Lodging Recommendations for Central Portugal

We used Tomar as a base to visit Batalha and Fátima (on the same day trip). While we did spend nights in both Óbidos and Nazaré, they are only an hours drive from Tomar. Alcobaca is a few miles outside of Nazaré. If using Tomar as a base, consider stopping at Óbidos and Alcobaca when heading out of Lisbon to avoid some backtracking. Each can be seen in 2-3 hours as can Batalha. Depending on what you wanted to do in Nazaré, it too could be seen in a few hours. There will be no huge waves in Nazaré in September. Fátima may take longer depending what you want to visit while there, e.g., just the sanctuary or the sanctuary and where the Angel of Peace and Mary appeared.

To avoid backtracking altogether, you could visit Óbido and Alcobaca, then spend a night in Nazaré. From it you could visit Batalha and Fátima en route to Coimbra. If you didn’t mind changing hotels, then after Fátima, you could spend a night in Tomar, then head to Coimbra.

The good news is there are free parking lots at each place you want to visit. Looking them up ahead of time and bookmarking them to you navigation system can save you some time.

We spent one night in Óbidos at Casa São Thiago do Castelo, which is a small family run guesthouse. Clean rooms, nice breakfast included, at the castle end of the walled town. You will need to park outside the walls and walk in with luggage. Would recommend. We stopped in Alcobaça and Batalha on the way to Tomar where we spent two nights at Thomar Story Guest House, another small guesthouse overlooking the river. Very modern, updated rooms, breakfast is available for extra fee (we opted to eat at local coffee shops). No elevator, and parking is across the river, about five minute walk. Would recommend. If you don't need lots of bells and whistles we found guesthouses to be really well-priced in Portugal.