central Portugal itinerary

Coimbra deserves a couple nights and Óbidos can be seen in 2 hours. If you want to experience it without the hoards of tourists, then spend a night there, but after the tourists leave the shops close and there’s little to do. The main draws in Coimbra are the University and Church of Santa Cruz. The cafe Santa Cruz beside the church has free Fado performances nightly at 6 and 10pm. It is cash only.

We spent 3 nights in Tomar and took day trips to Almourol castle, Fátima, and Batalha Monastery. Believe we spent a couple hours at each Alcobaca and Batalha monasteries. Tomar is a nice town and was the headquarters for the Order of Christ/knights Templar in Portugal. Its main draw is the Convent of Christ.

If just visiting Alcobaca monastery, there is a free, large, parking lot about a 5 minutes walk from the monastery. If going to Batalha monastery there is a nearby free lot, also about a five minutes walk from the monastery. You can look them up before the trip and bookmark them to your navigation app so you can drive right to them.

Thank you jaimeelsabio

I originally was thinking 2 nights for Coimbra but we would arrive by noon so would have afternoon, evening, and whole next day which I wondered was too much.

I had not thought of everything closing up in Obidos. We stayed in Oia on Santorini which is over touristed also and enjoyed the mornings and evenings there. I think the only shops though we went into was the grocery stores.

I suspect the real problem is we want to see more than than we have time. You spent 6 nights and I am talking of spending 3 nights.

Seems like you’re trying to cover too much ground. If it was me, I’d drop the Algarve and concentrate more on the Porto to Lisbon region.

SusanM I agree with you but my husband doesn't! He wants to go to Algarve as our son and his fiance went there and showed us such wonderful pictures.

I sent you a PM.

Thoughts around Evora. We had rented an apartment in Lisbon. But we took a few items in a backpack and headed to Evora (train or bus) and stayed at an inexpensive B&B ($50 including breakfast for two). So, basically double booked but that worked out well since we didn't need to pack up and move locations. I'm not a fan of 1 night stops and just an overnight bag made this 1 night stop painless.

Great tour for Evora is Ebora Megalithica.

https://www.eboramegalithica.com/?lang=en

Gail-thanks for the tour recommendation for Evora.

After much thought, I decided to stay in Coimbra for 2 nights, Tomar for 1 night, and Evora for 2. These are the places that spoke most to me.

Basically, I have come to terms with the fact that we won’t see everything. It is always true, of course, but I had to shorten my “must see” list. It is always hard for me to do. Your comments helped me prioritize.