When to go?

In the life of the Serra da Estrela, the pastures around Celorico da Beira have long been a source of the region`s famous Serra cheese. From December to May the cheese market in the Praça Municipal is a local attraction and every February Celorico holds a lively fair dedicated to the producers of cheese.

Around Rua Fernão Pacheco, running from the main road up to the castle, is the old center of Celorico, a cluster of granite houses with Manueline windows and Gothic doors.

Of the 10th-century castle, battered by a long succession of frontier disputes with Spain. The Saint Mary`s Church, at Largo 5 de Outubro was restored in the 18th century and has a painted coffered ceiling. During the Peninsular War, the church served briefly as a makeshift hospital fot the English forces.