Help with Portugal Itinerary

Obidos is good for a few hours. We regretted staying there as it was so small and crowded with tourists.
We loved Alcobaça. Make sure to see royal tombs including those of King Pedro and his lover Inés. Quite a story..
Nazare îs ok for a seaside lunch.
We didn't have any interest in Fatima and were told it would be a major religious holiday when we would be nearby so skipped it. None of these places are very far from each other.

Fatima would be my least favourite of your options, closely followed by the overrated Nazare.

Obidos is worth a couple of hours maximum. I wouldn’t go during the summer school holiday season. Too busy. Alcobaca, Batalha and Tomar were my favourite places when I visited this area.

Our interests and experiences were somewhat different than those who posted above. We were in Portugal in early March and had Obidos completely to ourselves the morning of our visit. We were only there for a couple of hours and wished we had more time. Such a beautiful place. There isn't much to Nazare other than the view of the ocean. The church in Alcobaca has fantastic interior architecture, and the story of the lovers was interesting. We didn't find much else there and found this to be a good lunch stop after touring the church. Our guide gave a powerful presentation on Fatima before our visit, and we found it to be a very special place. The Convent of Christ in Tomar is well worth a visit, but we didn't find there to be much to the actual town.

My choice of the ones you mention would be Alcobaça and, as the others noted, Obidos, if you go early to avoid the tourist hordes. I also like Tomar and Batalha. If you are Catholic, you might be interested in Fatima but I’ve never been or had a desire to go, so my opinion might not be valid if you’re religious.

Obidos is great for about three hours, Nazare is worth a stop. Fatima, I don't recommend.

The Batalha Cathedral is worth a visit. Sintra, closer to Lisbon is great.

Thank you all for your suggestions. They've been helpful for narrowing things down. One additional question: We are going to Coimbra. Is it a good idea to take a guided tour of the town/university or just wander around on our own?

Hi Maryann,
Coimbra is a nice city to wander on your own, but I’d highly recommend booking a guided tour of the university via their website:https://visit.uc.pt/en/program-list . Make sure you choose the “Guided Visit” which costs €20.
Our university tour guide was excellent, IMO.

It looks like the English guided tour is only offered at 3PM, so not sure this will work with your schedule.

Here’s my trip report on Coimbra with more details, if you’re interested.

Enjoy your trip!

Hi Maryann,
We were in Portugal in 2016. Our RS Tour covered the areas you mentioned. We spent 2 nights in Obidos and felt a stop would have been fine. We did stop in Nazaré for a lovely lunch and that was fine in our opinion. We really enjoyed Alcobaça. Fatima was brief and not a favorite stop. I agree with Priscilla that Coimbra has a lot to offer. Her trip report is very informative. ;) We enjoyed our two nights. The University tour was especially memorable since we were there in September and the students were returning. Our local tour guide was wonderful! We have never regretted hiring a tour guide when we travel. Enjoy your planning!

We visited all of these in August. As noted by many, Obidos is worth a couple of hours, but no more. It's basically 2 streets, jammed with tourists and tacky souvenir shops. The only restaurant we could find a table at was mediocre at best. It probably didn't help that the day we were there, there was a medieval festival underway. We spent the morning being jostled along the streets while avoiding a bunch of 6 year-olds with wooden swords (with sharp points--child safety didn't seem to be a big concern) Nazare is highly overrated, IMO. The ocean is nice, but if you're not a beach devotee or a surfer, skip it. You can have a nice seafood lunch in plenty of other towns in Portugal. I thought Alcobaca was lovely, and the Pedro and Ines story adds to the romance of it all. If you are a devout Catholic, and know the story of the shepherd children's visions of the Blessed Mother, you would probably be interested in Fatima. Otherwise, it's two big and not particularly beautiful churches, a couple of tombs (2 of the 3 children are buried there; the child who survived to adulthood was a Carmelite nun, and is buried in Coimbra.) and mobs of people. I will give them credit, though, for the way the site is presented. I expected a Catholic Disneyworld, but there were no rosary bead hawkers or T shirts, and only a few beggars. The parking is great (and free), although it can be quite a hike from the parking to the church. Be prepared for no social distancing and hearing the rosary said over loudspeakers. For devout Roman Catholics, it's a pilgrimage site; if you're not, I'd give it a pass.

Interesting topic! We’re planning to have our first trip to Portugal in May next year, and as part of that we were thinking of using Nazare as a base for 2-3 nights, for leisurely day trips to Obidos, Alcobaca, Tomar, and Batalha (we’ll probably skip Fatima). I thought Nazare would be nice for strolls along the beach and drinks/dinner at the end of each day.

Roger - I used Tomar as a base for Alcobaca, Batalha, Obidos and Nazare. I wish I'd chosen any other beach town to visit. The beachfront was lined with kitschy shops and cafes for tourists. Tomar was easy to drive in and out of and find public parking (my hotel didn't have any). There's a really fun (and tasty) 15th century restaurant and other good choices as well.

Chani- wow, can you suggest any other beach towns in central Portugal? Rick Steves’ guidebook makes Nazare sound quite nice, I thought. Peniche looks interesting, but unfortunately no mention about it in Rick’s guidebook.

Roger, sadly no. I didn't do my homework good enough.

To answer your question about other beach towns to use as home base - you might want to check out São Martinho do Porto. I spent almost a week there during my scouting trip before moving here and really liked it. It’s easy to drive in and out of and close enough to all the places you mention for day trips (which I did).

There are nice restaurants and beach side strolls. It’s beach is quite unique as it’s on a bay which protects it from wave action. Very popular in the summer with Portuguese families since the children can safely go in the water.