A day in Sintra, Portugal

Where and When: Sintra, Portugal, 04 April 2022

We visited Sintra, a colourful Portuguese town about 25km from the centre of Lisbon during our Lisbon City Break. Sintra is situated within the hills of the Serra de Sintra and is home to palaces, castle ruins and elaborate villas that belonged to Royalty and aristocracy in the past.

It is one of the most popular tourist spots in Portugal, with millions of visitors flocking to the former residences of the rich and royal families. This is how we managed to visit 4 of the most popular attractions of Sintra in one day.

From Lisbon to Sintra

0811: On the train from Lisbon to Sintra departing from Lisbon Rossio station. The train from to Sintra takes about 40 minutes and there are normally 3 trains per hour.

0851: Arrive at Sintra station

0900: Taxi to Pena Palace. You can walk from Sintra station to Pena Palace, but this is about a 1 hour walk, going uphill. So I would suggest taking a taxi from the station to Pena Palace. There is also a bus available, but in busy periods there is a long queue.

0925: Taxi arrives at Pena Palace ticket gate.  Here, there is a shuttle bus taking visitors from the ticket office to the palace entrance (You can walk up to the palace, but this is another 15 minute uphill walk).

0950: Shuttle bus arrives at palace entrance.

Pena Palace

Our timed entry tickets are for 1015, so we decide to take a look around outside until we could go inside. Out of all the palaces and castles in Sintra, Pena Palace is the most famous and deservedly so. With its brightly coloured walls, stairways, turrets and balconies, it looks like a fairy tale castle brought to life.

Pena Palace was initially built as a monastery in the 12th century. It became a royal palace in the mid 19th century and remained so until Portugal became a republic in 1905. It was classified as a UNESCO World heritage site in 1995. Although it was renovated by successive monarchs, much of the romantic style building we see today was commissioned by King Consort Ferdinand II, who wanted it to be the summer residence for the Royal family.

The exterior of the castle is full of courtyards and vantage points from which you can take photos of the beautiful castle façade. From the balcony at the back of the palace, you get great views of the ruins of the Moorish castle, the Pena Palace Park and the valley below stretching all the way to the coast.

1015 to 1115: Exploring inside the palace. Here you can see the Royal apartments as they were in early 20th century. Although the castle looks big from the outside, inside the rooms are relatively small. Because of this (and due to its popularity) we found that inside Pena Palace was the most crowded part of our visit to Sintra.

1130: In addition to the palace building itself, Pena Palace is famous for its extensive gardens. We decided to explore the gardens starting at the “High Cross”; this is the highest point in Pena Palace park, marked with a cross.  We were hoping for even better views of the palace, the park and rest of Sintra.

1150: After about a twenty minute walk, we reached the High Cross, but this was rather disappointing. Around the cross is very rocky and it is not easy to reach the highest point. And when you do, you are surrounded by tall trees, so the views you get are not as good as those from Pena Palace.

1215: Next we decided to walk down from the high cross, exploring the luscious park. The park has several small lakes, a fern valley and many paved pathways.

1230: Once at the bottom of the hill, we decided to head to the Castle of the Moors, which was a 15 minute walk from Pena Palace.

Castle of the Moors

This castle was built in the 8th century as a stronghold by the Moorish rulers. The high vantage point provided a strategic view along the coastline and surrounding lands. The Christian Crusaders took over the castle in 1147 AD, but it subsequently became a ruin, taken over by the dense forests that cover the Serra de Sintra hills.

1230 to 1415: Unlike Pena Palace there is no “inside” to explore at this castle. But there is still a lot to see and we spent 1.5 hours exploring the castle battlements and the watch towers. From here there are great views of Pena Palace as well as the town of Sintra.

1415 to 1445: After a small break for lunch we decide to head down to the centre of Sintra. The walk takes about 45 minutes, but it is downhill all the way, and is well sign posted.

National Palace of Sintra

1530: At the National Palace of Sintra. From 15th to the 19th century, Sintra Palace was home to the ruling nobility of Portugal.

Inside there are rooms with high vaulted and decorated ceilings, walls and fire places all adorned with ceramic tiles, some of which are truly fabulous. Unlike Pena Palace, the rooms are very spacious too and is nowhere near as busy.

One of the more striking features of this building are the two gigantic “cones” – so large you can see them clearly from afar. After wondering what these were all day, we found out they were actually the giant chimneys  in the palace kitchens.

About 90 minutes is sufficient to explore the palace. From the square outside the palace, you can see Sintra town buildings at the foot of the hill and the Moorish Castle at the top.

1700: After finishing at Sintra National Palace, a quick google search told us that if we hurried, we still had time to see Quinta da Regaleira.

Quinta da Regaleira

1715: After 15 minutes of very fast walking on the N375, we are at the entrance to Quinta da Regaleria. Last entry is at 1730, so we were just in time to get a ticket and as it was so late in the day, there was no queue.

Quinta da Regaleria is residence in the romantic style, and was built in the early 20th century by Carvalho Monteiro. The main building, although beautiful from the outside, is quite small (and frankly, not much to write home about) inside. So we spent most of the time exploring the garden, which has lakes, grottoes, wells, turrets fountains, and many more exquisite constructions.

One of the main features of the garden is a wishing well, which is also a spiral staircase, going down several levels. You can walk down the spiral around the well to the bottom, and a tunnel leads you to a grotto.

1830: After we finished at Quinta da Regaleria, we headed back to the station (about a 25 minute walk).

1915: After a very long, but very satisfying day, we are on the train back to Lisbon. 

Tips for Visiting Sintra

• Start early. Sintra is popular, so arriving early will help avoid the crowds.
• Start at Pena Palace work your way down. Pena Palace is at the highest elevation in Sintra, so starting here will mean that the walking rest of the day will be downhill. It is also the most popular of the castles, so starting early means smaller crowds.
• Wear sturdy shoes. We clocked up 28000 steps exploring Sintra. Although it is possible to get taxis between the various palaces and castles, walking is the best way to get around Sintra.
• Book tickets in advance. All the visitor attractions are highly popular, so booking in advance will save you having to queue.

Have you been to Sintra? What are your favourite palaces, castles to visit? May be you are planning to visit? What would you like to see? Leave a comment below and let me know.