You must know Oliveira do Hospital in the province of Coimbra, because this year, like every year, the most important cheese festival in Portugal is going to be held there!
“Serra Da Estrela” cheese festival dates for 2023:
March 11 and 12.
The festival notice can also be visited on the municipality’s website.
Among the festival’s attractions:
Fair of cheeses, sausages, and traditional Portuguese culinary products.
- Cultural performances.
- Traditional cheese making workshops.
- Meet the star of the festival.
- DOP Serra da Estrela cheese.
The biggest Cheese Festival in Portugal returns on March 11 and 12 to the city center of Oliveira do Hospital.
The event, which wants to continue to establish itself as the main tourist attraction in the central region of Portugal, has Serra da Estrela cheese DOP as its king of the feast, considered one of the best cheeses in the world, and will be attended by hundreds of exhibitors of endogenous products, sausages, Dão wines, honey, handicrafts, and a lot of gastronomy.
During the second weekend of March there will be several initiatives that the thousands of expected visitors will find in the festival grounds, in Largo Ribeiro do Amaral (downtown), and that extends to some nearby streets, with emphasis on cheese and wine tasting from the Dão, shearing and live cheese making, or animal exhibition.
It is also important to highlight the promotion of local handicrafts through the presence of different artisans from Oliveira do Hospital who, on the stage of the Queijo Serra da Estrela tent, will give live demonstrations of their handicrafts.
Cultural and musical entertainment will be a constant, with the presence of dozens of groups from the municipality and the region that will perform in the festival grounds and on the various stages installed in the event.
Visitors can also watch the usual cooking shows, always based on one of the Wonders of Portuguese Gastronomy, Serra da Estrela cheese, and other local quality products.
The Mayor, José Francisco Rolo, emphasizes that this event, responsible for attracting many thousands of visitors to Oliveira do Hospital, gives great centrality to a product of great excellence such as Serra da Estrela cheese, as well as other endogenous products, generating great business conditions and wealth for its producers.
The mayor also emphasizes that the Serra da Estrela Cheese Festival is a great lever for the local economy, giving as an example the high occupation rates that are normally registered in the restaurant and hotel sectors.
We will all strive for the edition of another successful fair, and that shows the country our enormous touristic and gastronomic potential, projecting an image of great dynamism and vitality of our producers, says José Francisco Rolo.
Promising to be one of the most media-friendly national events, the Serra da Estrela Cheese Festival starts on March 11, at 9 a.m., with a live broadcast of the TSF Terra-a-Terra program.
On Sunday afternoon, the spotlight will be on TVI’s “Somos Portugal” program, between 2 and 8 PM, which will showcase the country’s biggest cheese festival on television screens in Portugal and abroad.
