Tomar in a day from Lisbon, or a night in Tomar: what each one costs you
Most people who see this convent see it in the middle of a long day that started in Lisbon and will end there. I can tell you that from the catalogue rather than from a survey: seven of the eighteen listings on this site are a day out of Lisbon with transport included, they are the largest group by some way, and the most-rated listing that reaches this monument is one of them — 700 ratings against 173 for the ticket at the door. The catalogue splits exactly down the middle, nine listings starting in Lisbon and nine starting in Tomar, and the Lisbon half is where the ratings are.
The journey, and where these figures come from
Read the source column before the figures. CP, the rail operator, publishes its timetable through a JavaScript application that this site could not read, so the train numbers below are a travel publisher’s rather than the operator’s. That is not a reason to ignore them. It is a reason to check the timetable yourself before you buy anything else.
| Leg | Figure | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Lisbon to Tomar, direct Regional train | About 1 hour 54 minutes, around €10.55 one way | A travel publisher, not CP |
| Lisbon to Tomar by car | 135 km, about 1 hour 30 minutes | A travel publisher, not CP |
| Tomar station to the convent gate | About 1.3 km, roughly 20 minutes, uphill the whole way | Measured on the ground |
| Trains per day, first train, last train | Not stated on this site | Not sourced — check CP on the day |
| Bus or taxi up the hill, parking, step-free access | Not stated on this site | Not sourced — ask the operator |
Tomar is the end of the line. The Ramal de Tomar branch opened in 1928 and the station is a terminus, which is the good news for anybody who dozes off: the train cannot carry you past it. The bad news is the last two rows of that table. I would rather leave five practical things blank than print a first train time that was true when I wrote it.
And then the hill. UNESCO’s own text says the town “is dominated to its west by the vast monumental complex of the Convent of Christ as it stands at the top of a hill”, and one listing puts it less grandly in its meeting-point note: “which is uphill, not downtown”. About one and a third kilometres from the platform to the gate, and all of it climbing. In August, at two in the afternoon, that walk is the reason some people arrive at the ticket desk in no mood for a Templar oratory. The route up, step by step.
What a day trip out of Lisbon actually is
Not a coach, for a start — not for Tomar. The listings describe a van with wi-fi, water and hotel pickup, a nine-seater, a small group “Limited to 8 participants”, a private car with colouring pens for the children. The two comparison listings on this site, the Sintra day and the Fátima circuit, are the ones running at coach scale — one of the Fátima reviewers complains that “the bus is a bit too old”. The Tomar days are smaller than most people picture.
They run from five hours to eleven, and the convent is one stop in almost all of them. Three of the seven pair Tomar with Almourol Castle, which is the commonest shape by some way — an island castle reached by boat. Read the boat carefully, though: only one of those three names it in its inclusions without a condition, one gates it “(depending on option)” and the third puts it in the description and leaves it out of the inclusions altogether. Two add Batalha and Alcobaça, one of those with Óbidos as well, which is four monuments in eleven hours. And two go to Tomar and nowhere else, which is the version I would choose if the convent is the reason for the journey.
What works
- Somebody else drives the 135 kilometres, twice, and you do not think about the timetable this site cannot print for you.
- Most of them include a guide, and the good ones are very good: the written reviews on the Lisbon day trips name their guide far more often than they name the monument.
- Hotel pickup on several of them, from “anywhere in the Greater Lisbon area” on one, and a named hotel or a city-centre meeting point on the others.
- Almourol comes attached to three of them, and a castle on an island in a river is a genuine second monument rather than a photo stop.
Worth knowing
- The convent gets the share of the day the itinerary gives it, not the share you would give it. Elisabetta, on the Templar-route day: “You could give more time during the lunch break”.
- Three of the seven gate the convent admission behind an option, and one of those three is the best-selling listing of the lot. Which is which.
- You arrive in the middle of the day, with everybody else, and you leave before the light gets interesting.
- If the convent is partly closed for conservation work that week, you have spent nine hours to find out. Diana, on the Almourol day trip: “parts of the Convent were under renovation when I went”.
To be fair to them, the reviewers who complain about pace are outnumbered by the ones who say the opposite. Alina, on the Templar-route day: “The tour is not rushed and we had time to enjoy each site. We had almost 2h break for lunch in Tomar.” Both things are true of the same listing, which is what a day trip is: somebody else’s judgement about how long the convent deserves, applied to your day.
Most-rated by farFrom Lisbon: Tomar, Convent of Christ & Almourol Castle
Ticket and lunch inFrom Lisbon: Tomar, Christ Convent & Almourol Castle Tour
Templar-specialist guideLisbon: Knights Templar Tour - Almourol, Tomar and Convent of Christ
Half a day, ticket inLisbon: Tomar (Convent of Christ) Half-Day Private Tour
Capped at eightSmall-Group Tour of Tomar from Lisbon – History of the Knights Templar
Read the option carefullyTomar, Batalha, Alcobaça & Óbidos Templar & Medieval Legacy
Three UNESCO sitesLisbon: Tomar, Batalha and Alcobaça (3 UNESCO) Private Tour
What a night in Tomar buys, and what it does not
It buys the morning. The gate opens at nine in both seasons, and a van that has to collect its passengers across Lisbon and then drive 135 kilometres is not going to promise you nine o’clock. The Charola is a different room with four people in it than it is with forty, and the difference is the first hour of the day. That is the whole case for staying, and in my experience it is enough on its own.
What it does not buy is the evening. The site closes at half past five from October to May and half past six from June to September, with the last entry half an hour before each — so an overnight in Tomar does not give you a golden hour inside the walls, because there is no golden hour inside the walls to have. The hours in both seasons.
The second thing it buys is repair time. If you arrive to find part of the place behind hoardings, an overnight lets you spend the afternoon on the aqueduct and the town and come back to the convent in the morning with the annoyance out of your system. A day trip gives you one attempt. The Aqueduto dos Pegões, which several of the day trips drive past and one of them stops at.
If you are staying, book a guide for the first morning rather than the afternoon, and take the convent before the day trips land. The two-hour walk meets at the top of the hill, which means an early start does not also mean an early climb with luggage. Then spend the afternoon on the town: the synagogue, Santa Maria do Olival, the Mouchão wheel. What is inside, in route order.
Cheapest with a guideTomar: Walking Tour to Convent of Christ Small Group & Tickets
The whole day, in TomarTomar and the Templars Convent of Christ: A Historical Tale
The ticket itselfTomar: Convent of Christ and Templar Castle Tour Ticket
Which of the two, honestly
Take the day trip if you have three or four days in Lisbon, if the Templars are an interest rather than the reason for the trip, or if the idea of working out a Portuguese regional timetable on holiday fills you with dread. Read the option picker first, choose a listing whose admission line has no bracket in it, and accept that you are buying somebody else’s idea of how long the convent deserves.
Take the train and stay if this building is the reason you are in Portugal, if you want the Charola at nine in the morning, or if you are the kind of visitor who reads the interpretation panels rather than photographing them for later. Two hours out, two hours back, one hill in the middle, and about a kilometre and a third of it on foot. Whether the whole journey is worth it is a question this site answers separately, and not with a yes.
Every listing either way, with its admission column and its unit: all eighteen in one table. What the ticket costs at the door: fifteen euros, and the same on the platform. And how long to give the convent once you are inside it: the honest estimate.
Frequently asked questions
Is Tomar a good day trip from Lisbon?
Yes, and it is how most visitors reach the convent: seven of the eighteen listings this site tracks are a day out of Lisbon with transport included, and the most-rated of everything that reaches this monument is one of them. Tomar is about 135 kilometres away, roughly an hour and a half by car. The cost is that the convent gets the share of the day its itinerary allows it.
How long is the train from Lisbon to Tomar?
About two hours on the direct Regional service, for a little over ten euros one way. Those figures come from a travel publisher rather than from CP, whose own timetable site could not be read, so treat them as a planning guide and confirm the times yourself. This site does not state how many trains run per day, or when the first and last of them leave, because neither is sourced.
How far is the Convento de Cristo from Tomar station?
About 1.3 kilometres, roughly twenty minutes on foot, and uphill the whole way — the convent stands at the top of the hill above the town. One listing's meeting-point note puts it plainly: “which is uphill, not downtown”. Whether a bus or taxi runs up is not something this site has a source for, so it does not say.
Do Tomar day trips include Almourol Castle?
Three of the seven Lisbon day trips pair the two, which makes it the commonest shape of a Tomar day. Two others add Batalha and Alcobaça instead, one of those with Óbidos, and two go to Tomar and nowhere else. Check the admission line as well as the itinerary: on some of them Almourol's ticket and boat are included while the convent's is gated behind an option.
Is it worth staying overnight in Tomar?
It buys you the morning, which is the only part of the day the vans from Lisbon cannot reach: the gate opens at nine and 135 kilometres take time. It does not buy you an evening, because the convent closes in the late afternoon in both seasons. If this building is the reason you came to Portugal, stay. If it is one interest among several, the day trip is an honest way to see it.