Alentejo in December: Weather, Rain Days and a Two-Day Plan

ALENTEJO · DECEMBER · IPMA NORMALS 1991-2020

Évora’s thermometer reads 58.3°F on an average December afternoon and 41.5°F before dawn. That gap does most of the planning for you: the cork-oak plains and the walled hill towns are comfortable to walk from late morning onward, and cold enough at either end of the day that a wool layer stops being a nicety. Rain shows up in the month, though nowhere near daily.

What the date takes away is light. On December 15 the sun is up for 9 hours 33 minutes, rising at 7:40 am and gone by 5:13 pm local time, so a two-town driving day has to start in the dark. If your trip is still movable, November and the year-round view in our month-by-month verdict for Portugal are the two comparisons that matter.

On this page

• Average highs, lows and rain daysDecember weather at Évora
• What to wear at 8am and at 3pmThe 16.8°F daily swing
• Hotel prices and when to bookCrowds, taxes and the holiday week
• Things to do in short daylightÉvora, Monsaraz, Almendres
• A two-day route based in ÉvoraThe 48-hour plan
• November or January instead?How the three months compare
• Is December worth the trip?Our verdict

Every figure here comes from one thermometer: IPMA station 558 at Évora, 247.6 m above sea level, in the middle of the region rather than on a coast used as a stand-in. The rest of the Alentejo differs. Higher ground toward the Spanish border runs colder and a good deal wetter, and the coast keeps its own weather, so pack for the elevation you will actually stand on.

Alentejo weather in December: average highs, lows and rain days

The numbers above are IPMA’s 1991-2020 normals, published by Portugal’s national weather service for its Évora station. That matters because a station reading and a reanalysis grid cell are not the same animal, and the two can part company by several degrees on the overnight minimum. What Évora records for December is an average afternoon of 58.3°F, an average night of 41.5°F, and 3.35 inches of rain across the whole month.

Spread across thirty-one days, 8.7 wet days means measurable rain lands roughly one day in three and a half, and the heavier bracket, 3.2 days at 0.39 inch or more, is the one that reshapes an itinerary. Watch the threshold before comparing with an American table: IPMA counts from 0.04 inch, while US summaries usually start at 0.10 inch, so the two day-counts are not interchangeable.

Between the 41.5°F night and the 58.3°F afternoon sits 16.8°F of daily swing, and that is the packing brief. A fleece or wool mid-layer you can shed by noon, a rain shell for the wet third of the month, and shoes with grip for polished stone lanes that turn slick. Our Portugal packing guide has the full list; the Alentejo variant is simply warmer at dawn than you expect from a Mediterranean map.

Light is the scarcer resource. On December 15 sunrise comes at 7:40 am and sunset at 5:13 pm, which gives 9 hours 33 minutes of usable day, and the last hour of it is low, gold and gone fast. Breakfast happens before dawn if you want a full outdoor afternoon, and dinner reservations in Évora fall well after dark whatever time you book.

How warm is Alentejo in December?

Take the two ends of the day apart and the month makes sense. Afternoons average 58.3°F, which in still sunshine on an open plain feels like walking weather rather than winter. Nights average 41.5°F. The 16.8°F between them is wider than most coastal readings in Portugal, because Évora sits inland at 247.6 m with nothing to hold the day’s heat after sundown.

In practice that means two outfits inside one day. At 8am you want the jacket, a hat and warm hands on the steering wheel. By two in the afternoon, most people are down to a shirt and the mid-layer tied around the waist, at least in sun. Shade reverses it instantly, and the north side of a walled street in Évora can feel ten degrees colder than the square it opens onto.

We could not verify a count of nights at or below freezing at the Évora station, so we give none. Remember that 41.5°F is the average of nightly minimums, meaning individual nights run colder, some of them well colder. Water is the other blank: we found no sea-surface series for the Alentejo coast, so no swimming temperature appears. If you find one elsewhere, check whether it averages daily maxima, which reads warmer than a round-the-clock mean.

How busy is Alentejo in December? Crowds, prices and when to book

December falls outside the Portuguese summer season, and the Alentejo is a region of small towns and converted farm estates rather than resort blocks. We found no monthly occupancy figures and no room-rate series for the region, so we crown no month the cheapest and none the busiest. What the calendar does say is that demand in this month is concentrated, not spread: the last ten days carry Christmas and New Year, and the first two weeks carry almost nothing.

Book the holiday nights first, then fill in the rest. Rural estates here run to a handful of rooms, and the family dates around December 25 and January 1 are the ones that close out. We could not verify typical booking lead times for Alentejo properties, so we give no number of weeks, but the shape of the choice is clear enough: rigid dates at the end of the month, flexible dates at the start. Where to stay in Portugal sorts the property types.

Tourist tax in Portugal is set by each municipality rather than nationally, and we could not verify a rate for Évora or for any other Alentejo town, so we quote no per-night amount. Ask at booking and expect it as a separate line at checkout. Our Portugal trip-cost guide covers how the charge usually appears.

One upgrade genuinely changes this month, and it is heating. A stone house with 41.5°F outside at six in the morning is only pleasant if it has real central heating or a working wood stove, and listings are not always explicit about it. Ask before you pay. The second line worth protecting is the car, since the region’s towns sit far apart on empty roads: our rental guide explains the tolls and the insurance trap.

Things to do in Alentejo in December: Évora, Monsaraz and the Almendres stone circle

Cool air is what the month hands you. At an average 58.3°F, a full afternoon on foot across Évora’s walled center costs nothing in effort, and the drive between hill towns happens with the heater on rather than the air conditioning. December sits within one degree of January’s afternoons, 57.4°F, and a full 5.4°F below November’s 63.7°F, so this is properly the cold half of the Alentejo year rather than an extension of autumn.

The three anchors are within easy reach of one base. Évora holds the Roman temple, the fortress-like cathedral, the bone chapel and the arcaded Praça do Giraldo, all walkable from one another. West of town, the Almendres stone circle stands in an open field of holm oaks. East, Monsaraz is a whitewashed walled village on a ridge above the Alqueva reservoir. We could not verify December opening hours or admission prices for any of them, so check before you set out, and see our Évora guide.

The stones do not change with the season; the air around them does. Almendres has no shade and no shelter, which is an asset at 58.3°F and a problem on the 3.2 days a month when rain arrives at 0.39 inch or more. Monsaraz’s ridge catches wind that the plain below never feels. And Évora’s polished pavement gets slippery wet, which is the practical argument for the gripped shoes rather than anything fashionable.

The free part of the month is the walking, and in December it is unusually comfortable: the ring of city walls, the aqueduct arches running into the old town, the square at dusk when the low sun hits the arcades around half past four. Which sites waive admission at this time of year, we could not verify, so treat any free entry you find as a bonus rather than a plan.

Alentejo in December: a two-day itinerary

Day one stays in Évora and runs backward from the light. Coffee at 8am while it is still gray, the cathedral and the Roman temple from 9:30 when the doors open and the streets are empty, then a long indoor lunch through the coldest end of the morning’s chill. Save the walking for 1pm to 4pm, when the thermometer is closest to 58.3°F, finish on the walls as the sun drops toward 5:13, and accept that dinner will be a fully nocturnal affair.

Day two takes the car. Head west in the first hour of light for Almendres, where morning sun rakes the stones at an angle you will not get at noon, then drive east for a late lunch and an afternoon on the ridge at Monsaraz, aiming to be back on the road well before dark. If rain sets in, invert the whole thing: Évora’s museums and churches absorb a wet morning easily, and the standing stones will still be standing when the sky clears.

Alentejo in December vs November and January

Rain barely distinguishes these three months: 8.8, 8.7 and 8.6 wet days, which is the same weather risk three times over. Volume is where January separates, at 2.70 inches against December’s 3.35, a difference of 0.65 inch falling on the same number of days. Temperature tells the real story. November’s afternoons run 5.4°F warmer than December’s, while January’s run only 0.9°F cooler, and the nights follow the same pattern, 46.2°F against 41.5°F against 40.1°F.

Shift four weeks earlier and you buy back that 5.4°F on the afternoon plus warmer mornings, for identical odds of rain. Shift four weeks later and you give up almost nothing in warmth, 0.9°F, while the month’s rainfall drops by roughly a fifth. What December holds against both, and what no table shows, is the position of the holiday week in the middle of it. No water temperature for any of the three could be verified, so none of this settles a swimming question.

Is December a good time to visit Alentejo?

Yes, for anyone whose trip is built on walking, driving and eating. Afternoons at 58.3°F suit a full day in Évora far better than heat does, roads between the hill towns are quiet, and rain interrupts roughly one day in three and a half rather than settling in. No, for anyone counting on the coast, on long evenings outdoors, or on packing three towns into a day that offers 9 hours 33 minutes of light.

If that second list is yours, move to November. It is the warmest of the three months by a clear margin, 63.7°F by day and 46.2°F at night, with the same 8.8 wet days and a good deal more daylight at each end. The one thing it does not carry is the end-of-year calendar. Our November page runs the same numbers.

December’s own argument is the pairing: the shortest days of the year attached to afternoons still comfortably in the fifties, which means a real outdoor day and then five hours of dark evening to spend at a table.

The last word

Decide the heating and the holiday nights, and the rest of an Alentejo December takes care of itself. One last caveat worth carrying in the suitcase: the 58.3°F and the 41.5°F belong to a thermometer at 247.6 m in Évora, in the middle of the plain. Drive up toward the hills near the Spanish border and it gets colder and considerably wetter, drive west to the coast and the day flattens out into something else entirely. Same region, three different packing lists.

Sources & data for this guide

• December normals (58.3°F high, 41.5°F low, 3.35 in) · IPMA, climate normals 1991-2020, station 558 Évora, altitude 247.6 m · checked Sep 23, 2026
• Wet-day counts (8.7 days at 1 mm, 3.2 days at 10 mm) · IPMA, same station and period. IPMA thresholds differ from the 0.10-inch threshold used in US tables · checked Sep 23, 2026
• November and January normals · IPMA, same station and period, not estimates · checked Sep 23, 2026
• Daylight, sunrise 07:40 and sunset 17:13 on December 15, converted to local time · sunrise-sunset.org · checked Sep 23, 2026
• We could not verify sea temperatures, occupancy or room-rate series, municipal tourist-tax rates, December opening hours or admission prices, or any event dates, so none appear above · check operators when you book.

To plan your stay

• Things to Do in the Alentejo: Évora, the Almendres Stones, Alqueva's Dark Sky and the Wine Towns
• Best Time to Visit the Alentejo: Weather Month by Month, Summer Heat and the Quiet Season
• Alentejo in January: Weather, Rain Days and What to Do
• Alentejo in November: Weather, Rain Days, Crowds and a Two-Day Plan

Nearby places

• Évora, Portugal: the Roman Temple, the Walled Center and the Train from Lisbon
• Cascais, Portugal: the Town Beaches, Guincho and Where to Stay
• Ericeira, Portugal: the Surf Reserve, the Beaches by Level and Where to Stay