Tomar

Overview

Tomar was built by the Knights Templar and then by their successors, and it shows: the town grew up inside the walls of the castle that Gualdim Pais, the order’s fourth master in Portugal, raised above the Nabão in the late 12th century, and the Convent of Christ on the hill above it, a World Heritage site since 1983, is the most extraordinary building in the centre of the country. When the Templars were dissolved in the 14th century, the Portuguese branch became the Order of Christ, Prince Henry the Navigator was its master, and the money for the voyages of discovery came through here.

The town below is a grid of streets that Henry laid out, a rarity for the Middle Ages, with a river park, a synagogue, a matchbox museum and 20,000 people. It is two hours from Lisbon by hourly train and an easy day, but the convent deserves a morning and the town an evening, and Almourol, Fátima and Batalha are all within half an hour.

Neighbourhoods

The old town

Henry’s grid between the river and the convent hill is the whole of it: the Praça da República, the Rua Serpa Pinto, the main street with the oldest café in town, the pensions and the restaurants, and the lanes towards the synagogue. Everything is within ten minutes on foot, and the houses have Renaissance, baroque and Romantic facades worth looking up at.

The river and the station

The Nabão runs along the east side of the old town, with a park and gardens by the bridge and the view back to the castle; across it are Santa Maria do Olival and the newer town, and the railway station with the matchbox museum is a short walk south.

See & do

The Convent of Christ

The convent is a 12th-century Templar fortress wrapped in five centuries of additions: the Charola, the round Templar church modelled on the Holy Sepulchre; the Manueline nave and chapter house that Manuel I built on to it, with the famous window of ropes, coral and armillary spheres on the west front; the Renaissance cloisters of the Order of Christ; and the castle walls around it all. Entry is €6 and free on Sunday and holiday mornings until 14:00; allow two hours and go up on foot from the town through the wooded Mata dos Sete Montes.

The town

The Praça da República is the centre, with the late-15th-century church of São João Baptista and the statue of Gualdim Pais; the synagogue on the Rua Dr. Joaquim Jacinto, the best preserved of the medieval synagogues of Portugal, holds a small Jewish museum; and the church of Santa Maria do Olival across the river, built by Gualdim Pais in the 12th century, was the burial church of the Templar masters. The Museu dos Fósforos by the station, a collection of matchboxes from all over the world, is free, open afternoons, and better than it sounds.

Between festivals the town is a quiet place, and the convent, the synagogue and the river park fill a day at a walking pace.

Food & drink

The town’s sweets are the point: fatias de Tomar, slices of egg-yolk cake cooked in a bain-marie and soaked in syrup, and the beija-me depressa, “kiss me quickly”, made by one confectioner in town. Otherwise it is Ribatejo cooking, river fish, lamb and the bread that the festival is built on, in a handful of restaurants on the Rua da Silva Magalhães and the Praça da República, from a beer-hall plate at about €6 to a French-run dining room at €12 to €59, and a tavern on the square in medieval dress.

Nightlife

Tomar is a small town with an early night; the Café Paraíso on the Rua Serpa Pinto, the oldest bar in town, and the terraces on the square are the evening, and the beer hall on the Rua da Silva Magalhães stays open until midnight. The exception is the festival year, when the Tabuleiros week brings concerts and street decorations and the town does not sleep.

When to go

Early July every fourth year (next in 2027). The Festa dos Tabuleiros; the town is packed, rooms are booked a year out, and it is the best week to be here.

April to June, September to October. The months for the convent: warm, not hot, with the Sete Montes woods green and the coach groups thinner than in summer.

July to August. Hot inland, above 35 °C on many days; do the convent early and the river park in the evening.

November to March. Cool and wet, the convent empty and the town quiet; the cheapest time, and the Charola is the same in any weather.

Getting there

By train. An hourly direct train from Lisbon’s Santa Apolónia and Oriente stations takes about two hours and costs around €8.40; from Porto it is about 3½ hours with a change at Entroncamento or Coimbra-B. The station is a short walk from the centre.

By road and coach. Just over an hour from Lisbon: the A1 to the A23 exit, then the IC3 and the N110 into town; Rede Expressos and Rodoviária do Tejo coaches serve the town. The nearest airport is Lisbon.

Getting around

It is a small city and everything is on foot, including the climb to the convent; two city bus lines run at €1 a ticket, valid for an hour, and the tourist road train does the loop to the aqueduct. A car is only needed for Almourol, Fátima and the monasteries.

Where to stay

Tomar is cheap to sleep in: residenciais on the Rua Serpa Pinto with singles from €17 to €30 and doubles from €22 to €50, breakfast included and cash only at some; a three-star on the Rua Alexandre Herculano; and the four-star Hotel dos Templários on the Largo Cândido dos Reis by the river as the town’s main hotel. Only the festival week is a problem.

Practical info

Sunday and holiday mornings are free at the convent, which is worth planning around; the synagogue and the matchbox museum are free too. The town is safe and quiet, the main street closes for lunch, and the sweets keep for the train home. For money, plugs and pharmacies see the Portugal guide.

Places to visit

Monastery

• Convent of Christ — Templar rotunda and the Manueline window of the Order of Christ