Coimbra (Portuguese pronunciation: [ʁɨʒiˈɐ̃w dɨ kuˈĩbɾɐ]) is an intermunicipal community of Portugal. It was created in October 2013, replacing the previously existing Greater Metropolitan Area of Coimbra. Since 2015, it is also a NUTS3 subregion of Centro region, that covers the same area as the intermunicipal community. The main city and seat of the intermunicipal community is Coimbra. The population in 2011 was 460,139, in an area of 4,335.57 km².
The metropolitan area (Portuguese: área metropolitana) is a type of administrative division in Portugal. Since the 2013 local government reform, there are two metropolitan areas: Lisbon and Porto. The metropolitan areas of Lisbon and Porto were created in 1991. A law passed in 2003 supported the creation of more metropolitan areas, under the conditions that they consisted of at least nine municipalities (concelhos) and had at least 350,000 inhabitants. Several metropolitan areas were created under this law (Algarve, Aveiro, Coimbra, Minho and Viseu), but a law passed in 2008 abolished these, converting them into intermunicipal communities, whose territories are (roughly) based on the NUTS III statistical regions.
The branches of administration of the metropolitan area are the metropolitan council, the metropolitan executive committee and the strategic board for metropolitan development. The metropolitan council is composed of the presidents of the municipal chambers of the municipalities.