Live cameras in Chaves, Portugal

Chaves is a historic town in the far north of Portugal, in the district of Vila Real, about ten kilometers from the Spanish border and some twenty kilometers south of Verín in Galicia. The town itself has about 17,500 people, and the wider municipality more than twice as many. The Romans founded it as Aquae Flaviae, drawn by hot springs that reach about seventy degrees Celsius, and a Roman bridge built under the emperor Trajan still carries people over the Tâmega River. Above the old center rises the keep of the medieval castle, the only part of it still standing, and the town's thermal baths remain in use today.

About these cameras

The cameras gathered under Chaves are not Portuguese. They belong to the DGT, Spain's Directorate-General for Traffic, and they sit on the Spanish side of the border in the Monterrei area of Ourense province, which is the nearest place on our map with official road cameras. The main route between the two countries here is the A24 motorway from Chaves, which meets Spain's A-75 at an international bridge near Feces de Abaixo; the A-75 then runs about thirteen kilometers north to the A-52 motorway near Verín, which links Galicia with the rest of Spain. The views show these highways and junctions as still images that refresh every few minutes, which makes them handy for checking conditions before a crossing.

Portugal keeps Western European Time while Spain uses Central European Time, so the clocks on the Spanish side of the border are one hour ahead of Chaves all year. Winters in this upland valley are cold, with frost and fog on many mornings and occasional snow on the hills toward Verín, while July and August often climb above thirty degrees. Summer weekends and the August holidays bring heavy cross-border traffic as emigrant families return home.

Verín itself is known for its mineral springs and the hilltop castle of Monterrei, which looks across the valley toward Portugal.

Sources: Chaves, Portugal - Wikipedia · Autovía A-75 - Wikipedia · DGT traffic information.