Caldas da Rainha travel guide — Caldas da Rainha tourism and travel information

Caldas da Rainha travel guide

about Caldas da Rainha

Caldas da Rainha is a city (Portuguese: cidade) in Portugal. The name can be translated as "Queen's Hot Springs", "Queen's Spa" or "Queen's Thermal Waters". Caldas da Rainha is the seat of the larger municipality (Portuguese: concelho or município) of the same name. Caldas da Rainha is the capital of the Comunidade Urbana do Oeste (West Urban Community; part of the nation's latest local government plan). The city is best known for its hot springs and pottery.

Caldas da Rainha geography

Caldas da Rainha is located at 39.40°N latitde 9.13°W longitde. The municipality comprises an area of 254.6 km² (updated 2003 statistics). The city is located approximately 82 km north of the Portuguese capital, Lisbon. Although the municipality borders the Atlantic Ocean, the city proper is about 10 km from the ocean.

Administratively, Caldas da Rainha is in the district of Leiria. Statistically, it is in the sub-region of Oeste within the region of Lisboa e Vale do Tejo. Historically, it is located in the province of Estremadura.

The municipality is bordered to the north by Alcobaça, to the east by Rio Maior and to the south by Bombarral, Cadaval and Óbidos.

The municipality of Caldas da Rainha comprises sixteen parishes (Portuguese: freguesias). They are:

Note: Nossa Senhora do Pópulo and Santo Onofre are urban freguesias and form the city of Caldas da Rainha; the other fourteen freguesias form the rural part of the municipality and do not belong to the city. Some sources, including the INE, count part or all of Tornada as being part of the city, due to its increasingly urban nature.

The two freguesias which comprise the city are officially designated by the INE as Caldas da Rainha (N Senhora do Pópulo) and Caldas da Rainha (Santo Onofre). N Senhora do Pópulo is listed by this organization between Alvorninha and Carvalhal Benfeito, as if its name were simply Caldas da Rainha. Santo Onofre is last in the INE's list of Caldas's freguesias, because it was the most recent created, and the INE must not have wanted to upset the numeration of the freguesias.

Caldas da Rainha history

The Founding

Caldas da Rainha was founded by Queen Leonor, wife of King João II. One day in 1484, while traveling from Óbidos to Batalha, she found a group of peasants bathing in foul-smelling waters by the roadside. She stopped to inquire about this oddity and was told that the waters possessed curative powers. She decided to try it for herself. She was pleased to find that she was quickly relieved of some affliction she had been suffering (exactly what is not known). On that site, the queen ordered a thermal hospital built so that others may enjoy the relief that she felt. Construction began the following year, 1485. Although the first patients were admitted in 1488, construction was not completed until about 1496 or 1497. The name of the settlement that grew up around the site (Caldas da Rainha), reminds us of both its founder and the reason for its existence.

Evolution

Caldas da Rainha was officially elevated to the status of town (Portuguese: vila) in 1511. It became a city in 1927.

Historical Tidbits

During World War II hundreds of Jewish refugees came to Caldas da Rainha to escape Nazism.

Near cities to Caldas da Rainha

• Alcobaca travel guide 21 km
• Peniche travel guide 22 km
• Santarem travel guide 43 km
• Leiria travel guide 48 km
• Povoa de Varzim travel guide 60 km
• Loures travel guide 63 km
• Tomar travel guide 65 km
• Sacavem travel guide 69 km
• Odivelas travel guide 69 km
• Amadora travel guide 73 km

Near webcams to Caldas da Rainha

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• Lisabon - Ponte 25 de Abril (Sul) webcam 76 km
• Carcavelos webcam 83 km
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• O Cebreiro webcam 390 km
• La Coruna webcam 440 km
• Madrid webcam 480 km
• Madrid - Glorieta de Bilbao webcam 480 km

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