Coimbra

Coimbra is a city and a district of Portugal.

Coimbra city is located 120 km south of Porto and 190 km north of Lisbon in the A1, the main highway of Portugal. The city is the main administrative centre of Central Portugal. Coimbra is set by the Mondego River, about 40 km East of Figueira da Foz, a neighbour coastal city; with several beaches, summer and seaport facilities in the Atlantic Ocean coast.

About Coimbra

Coimbra has a population of more than 150,000 in the city and 500,000 in the metropolitan area. It is the third largest and most important city of Portugal and the capital city of the central part of the country. With a dense urban grid the city of Coimbra is also famous for its monuments, churches, libraries and numerous parks and gardens.

The fame of the city rests mostly on its University of Coimbra with about 25,000 students, but also in shopping, technology industry and administrative and medical services. The university founded in 1290 is one of the oldest in Europe, attracting students from around the world which gives the city a special and rare atmosphere.

Coimbra is also known for the reduced child-scale buildings it has erected within one of its city parks. These building are scale copies of its own typical pieces of architecture.

It has a large archeological site with extensive ruins dating from the time it was a Roman town called Aeminium. The cathedral of Sé Velha, built in the 12th century in the Romanesque style, is still in operation, and it is worth to visit all the old buildings from the university dating XV, XVI, XVII and XVIII century, the New Cathedral from the XVII century, the Monastery of Santa Cruz from the XII century with the tombs of the two first portuguese kings.

Tourism

There is a wide variety of accommodation available, ranging from inexpensive hostels to charming downtown hotels.

Events

Student Parties

Coimbra is also known for it's students parties. Two are held every year.

The first one, Latada, occurs in the beginning of scholar year, and is a welcome to the new University students (Caloiros).

The second one, Queima das Fitas, more important than the first, takes place at the start of the second semester (usually around May) and it's probably the biggest student party in all Europe. It lasts for 8 days, each for each University Faculty, Letras (Humanities), Direito (Law), Medicina (Medicine), Ciências (Science), Farmácia (Pharmacy), Economia (Economics), Psicologia (Psychology) and Desporto (Sports).

Euro 2004

Coimbra's Estádio Cidade de Coimbra (30,000 seats) was a site of the Euro 2004.

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