Alcoutim

Home of the Guadiana International Music Festival​

The first annual Guadiana International Music Festival took place in late October 2013 with musicians from Alcoutim, Portugal and Sanlúcar de Guadiana, Spain, on the banks of the magnificent Rio Guadiana, in the Algarve.

The festival was originally imagined by Irish ex-pat Paul Doody as a way for the area’s international residents to ‘give something back’. For several decades, sailors have made their way up the Guadiana to find a safe harbour and a warm welcome on the mighty Guadiana River.

With many tides, some sailors stay… buy land and houses and settle quietly into the rural communities, growing their gardens, making music and creating art. 

This year we are celebrating 10 years since we began in 2013 and expanding the festival to include an art exhibition.  We also plan to include some guided walks over the weekend. This makes the Guadiana International Music Festival a three-day music and arts festival.

The Guadiana river is home to both tranquillity and excitement. Its springtime Contrabando festival is legendary, and this smaller, more intimate celebration, provides the perfect Autumn gathering, as sailors head back upriver after summer adventures, and visitors return to the cooler hiking trails.

For more about Alcoutim, how to get there and where to stay, click here

For more tourist information click here