Between Lisbon and Coimbra lies Portugal's historic heartland, where the battles that won the country its independence were fought and where some of its most important monuments stand. Within a few kilometres are three UNESCO monasteries: the Cistercian abbey of Alcobaça, with the tombs of Pedro and Inês, Batalha, a masterpiece of Portuguese Gothic built after the victory of Aljubarrota, and the Convent of Christ in Tomar, seat of the Templars and then of the Order of Christ.
The Oeste coast alternates towns and fishing villages: walled Óbidos, Peniche, the port for the Berlengas islands, Foz do Arelho and Nazaré, famous for its seafaring traditions and for the biggest waves in the world breaking below its headland. Inland, Leiria is crowned by its castle and Fátima is one of the world's great Marian shrines, surrounded by the caves of the Serras de Aire e Candeeiros natural park.
The Ribatejo, the land along the Tagus, is the region of Lusitano horses and bulls, fertile plains and folk festivals: Santarém, Golegã with its horse fair, Constância and Almourol castle, on an island in the middle of the river.
Getting around
Óbidos, Nazaré, Alcobaça and Batalha are easy day trips from Lisbon by car or bus; Tomar and Santarém can be reached by train. Below you will find the destinations on the map, our guides and all the municipalities of Leiria and Santarém districts.
Destinations on the map
Guides to the region
Alcobaça
Portugal's largest Cistercian monastery, keeper of the most famous love story in Portuguese history.
Almourol
A fairy-tale castle on a rocky islet in the middle of the Tagus, reachable only by boat.
Batalha
A masterpiece of Portuguese Gothic, built in thanks for the victory that saved the country's independence.
Caldas da Rainha
A town that grew around a fifteenth-century thermal hospital, the capital of Portuguese ceramics.
Fátima
The sanctuary of Cova da Iria, visited every year by millions of pilgrims from around the world.
Golegã
The Ribatejo village that every November becomes the world capital of the Lusitano horse.
Leiria
The city of the hilltop castle, between King Dinis's pine forest and the ocean.
Nazaré
A fishing village that became world-famous for the biggest waves ever surfed.
Peniche
A peninsula of fishermen and surfers, with a fortress full of history and a wild archipelago offshore.
Santarém
A town of Gothic churches above the Tagus plain, from which the armoured cars of 25 April set out.
Tomar
The town of the Templars, with one of the most extraordinary monuments in the Iberian Peninsula.
Óbidos
A perfectly preserved medieval town within its walls, for centuries a wedding gift to the queens of Portugal.