Fátima Travel Forum

is there daily bus service to and from fatima and alcobaca, batalha, caldas da reinha, leiria, nazare, obidos, tomar, and coimbra? i would like to visit these cities from a base in fatima. are these destinations available by bus? could a taxi and driver be hired by the day, and what should i expect to pay? is there a car rental agency in the area? how should i approach this if i prefer not to drive? regards omax

i think both Tomar and Leiria should be a good base to visit Alcobaca and Batalha. Tomar is quite near Fatima. I'd skip CAldas da Rainha. In my opinion it is not an interesting place to visit.

Coimbra deserves at least a three days stay.

Ciao!

If you would like to save all points of your itinerary - forget about buses. Because almost every trip will take almost the day, despite the visit itself will take not more than 2 hours. Buses are regular, but their itinerary is not for touirists (it's attached to the daily life of local people: schools, offices etc): sometimes you have to wait coming back bus for hours. To hire the taxi much more better.

If you would like to save all points of your itinerary - forget about buses. Because almost every trip will take almost the day, despite the visit itself will take not more than 2 hours. Buses are regular, but their itinerary is not for touirists (it's attached to the daily life of local people: schools, offices etc): sometimes you have to wait coming back bus for hours. To hire the taxi much more better.

Completely agree with olive8 and ElenaKKKK. The best way it's rent a car.
Notice that even the two largest bus companies in the area (www.rodotejo.pt and www.rede-expressos.pt) don't link some of the towns and the schedules maybe don't fit to your needs.
To take a taxi service is expensive. The "ask me Lisbon" service (http://www.askmelisboa.com/broad/tabelas/tab_taxi_uk.htm) announces 181,61 euro as the "average" price for the tour Fátima, Nazaré, Óbidos departing from Lisbon.
A rapid search in rental companies such as Hertz, Avis, etc which are based in Lisbon, Leiria or Coimbra offer a Ford Fiesta or Renault Mégane or something similar (unlimited kms) at less than 60 euros a day. And if you book in advance including weekends some times you can have it as low as 30 euros a day. Ok... + gas... but even so... it's worth. There are also smaller rental companies in Fátima - Ourém which will offer you roughly the same prices.
Moreover you can stop wherever you want and go to places such as Sítio (highest point in Nazaré with a splendid view), make the nice road along the coastline from Peniche or Óbidos until Nazaré (stop in S. Martinho do Porto bay) and go to the caves around Fátima.