Sabugal is a city and a municipality in the District of Guarda, Portugal. A border municipality with Spain, the population of the municipality in 2011 was 12,544, in an area of 822.70 km2. The city proper, located along the Côa river, has a population of about 3,000 inhabitants. There is a castle in the city of Sabugal proper as well as other castles outside the urban centre in a number of places around the entire municipality of Sabugal. Those are the castles of Sortelha, Alfaiates, Vilar Maior and Vila do Touro. The municipal holiday is the Monday after Octave of Easter. It is also place for the Sabugal Dam built in 2000 and the river beach of Devesa, both located in the Côa river. At an elevation of roughly 750 m (2460 ft) above sea level, Sabugal is among the highest cities in Portugal.
It is famed for its Gothic castle with a pentagonal outer wall and an inner wall with five square towers overlooking the Côa river. Besides its ancient castle, Sabugal was the location of the 1811 Battle of Sabugal, a Peninsular War engagement of British troops under Arthur Wellesley (later the Duke of Wellington) and French troops under the command of Marshal André Masséna, from which the British and their Portuguese allies emerged victorious. Sabugal has a Jewish heritage since at least the 16th century. In memory of the presence of Jewish communities in Sabugal, there is today an interpretation centre of the Jewish heritage, next to the castle.
