Festa dos Tabuleiros

What is the Festa dos Tabuleiros?

Every four years, the town of Tomar, in the green heart of Portugal, holds one of the most beautiful festivals in the country. The Festa dos Tabuleiros, the Festival of the Trays, is a celebration of the Holy Spirit, and its great procession sends hundreds of young women in white through the town's streets, each balancing on her head a tabuleiro: a tower of 30 loaves of bread, decorated with paper flowers and wheat, and crowned with a white dove or the cross of the Order of Christ.

Tomar is the town of the Templars, whose castle and Convent of Christ look down from the hill, and its festival has medieval roots. It grew out of the cult of the Holy Spirit, celebrated across Portugal from the 13th century with feasts and the sharing of bread among the poor. In Tomar the tradition survived and took on its own form, and it was standardized in its present shape in 1950. The trays are offerings, and the bread and meat blessed during the festival are shared among the people.

The festival is held only every four years, and only if the town agrees: in April 2026, Tomar's residents voted to hold the next edition in July 2027. Its streets are hung with thousands of paper flowers made by the residents over the months before, and the whole town takes part.

What to expect

The festival runs for about ten days in early July, with processions, music and street parties building to the great procession on the final Sunday.

Planning your trip

Getting there

Tomar is about an hour and a half by train from Lisbon, on a direct line, and a little over an hour from Coimbra by road. On procession day, the town centre is closed to traffic and parking fills early, so the train is the easiest way in. The old town is small and walkable.

Where to stay

Tomar has a small number of hotels and guesthouses, which fill quickly for the procession weekend, sometimes a year in advance. Many visitors stay in Lisbon or Coimbra and come for the day, or in nearby towns along the Tagus valley.

What it costs

The festival is free. Tomar is an inexpensive town, and food and drink are reasonably priced, though restaurants are busy during the festival. Rooms are the main cost, and prices rise for the procession weekend.

Go like you know

• Watch the procession from a shaded spot along the route and stay put; it takes hours to pass.
• Try fatias de Tomar, the town's syrupy egg-yolk dessert.
• Visit the Convent of Christ, a UNESCO World Heritage site, on a quieter day, and the castle walls around it for views over the town.
• Porto's São João is Portugal's great summer street party, in June.
• For another procession in which a whole town takes part, see Seville's Semana Santa.

Frequently asked questions

When is the next Festa dos Tabuleiros?

It is held every four years in early July. The last edition was in 2023, and Tomar's residents voted in April 2026 to hold the next in 2027. Listings give July 3 to 12, 2027, with the main procession on Sunday, July 11, but check the town's official programme before booking.

How heavy are the tabuleiros?

Each tray holds 30 loaves of bread, stacked in rows, plus the crown, flowers and decorations, so it is heavy and tall, traditionally about the height of the young woman carrying it. Each bearer walks with a partner who helps her steady it when needed.

Who takes part in the procession?

Young women from Tomar and the surrounding parishes carry the trays, each accompanied by a partner, usually a young man, dressed in white with a coloured sash in the colours of their parish. The whole town is involved, from making paper flowers to cooking for the Pêza.