Pick up the hire car at Lisbon Airport on Monday morning. Book an automatic: the standard post-marathon advice, and especially relevant on the Portuguese road network where manual gearboxes require legwork. The IC2 and A1 run north from Lisbon; Tomar is approximately 75 minutes without significant traffic.
December in central Portugal: The interior is cooler than the coast (9--14°C during the day). Fátima, at approximately 300 metres elevation, is cold on early December mornings. Nazaré on the Atlantic coast is milder (12--16°C) but the swells are at their winter scale. This is a quieter, more local version of all three towns than any other month provides.
Lisbon → (75 min, IC2/A1) → Tomar (1 night) → (30 min, N113) → Fátima (1 night)
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(45 min west, N360)
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Nazaré (2 nights)
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(1h 15m, A8) → Lisbon Airport
Night One: Tomar
Tomar (population 40,000) is built around the Nabão River and the hill rising above the east bank on which the Convento de Cristo (Convent of Christ) sits. The convent - originally a Templar fortress granted to the Knights Templar in 1160 - is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the most historically significant Templar monument in Portugal. The interior is extensive, covering Romanesque, Gothic, Manueline, and Renaissance building phases; the famous Manueline window on the chapter house wall is the canonical image of Portuguese Late Gothic architecture. Drive up to the convent entrance; on foot it is a sustained 30-minute climb.
The town centre below the hill is flat and built around the Praça da República. The Parque do Mouchão is a flat public park on an island in the Nabão River, reached by a pedestrian bridge: a loop of shaded paths around a small island with a 19th-century nora waterwheel and river views. The circuit takes about 20 minutes and the surface is entirely flat.
The Hotel dos Templários occupies the town centre and is the standard option.
Night Two: Fátima
Drive 30 minutes west on the N113 to Fátima.
Fátima is one of the major Catholic pilgrimage sites in the world, following the reported apparitions of the Virgin Mary to three shepherd children in 1917. The Sanctuary of Fátima is built on a plateau above the town: the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary (1953), the Basilica of the Holy Trinity (2007), the Capelinha das Aparições (the Chapel of Apparitions, marking the site of the original visions), and the immense open esplanade connecting them. The esplanade is approximately 540 metres long and 160 metres wide - paved in pale stone, entirely flat, and open to the sky. Walking across it and back is a significant distance of easy flat movement with the December cold and the Atlantic light overhead.
December 13 is the date of the last apparition anniversary; the sanctuary is busier on this date. The first Sunday of December (marathon weekend) is typically quiet. Several large pilgrim hotels surround the sanctuary; the Carvi Hotel and the Hotel Fátima are the contemporary options.
Nights Three and Four: Nazaré
Drive 45 minutes west on the N360 to Nazaré on the Atlantic coast.
Nazaré's geography is straightforward: the lower town (Praia) sits at sea level on a long sandy beach; the upper town (Sítio) sits on the clifftop 110 metres above, accessible by funicular. The Praia is where the town lives in winter, and it is flat throughout along the beach road and the seafront promenade.
The Praia do Norte is the north beach, beyond the clifftop promontory, where the giant waves that have made Nazaré internationally known break over an underwater canyon. In December, when the Atlantic is generating its deepest winter swells, the Praia do Norte is active and extraordinary to observe. The clifftop viewing area is reached by the funicular to Sítio and then a short walk to the lighthouse point - the walk on the clifftop is flat once you have arrived by funicular.
The lower town beach in December has the sardine-drying racks still in use, the fishing boats on the sand, and the seafront restaurants serving the catch with the Atlantic visible through the windows. Caldeirada - the fisherman's stew of multiple fish varieties with potatoes, tomatoes, onion, and olive oil - is the dish to order. The Hotel Praia and the Hotel Mar Bravo are both directly on the beach road.
Getting Home
The A8 motorway south from Nazaré to Lisbon Airport takes approximately 1 hour 15 minutes. The route is direct and avoids central Lisbon.