Castles in Portugal were crucial components of the military across history. The Portuguese learned the art of fortification construction from the Romans and the Moors. The Romans, who ruled and colonized the territory of current-day Portugal for more than 4 centuries, built forts with high walls and strong towers to defend their populations. The Moors, who invaded the Iberian Peninsula in the year 711, brought new stonework and heavily fortified gates to the peninsula.

There are two main types of castles: those built and preserved by the Muslim Moors from the 8th to the 13th century, and those built and preserved by the Christian Kingdom of Portugal founded in the 12th century.

Portugal in the Middle Ages was a crossroads of cultures, with hostile Moors to the south and rival Iberian kingdoms to the east. Today, Portugal’s more than 150 forts and castles are persisting monuments to the nation’s will to be independent. While larger and mightier countries were absorbed by others, Portugal, with its proud castles and the soldiers who defended them, evolved.

As a place, Portugal has well-defined geographic boundaries, with the Atlantic Ocean to the south and the west, and rivers and mountains to the east and north. It occupies the westernmost portion of the Iberian Peninsula, and is about the size of the American state of Indiana. The country is a place of topographical contrasts as well, which is common on a peninsula. The areas around Porto in the north are hilly and green, with fertile river valleys and a rocky coast. The green mountains turn less fertile as they spread to the east, and become ferociously high as they move south to the Beiras. Along the coastal Beiras, the topography becomes hillier, with pine forests and a sandy coast. The area around the capital of Lisbon is known for its white rocks, olive fields, and open spaces. The great river Tejo separates the nation in half, with the yellow hills and cattle fields of the Lisbon area on the north bank. To the east lie the granite hills of the Beiras. The area south of the river is the vast golden plains known as the Alentejo. Finally, the red cliffs and green hills of the Algarve lie to the south.

This page is a list of castles and castle ruins in Portugal, arranged by region:

region: Entre Douro e Minho

region: Trás-os-Montes

region: Beira Litoral

region: Beira Interior

region: Estremadura and Ribatejo

region: Algarve

region: Alentejo