• Location

    

Coimbra is located in the center of Portugal, 110 km south of Porto, 200 km north of Lisbon. It is set by the Mondego River, about 40 km east of Figueira da Foz, a city on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean with beautiful beaches. Just outside the municipality, there are also several mountain towns, such as Lousã and Penacova, and spa towns and villages such as Luso, Buçaco and Curia.

Coimbra is at the meeting point of major thoroughfares. It is served by one of Portugal's biggest crossroads (A1), which links to Oporto and to Lisbon and by a freeway (IP3) which allows the connection to Viseu and to Spain. The city is only about 3 hours from Salamanca and 2 hours and a half from Vigo.

The town  has an area of 316,8 Km2 and 140 000 inhabitants.

It  is crossed for the biggest Portuguese river:  "Rio Mondego".

The Roman period was very representative in Coimbra which was called Aeminium. It can be seen many traces of that period; because of this, Coimbra is a very interesting place for archeologists and historians.

Coimbra was also very important in Medium Age.

From 1139 until 1256, Coimbra was the capital of Portugal. 

The tomb of our first King lies in Holy Cross Church,

Coimbra has one of the oldest universities in Europa and the first portuguese university. There are, also, many other Institutes and many students. Because of this, Coimbra is known as the "Students Town".

 

 

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