Parque de Campismo de Constância

Active types will want to make immediate tracks for Green Roc.pt, 15 minutes’ drive from the site, where canoeing, canyoning and caving are just the start… And that’s not all that’ll keep energy flowing hereabouts: there’s a paintballing centre less than 20 minutes away, and caves, castles and dino footprints are waiting to be stumbled upon on the trails and roads of the nearby Parque Natural das Serras de Aire e Candeeiros. History interests that were piqued by castles and museums in Constância will have plenty to fill their days in the area – close at hand are the stunning 12th-century Castelo de Tomar, the national transport museum, some Roman ruins and a megalithic dolmen tomb, while the cathedral and castle of Leiria, the fab Biblioteca Joanina in Coimbra and the Marinha Grande Glass Museum are a bit of a longer jaunt. But what to do with the kids? Budding zoologists can be entertained among the butterflies at Borboletário Tropical, 15 minutes from base, and if longer car journeys are on the cards, Norpark waterpark is an hour away in Nazaré and is rather close to a splashingly good beach on the Atlantic. When city days are called for – when that credit card is dying to be used – a trip to Santarém is an easy 40 minutes’ drive, and Portugal’s spectacular capital of Lisbon is a little under an hour and a half away.