Observatório Oficial Dark Sky Alqueva

Awesome experience, as in truly awe inspiring. Despite the night being a bit cloudy we managed to spot several planets, a bunch of constellations and several shooting stars. The resident astronomer was very informative and fun. Answered any questions there were and even helped us take some pictures with our phone through the telescope. An experience we won't soon forget.

I had 2 sessions, one to observe the sun and the other for the night sky. I loved this whole experience. My first time looking at the sun through a telescope designed just for it. Rebecca was my guide for this session viewing the sun and for me, it was amazing to see with my own eyes and also really informative. The night sky session with Miguel was equally fantastic. Even in the winter sky we were able to see Orion Nebula and Jupiter with its 3 moons. The night session also super informative and Miguel is an accomplished astophotographer so you can see his work and purchase something if you want a memory of the experience. The observatory is set up nicely. Ticket prices are really reasonable and value for money. Highly recommend a visit.

A really interesting and pleasing experience. The visit was lead by a very knowledgeable astronomer who made the visit very enjoyable. Note not the easiest place to find in the dark as there is no signage on the main road that passes the village.

Had a great experience checking out the night sky in this dark sky reserve. It was the first time I saw a nebula and the rings of Saturn through a telescope. Highly recommended!

Great experience learning about space and seeing stars, planets and nebulas!

Was a great star gazing experience with Dark Sky team. Attended the Solar observatory session and it was amazing to see the surface of the sun and the prominences, flairs that erupt from its surface. It was combination of theory and telescopic observation at the same time. The night star gazing session was especially spectacular! You get to see the Milky way galaxy and the constalations, Jupiter and Sanitarium very Cleary with naked eye and impressive views from the telescopes. This place in Europe has very less light noise which makes it a fantastic experience to see the sky and stars like you never had before! The astronaut guide Nun was very knowledgeable, and made the sessions very entertaining! Special thanks to Rebecca who organized the tour and Carolina the photographer! If you are in Portugal, make sure to book a tour with Dark Sky team!

What a lovely sky gazing experience we had at the Dark Sky observatory! Our guide Nuno was extremely enthusiastic about astro physics and very informative about the stars and all astronomy related. During the session we talked about a variety of topics and we were able to see the milky way, Andromeda galaxy, many stars, star clusters, nebulae, and even planets through telescopes.
I highly recommend this experience to anyone who's enthusiastic about the universe.
And a special thanks to Nuno for his dedication in answering all of our questions!
Will be back in the future for sure for another session during a different time of the year :)

Great experience. Clear explanation on a bit of everything. The best was seeing nebulas and solar system planets.
Thanks!!

P. S. Black holes and dark matter not included :)

We had a grate time there. Felt like the guide knew something about each star in the sky. It was very interesting, engaging and fun. Now we will probably never forget how to find the North Star!

Highly recommended!!

Even with our bad timing (due to the full moon), Nino still made our night very special. His description of the night sky and wonderful stories made our night very special.

We were able to take pictures of saturn and the moon with our phone and ask questions about the stars and the night sky. We learned how to never get lost using the north star and how the stars would evolve over time.

The team is also very facilitating. I proposed to my partner at the observatory and Rebecca did a wonderful job at fulfilling my request.

Thank you again Rebecca and Nino and we wish you a wonderful future at the observatory!

A really good time. Hearing and seeing a lot about Planets, Moons, Stars, Constellations and Galaxies.

Absolutely fantastic guided tour! Very professional and knowledgeable team! Thank you very much!

Great experience for any age! The tour was very informative. Highlight of my visit was seeing Saturn! Breathtaking

You think you know some space because you have an app in your phone that shows you the stars but here I could see all the things I didn't know just from that. The explanation and resourcefulness of the speaker to engage in the night sky is marvelous, is a great experience for all ages and backgrounds, definitely will re-visit every time

Overall it was an unic experience where we could see de dark sky. After a few time in darkness we can realise our eyes adapt and a lot of stars are visible, including the milky way. Something to repeat. Thanks to the staff for excellent work.

AMAZING experience, we saw Saturn and many other stars, thank you Beca for organising!!

We had an amazing experience, luckily the sky was super clear.
The reservation process with Rebecca was very smooth, the guided experience with Nuno was super pleasant and fun. We learned a lot in such a short time. Definitely recommend it for a weekend trip.

Very fun and intelligent stargazing session with lots of details on what you see, how stars work, their life cycle etc.
I went during a full moon and we looked at it through a telescope and I learned a lot !

Amazing experience!! The sky was clean and the guide gave very clear explanations. We saw Saturn and one of its moons!!

Was here at the end of september with my travel group and it was such an amazing experience! Our very friendly guide tought as a lot about the nightsky, stars, galaxys and we even saw a beautiful saturn! To the guide: thank you very much!