Things to do in Santarém
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Santarém
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Best months overall, with warm walking weather, everything open and the Leziria at its best.
Agriculture Fair month with rising heat, the city's biggest crowds and highest prices.
Worst months for sightseeing, with inland heat spikes, morning only walking and August closures.
The food and horse window, from the gastronomy festival into Golegã's horse fair.
Wettest and coldest stretch, quiet and cheap, carried by churches and the Diocesan Museum.
The shoulder opens, with improving weather, spring on the Leziria and low crowds.
What's on
- Feira Nacional de Agricultura 6 to 14 June
The National Agriculture Fair and Ribatejo Fair at CNEMA, with livestock, folk dancing and bull programmes.
- Festival Nacional de Gastronomia 22 October to 1 November
The National Gastronomy Festival at Casa do Campino, with regional restaurants, show cooking and convent sweets.
- Feira Nacional do Cavalo 6 to 15 November
The National Horse Fair in Golegã, built around St Martin's Day on 11 November, with Lusitano horses in the streets.
Best things to do in Santarém
Jardim das Portas do Sol
Castle gardens on the plateau edge with the defining view over the Tagus and the Leziria plain below.
Igreja da Graça
Santarém's finest Gothic church, with a carved portal, a rose window and the tomb of Pedro Álvares Cabral.
Igreja de Santa Maria de Marvila
A plain Gothic church outside and an astonishing interior almost entirely clad in 17th century tiles.
Convento de São Francisco
A vast, austere Franciscan Gothic complex from 1242, with vaults, a rose window and a great cloister.
Igreja do Santíssimo Milagre
The church of the 13th century Eucharistic miracle, still a living pilgrimage site with its relic on show.
Museu Diocesano de Santarém
Six centuries of sacred art from the diocese, shown with the cathedral on one ticket in grand college rooms.
Torre das Cabaças
The 15th century clock tower hung with clay pots, now a small time museum and a Santarém landmark.
Casa-Museu Passos Canavarro
A hosted private house museum by Portas do Sol, full of art and layered over Roman and Moorish remains.
Where to stay in Santarém
Historic Centre
first visits, walkable sightseeing
Every Gothic church and the best tascas are minutes away on the flat plateau top, with Portas do Sol a short stroll east.
Fairground and avenue side
fairs, families and drivers
Full service hotels with pools and parking near CNEMA and the bullring, a 15 to 20 minute walk from the old town.
Rural quintas outside the city
quiet, couples with a car
Farm estates with gardens, pools and Leziria views, trading all walkability for silence and space.
Think twice about
- Railway station and Ribeira de Santarém
Isolated at night and short on restaurants, with a steep climb or taxi ride to the plateau for everything. Not dangerous, just the wrong base.
- Fairground and avenue strip as a character base
Good hotels but wide, trafficky streets that feel empty after dark and turn noisy in fair weeks. Sleep there for pools and parking, not for charm.
- Retail and industrial zones by the motorway
Ordinary retail parks with no visitor reason to stay, where every trip becomes a drive.
Best restaurants in Santarém
Ó Balcão
A starred old tavern reinventing Ribatejo cooking around Tagus river fish and house ferments.
Taberna do Quinzena
Santarém's traditional institution by the bullring, famous for lamb stew, cod and huge portions.
Restaurante A Grelha
The city's most reviewed quality grill, serving Ribatejo dishes and daily specials to local families.
Casa dos Torricados
A specialist house for torricado, the Ribatejo signature of coal toasted bread with cod or meat.
Pátio da Graça
Nikkei fusion on a terrace facing the Graça rose window, the city's modern night out.
Chapa 7
The locals' seafood address in a meat heavy city, strong on grilled fish of the day.
Tascá
A lively modern tasca bar open late, with shared plates and a proper drinks list.
Restaurante O Micas
A cheap, hugely popular grill for daily plates, grilled meat and fish, and local lunches.
Outdoor things to do in Santarém
Parque Natural das Serras de Aire e Candeeiros
Limestone ridge walking above the Ribatejo plain, with stone walls, olive terraces and huge views.
Grutas de Mira de Aire
Portugal's largest tourist caves, a deep descent through lit chambers and underground lakes.
Castelo de Almourol
A Templar castle on a rocky island in the Tagus, reached by a short boat ride from the riverbank.
Convento de Cristo
The Templars' Portuguese headquarters in Tomar, a World Heritage convent of cloisters and the round Charola.
Quinta da Alorna
A historic Tejo wine estate in Almeirim pouring since 1723, the region's classic tasting stop.
Santo Estêvão Golf
A Donald Steel course in cork oak country near Benavente, with two lake holes and a fine signature 11th.
Reserva Natural do Paul do Boquilobo
A biosphere reserve wetland of reedbeds and lagoons, best at dawn for herons, ibis and spoonbills.
Santuário de Fátima
One of the Catholic world's great pilgrimage sanctuaries, an easy day trip north west of Santarém.
Best hotels in Santarém
Verdi Santarém
The city's flagship four star, with indoor and outdoor pools near the CNEMA fairground.
A Casa Brava
A tiny, top rated guesthouse in the old town with a garden and a saltwater pool.
Quinta dos Anjos
A rural estate stay outside the city with gardens, a pool and Leziria quiet for drivers.
Hotel Umu
A renovated, dependable three star with balconies, breakfast and free parking near the centre.
Tagus Host
Highly rated budget apartments with river and city views and a sun terrace, good for longer stays.
Hotel Vitória
An honest, cheap two star in the centre, the fair week fallback when everything else is gone.
Is Santarém expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | €55 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | €95 a person |
| Splurge | €190 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Casa-Museu Passos Canavarro: a few days ahead
- Grutas de Mira de Aire: a few days ahead
- Quinta da Alorna: a few days ahead
- Santo Estêvão Golf: a few days ahead
- Ó Balcão: weeks ahead
- Taberna do Quinzena: a few days ahead
- Restaurante A Grelha: a few days ahead
- Casa dos Torricados: a few days ahead
- Reserve Ó Balcão days to weeks ahead and note it closes on Sundays.
- Book hotels early for the June agriculture fair and the late October gastronomy festival.
- The Diocesan Museum closes on Tuesdays and churches often close over lunch.
- Book Mira de Aire timed entries in summer and Golegã rooms months ahead for the horse fair.
Is Santarém safe?
- Heat is the main hazard, with summer afternoons regularly passing 35 degrees inland.
- Carry water on the Aire e Candeeiros trails, where shade is scarce.
- Supervise children at the unfenced plateau edges and castle walls at Portas do Sol.
- Designate a driver for rural roads after wine tastings and fair dinners. Emergency number 112.
Santarém travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Do not come for shopping or nightlife, both are ordinary or absent here.
- The municipal aquatic complex is a local amenity, not a visitor attraction.
- Bullfighting anchors the fairs and is not for everyone, so plan around it knowingly.
- The Gothic churches are austere architecture, not jewel box spectacle, so set expectations accordingly.
Getting around Santarém: public transport and more
- Use Estação de Santarém below the plateau, about an hour by train from Lisbon, then taxi up with luggage.
- Do not confuse the city station with Vale de Santarém halt, which is in a different village.
- Walk the compact plateau old town, taxi the rest, and drive the excursions.
- Lisbon is about an hour by the A1 motorway, Almeirim 15 minutes and Tomar about 35 minutes.
Who Santarém suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Good |
| Couples | Good |
| Bachelor parties | Not ideal |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | Not ideal |
Make Santarém your trip
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