| This small border fortress town guards western frontier. The impressive hill-top castle, high on the eastern bank of the Guadiana watches over everything that moves on the river and anything that dares stir on the approach roads for miles around. |
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| The town has been settled since the pre-Roman period and during the Muslim occupation, the town defended the passage of copper mined in the area and transported on the Guadiana. The castle is of great historical significance, for it was here that the treaty between the Kingdoms of Portugal and Castille was signed in the middle ages. |
| Today the years of Spanish-Portuguese rivalry are long gone and the border fortress of Sanlúcar de Guadiana on the opposite bank of the river, exchanges visitors with Alcoutim via a regular ferry service. |
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