Guarda – About the city
The Municipality of Guarda is situated in the center of the Beira region, between Planalto Guarda-Sabugal and Serra da Estrela. This privileged location allows its approximately 712.11 km2 of the area to be shared by the hydrographic basins of such important water courses as the Mondego, Zêzere and Côa Rivers. The Municipality of Guarda confines the source with the Counties of Pinhel, Almeida, and Sabugal, to the south with those of Belmonte and Covilhã, and the west with Manteigas, Gouveia and Celorico da Beira.
The city of Guarda – which had its first Foral on November 27, 1199, granted by D. Sancho I, King Povoador – is the capital of District and its Council has, according to the 2011 Census, a total of 42 541 inhabitants. By its area, by the number of inhabitants and by the number of parishes, the county of Guarda is one of the largest Portuguese municipalities.
Currently the Municipality is made up of 43 parishes: Adão, Aldeia do Bispo, Aldeia Viçosa, Alvendre, Arrifana, Avelãs da Ribeira, Benespera, Casal de Cinza, Castanheira, Cavadoude, Codeceiro, Faia, Famalicão, Fernão Joanes, Gonçalo, Gonçalo Bocas, Guarda, João Antão, Maçaínhas, Marmeleiro, Means, Panóias, Pêga, Pêra do Moço, Port of Carne, Ramela, Santana D’Azinha, São Miguel do Jarmelo, São Pedro do Jarmelo, Sobral da Serra, Union of Parishes of Avelãs de Ambom and Rocamondo, Union of Parishes of Corujeira and Thirty, Union of Parishes of Mizarela, Pêro Soares and Vila Soeiro, Union of Freguesias of Pousade and Albardo, Union of Freguesias of Rochoso and Monte Margarida, Valley of Star, Valhelhas, Vela, Videmonte , Vila Cortês do Mondego, Vila Fernando, Vila Franca do Deão and Vila Garcia.
Heiress of a rich and unique cultural heritage, the Guard encloses in its walls more than 800 years of History and it holds one of the most beautiful and best-preserved patrimony built of all the country.
At the highest point of the city rises the Tower of Menagem, maximum symbol of all the defensive structure and sign of the courage of these people who throughout the centuries defended the Portuguese border. The Sé Catedral, true icon of the City, has constructive and aesthetic qualities that impose it as one of the major monuments of the whole history of Portuguese architecture.
The exceptional location in the context of the entire Central – North area of the country, affirms Guarda as an important platform in the region ‘s accessibility network, being the main urban center in a network of directions where important road links (A25 and A23) intersect and railways that boost its modern Business Initiative Logistics Platform and its renewed Industrial Park.
The purity of the air that breathes here justifies the tradition of a city of health and well-being, which together with cultural, sports and leisure facilities make this mountain land one of the best places to live and visit!
