warmer in orange, cooler in blue.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991–2020 average | 13.1 | 14.5 | 17.6 | 20.5 | 25.4 | 30.9 | 34.6 | 34.7 | 30.0 | 23.7 | 16.9 | 13.6 |
| 2020 | +0.2 | +3.3 | +1.1 | −1.2 | +0.9 | −1.9 | +2.8 | −0.5 | +0.4 | −1.1 | +1.3 | +0.1 |
| 2021 | −1.3 | +0.8 | +0.5 | +0.2 | −0.2 | −0.5 | −0.5 | +0.4 | −1.4 | +2.2 | −0.5 | +2.4 |
| 2022 | +1.4 | +2.7 | −0.6 | −0.4 | +3.5 | +0.3 | +4.1 | +0.9 | −1.2 | +2.6 | +2.2 | +3.0 |
| 2023 | +0.3 | +0.5 | +2.3 | +5.8 | +1.5 | +1.8 | +1.3 | +2.0 | −1.3 | +2.8 | +1.9 | +0.6 |
| 2024 | +2.3 | +2.4 | +0.1 | +2.0 | +1.1 | −0.7 | +1.9 | +2.4 | +0.2 | −0.3 | +2.6 | +1.2 |
| 2025 | +1.8 | +1.5 | −1.6 | −0.2 | −0.3 | +2.2 | +1.0 | +1.8 | +0.5 | +3.8 | +0.5 | −0.1 |
+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual
Nearby
More lakes nearby
Spain93.1 km² · 211 km away28°maxValdecañas reservoirSpain38.5 km² · 243 km away27°maxLagoa da VelaPortugal0.5 km² · 251 km away24°maxAguieira ReservoirPortugal11.3 km² · 239 km awayLagoa dos BraçosPortugal0.2 km² · 250 km away25°maxPateira de FermentelosPortugal1.7 km² · 274 km away25°maxAbout these numbers
| Outline, area, depth, volume | HydroLAKES v1.0 (Messager et al. 2016) · CC BY 4.0 |
|---|---|
| Water temperature and ice | LakeTEMP v1 (Korver et al. 2024), Landsat 8 2013–2021 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Air, rain, sun, wind | NASA POWER, 1991–2020 · public domain |
| Names and description | Wikidata (Q18616171) · CC0 |
| Around the shore | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
Every figure is an average or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
