Things to do in Tomar
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Tomar
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Best window: warm and green, the reservoir warming up, everything open and no August crowds.
Harvest season, swimmable reservoir water into September and the Santa Iria fair in October.
In 2027 the Festa dos Tabuleiros makes July unmissable; in other years it is hot and pricier.
Worst heat: inland afternoons of 35 to 40 degrees make sightseeing a dawn and dusk activity.
Cold rain, short days and reduced hours, but the emptiest convent and the lowest hotel prices.
What's on
- Festa dos Tabuleiros early July 2027, then 2031
Quadrennial Festival of the Trays: hundreds of carriers process with bread towers through flower carpeted streets.
- Feira de Santa Iria around 20 October
The city's annual fair honouring Saint Irene, with market stalls, food and fairground rides by the Mouchao.
- Congresso da Sopa spring, dates vary by year
A mass soup tasting celebrating Tomar's soup making tradition; check the CM Tomar agenda for the year's date.
Best things to do in Tomar
Convento de Cristo
The Templar castle convent above Tomar, five centuries of building around the round Charola and the famous Chapter House window.
Templar Knights Tours
A private local guide for the convent and old town, the only luxury tier Tomar offers and the key to its unlabelled symbolism.
Sinagoga de Tomar
Portugal's oldest synagogue, a small vaulted prayer hall from the 1400s that now holds the Abraao Zacuto Luso Hebrew Museum.
Igreja de Santa Maria dos Olivais
The Templar pantheon across the river, burial place of Gualdim Pais and the Order's Grand Masters, with a separate bell tower.
Igreja de São João Baptista
The parish church on Tomar's main square, best paired with a terrace seat at golden hour under the convent on the hill.
Parque do Mouchão
The shady river park on the Nabao bend by the old bridge, with a working waterwheel and the small Chapel of Santa Iria.
Mata Nacional dos Sete Montes
The convent's former walled forest, now shady trails, formal gardens and the Charolinha retreat linking town to castle walls.
Aqueduto dos Pegões
A two tier aqueduct over 30 metres high that fed the convent, free to visit and walkable along the top of its water channel.
Where to stay in Tomar
Centro Histórico and Praça da República
first trip, all-round base
Sleep inside the Templar grid and the whole Do section is on foot, with the square's cafes and the best restaurants minutes away.
Mouchão and the Nabão riverfront
families, pools and green views
Full service hotels with gardens and pools by the river park, a five minute stroll from the centre.
Santa Maria dos Olivais and the station side
value, parking and practical stays
Ordinary residential Tomar with supermarkets, easy parking and the city's honest budget beds.
Think twice about
- Convento hilltop
Almost no lodging, no evening dining and a steep walk for every coffee. Visit it, do not sleep on it.
- Far side of the station, if car-free
Residential and quiet, but every sight becomes a trek without a car. Fine with a car, poor without one.
Best restaurants in Tomar
Restaurante Beira Rio
The closest Tomar comes to author cuisine, an elegant central dining room with a serious wine list and polished service.
O Sabor da Pedra
The celebration lunch of the Castelo do Bode shore, a stone built restaurant at the reservoir's highest price band.
Restaurante Sabores Ao Rubro
Tomar's consensus favourite dining room, generous Portuguese plates and grilled meats at fair prices, full most nights.
O Tabuleiro
A dependable classic a minute from the main square, careful traditional cooking with pork cheeks and fish rice the named dishes.
Taverna Antiqua
A candlelit medieval themed tavern serving boar, codfish and its witch's stew, theatrical and genuinely good for groups.
Restaurante Bela Vista
Traditional Portuguese dishes on a terrace over the Nabao, the slow evening pick after a day at the convent.
Alpendre
The locals' out of centre favourite, warm service and excellent seafood for an inland city, full of Portuguese families.
Cervejaria Do Fernando
A no frills cervejaria near the convent where a grilled lunch, soup and a beer cost little and the day's fish is the order.
Outdoor things to do in Tomar
Castelo de Almourol
A Templar castle on a granite island in the Tagus, reached only by a small boat, with the keep view up and down the river.
Praia Fluvial de Alverangel
The closest reservoir swimming beach to Tomar, grassy and shaded with a floating platform in the warm Castelo do Bode water.
Praia Fluvial do Lago Azul
The reservoir's best equipped beach, with a floating pool, lifeguards in season and kayak, paddleboard and pedal boat hire.
Praia Fluvial de Dornes
A small river beach in a whitewashed peninsula village under a pentagonal Templar tower, with kayak and paddleboard hire.
T-Experience
Tomar's local paddling operator for guided kayak and canoe trips on the Nabao and the Zezere reservoir arms.
Barragem de Castelo do Bode
Walk across the great dam wall with the Zezere gorge on one side and the still reservoir lake on the other.
Royal Óbidos Golf Course
Seve Ballesteros's last design and the nearest visitor playable championship golf to Tomar, about 75 minutes by motorway.
Best hotels in Tomar
Hotel República
Tomar's top address, a five star boutique hotel in the old bank building right on the main square, with a small spa.
Vila Galé Collection Tomar
The resort option by the river, a large Templar themed hotel with indoor and outdoor pools and generous family rooms.
Casa dos Ofícios Hotel
A 14 room 18th century house hotel near the square, each room themed on a historic Tomar trade, with breakfast included.
Thomar Boutique Hotel
A design led four star near the square with a rooftop terrace facing the castle and rooms that feel a price band higher.
Hotel dos Templários
Tomar's grand four star by the Mouchao park, with gardens, indoor and outdoor pools, tennis and a proper restaurant.
Thomar Story - Guest House
A small, warmly run central guest house with simple spotless rooms, the budget way to keep the old town base.
Hotel Cavaleiros de Cristo
A straightforward two star doing the basics well, clean rooms, air conditioning and parking at Tomar's lowest hotel prices.
Pensão Residencial Luanda
The honest bottom rung, a family pensao with a bar and 24 hour desk a short walk from the centre at the lowest rates.
Is Tomar expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | €55 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | €110 a person |
| Splurge | €220 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Convento de Cristo: a few days ahead
- Templar Knights Tours: weeks ahead
- T-Experience: a few days ahead
- Royal Óbidos Golf Course: weeks ahead
- Hotel República: weeks ahead
- Vila Galé Collection Tomar: weeks ahead
- Casa dos Ofícios Hotel: weeks ahead
- Restaurante Beira Rio: a few days ahead
- For the Festa dos Tabuleiros in July 2027, book rooms eight or more months ahead; the town sells out.
- Buy the 15 euro convent ticket online at peak times; the combined World Heritage ticket covers Batalha and Alcobaca too.
- Reserve Casa dos Oficios, Sabores Ao Rubro, Beira Rio and Royal Obidos tee times ahead at weekends and in season.
Is Tomar safe?
- Heat and sun on the convent climb and the aqueduct channel in July and August; carry water and go early.
- The top of the Aqueduto dos Pegoes is narrow and unfenced; keep small children off it.
- Fast traffic across the Castelo do Bode dam at sunset; park in the end bays and cross with care.
- Swim at lifeguarded reservoir beaches; depths shelve suddenly elsewhere. Emergency number 112.
Tomar travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Tuk tuk rides at the square for a climb you can walk in fifteen pleasant minutes; agree any price first.
- Cafeteria prices in the convent's immediate orbit; eat in town for half the cost.
- Paying Lisbon day tour prices for transport alone when the direct train plus a ticket does the same day for less.
- Visiting small museums on a Monday, when the municipal pattern closes several of them.
Getting around Tomar: public transport and more
- Walk the centre: station to square in ten minutes, square to convent gate in fifteen uphill minutes more.
- Trains from Lisbon take about two hours and are cheaper booked ahead on CP; driving takes about 90 minutes.
- A car is essential for Almourol, the reservoir beaches, Dornes and Obidos golf; local buses are sparse.
- Use the lower convent car park in season; the small top car park fills by mid morning.
Who Tomar suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Good |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | Not ideal |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | Not ideal |
Make Tomar your trip
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