Everything worth driving to, nearest first

1. Leiria

   25 min · 30 km

   The closest town of any size, and where you would go for a supermarket run that turns into lunch. A twelfth-century castle sits above the old centre, and the streets below it are the ordinary, unhurried kind that do not exist in a resort.

2. Coimbra

   35 min · 45 km

   Portugal's old capital and home to one of the oldest universities in continuous operation anywhere. The Joanina Library is the reason most people come: a baroque room of gilded wood and painted ceilings, kept cool and dark. Entry is timed, so book ahead in summer.

3. Fátima

   30 min · 40 km

   A vast, deliberately plain sanctuary that draws pilgrims by the hundred thousand, particularly around the 13th of each month between May and October. Worth seeing for the scale of it whether or not you come for the faith.

4. Nazaré

   45 min · 60 km

   An old fishing town stacked under a headland, with a funicular up to the clifftop and a lighthouse looking down on Praia do Norte. An underwater canyon focuses the swell there into the largest waves ever surfed. In summer it is simply a good beach with very good fish.

5. Figueira da Foz

   45 min · 60 km

   A proper seaside town at the mouth of the Mondego, with a beach broad enough that the walk to the water is a small expedition. Good for a lazy day when you want somewhere with cafés and a promenade rather than empty dunes.

6. Tomar

   50 min · 65 km

   The Convent of Christ sits above the town: a Templar stronghold that grew into a monastery over four centuries, so you walk from a round Romanesque oratory into full Manueline stonework. A UNESCO site, and rarely crowded.

7. Óbidos

   1 hr · 85 km

   A small walled village kept almost entirely intact, whitewashed and edged in blue and ochre. You can walk the ramparts the whole way round. It is touristy in the middle of the day and lovely early or late.

8. Lisbon

   1 hr 30 · 145 km

   Straight down the A1. Near enough to go for the day — a museum, lunch in Alfama, the tram up the hill — and far enough that you are not staying in a city. Most guests do it once and are glad to come back to a quiet house and a pool.

9. Porto

   1 hr 30 · 150 km

   The same run in the other direction. Cross the Dom Luís bridge to the port lodges in Vila Nova de Gaia, then work back through the old streets. Like Lisbon, an easy day out rather than a base.

The beaches get their own page — see the Atlantic coast near the villa. Driving times are estimates for an ordinary day; the A1 around Lisbon can add half an hour at rush hour.