The Almendres with an archaeologist and the afternoon in Évora.

Sixteen kilometres from Évora, in a cork-oak wood next to the hamlet of Guadalupe, almost a hundred granite monoliths form one of the largest megalithic complexes in the peninsula. You can go on your own, but without explanation they are stones in a field. Ebora Megalithica, a small team of archaeologists based at the hamlet's interpretation centre, runs a three-hour visit in Spanish that adds the Almendres menhir and the Anta Grande do Zambujeiro, one of the largest dolmens in the peninsula. This plan puts that visit in the morning, lunches in Évora and leaves the cathedral and the Roman temple for the afternoon. From Badajoz it is an hour and a quarter by car; from Mérida, a little under two hours.

The day, hour by hour

Stop times are Portuguese time, one hour behind Spain.

8:45 (Spanish time) · Leave. From Badajoz along the A6 to Évora and from there west towards Guadalupe. You arrive around 9:30 Portuguese time, with time to find the interpretation centre, on Rua do Cromeleque.

10:00 · The Almendres and the Zambujeiro, with an archaeologist. The visit runs from 10:00 to 13:00, in groups of three to seven people, and costs €30 per person. They explain how and when the monuments were raised, how the people who built them lived and the landscape of cork and holm oak montado around them. Book with the form on their website: do it days ahead, because the groups are small. The last stretch to the cromlech is a dirt track that an ordinary car can manage slowly.

13:30 · Lunch at O Antão. Twenty-five minutes back to the city; park outside the wall. On Sunday, many eateries in the centre close. O Antão does not: it opens for lunch from Wednesday to Sunday, from 12:00 to 15:00, on Rua João de Deus, two minutes from Praça do Giraldo. Traditional Alentejo and Portuguese cooking, with no published menu: ask for the dish of the day and, if the weather is good, a table in the courtyard by the well. Book by phone or email, because on Sunday it fills up. From there you walk up to the cathedral for the afternoon.

15:30 · Cathedral, cloister and terrace. The Sé, of Gothic granite at the top of the centre: cloister, museum and a terrace over the rooftops for €5. It closes at 17:00; under-12s with their parents do not pay.

16:45 · Roman temple. The 1st-century Corinthian columns, a few steps away, in a square with no ticket office. Next to it, the Diana garden looks out over the plain.

17:30 · Return. You reach Badajoz around 19:45, Spanish time.

On your own or with a guide

The cromlech is in the open air, with no ticket office or opening hours: you can go on your own, at dawn or at dusk, when the shadows of the menhirs lengthen. The guided visit makes sense if you want to understand what you see and reach the Zambujeiro with someone who explains it. If you go on your own, bring water and go in low light.

With children and with a dog

The megaliths work well with children and teenagers: it is open countryside and every stone has a story. Check the minimum age with Ebora Megalithica before booking. Dogs can go to the cromlech on your own; for the guided visit, ask when you book. They are not allowed into the cathedral.