Portugal by Train/Bus - Help needed please

Not an answer to your question, but have you considered renting a car for that portion of your trip that includes Nazaré and Tomar? There are a lot of sights in this area and a car makes the ability to see them very easy.

Hi Gail - unfortunately I’m not a driver and my travel partner doesn’t want to drive on our vacation.
I’m hoping we have some options that are straightforward with trains/buses for the area.

Tripadvisor had a post with the same question.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g189100-i201-k14735280-Travelling_between_Nazare_and_Tomar_without_a_car-Portugal.html

We also ran into "no one willing to drive" challenge

Ended up using Fernando Batista of portugueseChauffeur
(He has website, Gmail and WhatsApp contact).

You can use him (if he is available) for full day transfer between Coimbra and Lisbon with stops at Tomar, Fatima , Nazarre or Obidos.

We had dozen plus positive reviews on him so far from friends, family and neighbors.

In my opinion, don't skip Tomar. It is easy to get to by train from Porto or Coimbra and to Lisbon. I have not been to Nazare; I was dissuaded by comments on this forum that it tends to be very crowded. If your interest in Nazare is mainly for a beach, there may be other options with easier transportation.

The rodotejo bus schedule indicates a bus from Tomar to Nazare twice per day on workdays (but, as you said, only once per day from Nazare to Tomar),

Thanks everyone

@Gail, I checked out that thread. Too bad there aren’t easier options

@TravelJunkie, I think a private driver might be out of our budget for that long

@CDinDC, I don’t want to skip Tomar either. Sounds lovely there.

I was thinking that we could switch the order:
Coimbra (3 nights) then train to Tomar (lots of options)
Tomar (2 nights) then bus to Nazaré (2 buses 12:45 and 17:25)
Nazaré (2 nights) then bus to Lisbon (2 buses leaving at 6:25 and 7:30)

But 6:25/7:30 are both very early for vacation!

Maybe we’d be better off skipping Nazaré and going to Evora? Evora sounds beautiful too.

Coimbra - Tomar - Évora - Lisbon??
Tomar to Evora, 6 trains/day about 4 hours
Evora to Lisbon, 5 trains/day about 1.5 hours.

Thoughts? Is there somewhere else to consider?

I like Evora, but it can get hot there. Make sure you are good with warmer temperatures. Besides the train, there are buses you can take between Evora and Lisbon. Both the train and bus arrive at Sete Rios in Lisbon, which makes it easy for lots of options regarding departure times. Sete Rios is on the metro line (Jardim Zoológico - blue line).

And if hot weather isn't your thing, Evora can be done as a day trip from Lisbon so you can take the weather into consideration prior to heading there.

If you are looking into day trips, Braga and Guimarães are good ones from Porto.

I'm not at all pushing Nazare, but if you want to go, there are many more buses to Lisbon throughout the day -- 9:20, 10:45, 12:20 etc.

Thanks CD IN DC. I had been looking at http://www.rodotejo.pt/, I just checked https://rede-expressos.pt/en and see the options that you mentioned.

So now is Nazaré still the best option for a 2 night stop on the way from Tomar to Lisbon? I had started looking at Evora and it looks beautiful too!

Hi Megan,

Coimbra - Tomar - Évora - Lisbon??
Tomar to Evora, 6 trains/day about 4 hours
Evora to Lisbon, 5 trains/day about 1.5 hours.
Thoughts? Is there somewhere else to consider?

My daughter and I enjoyed our visit to Portugal, a few years back, and we traveled solely via public transportation.

Our itinerary was similar to what you’re considering, but we flew into Lisbon and went straight to Sintra then >> Évora>> Tomar>> Coimbra>> Porto >> Lisbon.
Here’s our trip report where you may find some helpful information.

Enjoy your time in beautiful Portugal!

Thanks everyone for the help! I think Evora is a better plan for us than Nazaré. Can’t wait!