2 1/2 Euros World Heritage - Alto Douro

Portugal's 2½ euro denomination was introduced specifically to accommodate the World Heritage series, a format with no precedent in the country's modern coinage. The Alto Douro wine region received UNESCO designation in 2001, recognized not for its scenery but for the cultural landscape shaped by nearly two millennia of continuous viticulture — Roman-era terracing is still in agricultural use along the valley walls.

The copper-nickel alloy chosen for this series was a deliberate cost constraint; earlier proposals had included bimetallic constructions.