0 Euro - Naturwaterpark Vila Real

The 0 Euro souvenir note program, administered through licensed distributors under the EuroSouvenir umbrella, began in 2015 as a way for tourist sites and regional authorities to sell legal-tender-format collectibles that carry no actual monetary obligation. Oberthur Fiduciaire produces these to genuine banknote security standards — watermarks, security thread, the works — which makes them considerably more expensive to manufacture than their face value suggests, the face value being, of course, nothing.

The Vila Real issue commemorates the Naturwaterpark in northeastern Portugal's Trás-os-Montes region. Collector demand for regional Portuguese 0 Euro issues has been notably stronger than for equivalent French or German tourist sites, likely due to a smaller domestic collector base driving relative scarcity.