Sanctuary of Fátima

In 1917 three children herding sheep at Cova da Iria - Lúcia dos Santos and her cousins Francisco and Jacinta Marto - reported a series of apparitions of the Virgin on the thirteenth of six consecutive months, culminating on 13 October when a crowd of tens of thousands gathered and many reported seeing the sun move. The Catholic Church declared the events worthy of belief in 1930, and what grew on the site is enormous: an esplanade about twice the size of St Peter's Square, the neoclassical Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary with the children's tombs, the modern Basilica of the Holy Trinity seating nearly nine thousand, and the Chapel of the Apparitions on the spot itself. Pilgrims approach the chapel on their knees along a marked path. The May and October anniversaries bring hundreds of thousands, many walking for days.

What you actually see

• The esplanade - an open square about twice the size of St Peter's.
• The Chapel of the Apparitions - the small structure on the reported site.
• The two basilicas - the 1953 neoclassical one and the 2007 modern one.
• The penitential path - the marked route pilgrims cross on their knees.

When to go

Year-round; 13 May and 13 October are the great pilgrimages and bring hundreds of thousands. Two to four hours outside those dates.

Honest expectations

This is a working place of devotion, not a monument - behave and photograph accordingly. On the anniversary dates the town is overwhelmed, roads close and accommodation is impossible. The esplanade is enormous, open and has no shade. Commercial religious-goods selling around the perimeter is intense.

Nearby

The dinosaur trackways at Serra de Aire are close; Batalha and Alcobaça are west.