Knights Templar itinerary in Portugal

Nowhere in Europe did the Knights Templar leave as deep a mark as in Portugal. They arrived in the first half of the 12th century, helped the first king conquer the lands south of the Mondego river, built castles along the Tagus line and founded the town of Tomar, which became their capital. When the pope dissolved the order in 1312 and the knights went to the stake in France, the Portuguese king Dinis saved them: he created a new order, the Order of Christ, which inherited the Templars' men, property and castles. It was the Order of Christ, led by Henry the Navigator, that financed the great voyages of discovery, and the Templars' red cross ended up on the sails of the caravels.

This six-day itinerary follows the knights' trail: the mysterious Quinta da Regaleira in Sintra, full of esoteric symbols; the Convent of Christ in Tomar with its Templar rotunda; Almourol castle on its island in the Tagus; the pentagonal tower of Dornes; the castles of Castelo Branco and Monsanto; and the Roman and Visigothic village of Idanha-a-Velha. A journey through history, legends and little-known landscapes of inland Portugal.

The Templars in Portugal

The Order of the Temple was founded in Jerusalem around 1119 to protect pilgrims. As early as 1128 Countess Teresa, mother of the future king Afonso Henriques, gave the knights the frontier castle of Soure. In 1160 the order's Portuguese master, Gualdim Pais, who had fought in the Holy Land, founded the castle of Tomar, which in 1190 withstood a great Almohad siege. When the king of France and the pope destroyed the order, King Dinis refused to hand over its property and in 1319 obtained the pope's approval for the Order of Christ, based first at Castro Marim and then at Tomar. In the 15th century its governor was Prince Henry the Navigator, who used the order's wealth to finance expeditions down the coast of Africa. See the history of Portugal and the Portuguese empire.

Day 1: Sintra and the Quinta da Regaleira

From Lisbon you reach Sintra in about forty minutes. The Quinta da Regaleira is not Templar, but it is the most esoteric place in Portugal: a villa built in the early 20th century for a wealthy collector, Carvalho Monteiro, by the Italian architect Luigi Manini, full of symbols linked to the Templars, Freemasonry, alchemy and the Order of Christ. The garden is an initiation path among grottoes, ponds and towers, and the Initiation Well is a spiral staircase that descends twenty-seven metres underground, with nine landings that, in the most popular interpretation, recall the nine circles of Dante's Inferno, down to a tunnel leading back to the light. In the afternoon visit the National Palace or the Moorish Castle. See Sintra.

Where to stay: in Sintra or Lisbon.

Day 2: to Tomar

Drive north to Tomar (about an hour and a half), an elegant town on the Nabão river founded by the Templars, with a grid of streets. Start in the centre: the Praça da República, with the statue of Gualdim Pais, the church of São João Baptista and the 15th-century synagogue, one of the best preserved in Portugal and now a Jewish museum. In the afternoon walk along the river in the Mouchão park, with its great waterwheel. Every four years, in July, Tomar holds the Festa dos Tabuleiros: hundreds of girls parade carrying on their heads tall stacks of bread decorated with paper flowers, as tall as they are. See Tomar.

Where to stay: in Tomar, for two nights.

Day 3: the Convent of Christ and Dornes

In the morning climb to the castle and the Convent of Christ, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of Portugal's most extraordinary monuments. Its heart is the Charola, the 12th-century Templar rotunda: a sixteen-sided church inspired by the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, where tradition says the knights attended Mass on horseback. The walls are covered with 16th-century paintings and gilded sculpture. Around it, over the centuries, the kings added cloisters, dormitories and refectories, and the great Chapter House window, the masterpiece of the Manueline style, decorated with ropes, seaweed, coral and armillary spheres, symbols of the sea and of discovery. Visit the cloisters, the finest of which is the great Renaissance cloister, and the Pegões aqueduct, which carried water to the convent.

In the afternoon drive to Dornes (about forty minutes), a small village on a peninsula of the Zêzere river, where a pentagonal tower attributed to the Templars stands beside the church. It is a quiet, enchanting place, which in summer can be reached by boat.

Day 4: Almourol and Castelo Branco

Drive down to Tancos (about half an hour), where a boat takes you to Almourol castle, on its islet in the middle of the Tagus: rebuilt by Gualdim Pais in 1171, it was part of the Templar defensive line along the river. Climb the keep for the view. In nearby Vila Nova da Barquinha there is an interpretation centre devoted to the Templars. See Almourol.

In the afternoon drive to Castelo Branco (about an hour and a quarter), a town that grew up around a castle the king granted to the Templars in 1214. The walls and a tower survive, with views over the town. Below, visit the Episcopal Palace garden, one of the most original Baroque gardens in Europe, with staircases lined with statues of Portuguese kings, apostles and virtues. Buy the Castelo Branco embroidery, linen bedspreads embroidered in silk. See Castelo Branco.

Where to stay: in Castelo Branco.

Day 5: Idanha-a-Velha and Monsanto

Drive to Idanha-a-Velha (about three quarters of an hour), one of Portugal's aldeias históricas, its historic villages: today it has few inhabitants, but it was a Roman city, then a Visigothic bishopric, and the Templars built a tower on the podium of a Roman temple. Visit the early Christian cathedral, with its Roman inscriptions, the walls and the Roman bridge. Then climb to Monsanto (a quarter of an hour), a village built among huge granite boulders, with houses wedged beneath the rocks, on top of a hill overlooking the plain. The castle, given to the Templars by Afonso Henriques, crowns the village among the boulders, with an immense view all the way to Spain. See Monsanto and the historic villages.

Where to stay: in Monsanto.

Day 6: Penha Garcia and back

In the morning drive to Penha Garcia (half an hour), a village with a castle on a crag and a gorge with fossils of trilobites almost five hundred million years old, along an easy trail. Then return to Lisbon (about three hours). See Lisbon Airport.

How much it costs

To save money: inland Portugal is cheap, with rooms in rural houses from €50-70 and lunches for €10-12; Monsanto castle and many village monuments are free.

Practical information

• Quinta da Regaleira: in summer and at weekends there are long queues; buy tickets online and arrive at opening time.
• Convent of Christ: allow at least two and a half hours; it closes on some public holidays.
• Festa dos Tabuleiros: held every four years in July; the last was in 2023 and the next is planned for 2027. Book months ahead.
• Roads: inland roads are good but poorly signposted; a satnav helps.
• Documents: EU citizens only need a valid identity card. See getting to Portugal.

Variations

• Batalha and Alcobaça: the two great UNESCO monasteries between Tomar and the sea; see Batalha and Alcobaça.
• Pombal and Soure: the Templar castles between Tomar and Coimbra.
• Castro Marim: the first seat of the Order of Christ, in the Algarve; see Castro Marim.
• The aldeias históricas: the twelve historic villages of the Beira; see the historic villages itinerary.

What to read before you go

A good history of the Templars, from the order's founding to its end; for atmosphere, Umberto Eco's novel Foucault's Pendulum, which plays with Templar mysteries and mentions Tomar. See also Portugal's UNESCO sites and Portuguese architecture.

Final tips

• Pace: give the Convent of Christ a whole morning; it is one of the most complex monuments in Europe.
• Combinations: from Monsanto you can link up with the historic villages itinerary; from Almourol with the castles of Portugal itinerary.
• A tip: in Tomar's Charola, stand in the centre and look up: beneath the octagonal dome you understand why the knights wanted to recreate the Holy Sepulchre here, in a corner of Europe.

See also our other itineraries in Portugal.

Tomar on the map

Nearby