Things to do in Sintra

Sintra is a hill town built for palaces, not for people passing through in an afternoon. Four royal or noble residences sit within a few kilometres of the centre, each one different from the last. One day rarely covers all of them.

The palaces

• Pena Palace. A 19th-century royal retreat in clashing colours and styles, on a ridge about 500 metres up; the shuttle bus takes about fifteen minutes from the centre, the walk up closer to an hour.
• Quinta da Regaleira. A private estate turned public garden, its underground tunnels and a spiral well built for effect rather than any practical use; about 3 kilometres from Pena Palace, closer to the town itself.
• The Moorish Castle. Walls running the ridgeline above the town, built under Islamic rule before the 12th century and taken during the Christian reconquest.
• Sintra National Palace. The palace actually in the town centre, its two vast conical chimneys visible from most of Sintra below.

Beyond the palaces

• Cabo da Roca. The westernmost point of mainland Europe, a cliff and a lighthouse in the same Sintra municipality, out past the wooded hills to the west.
• The Serra de Sintra. The wooded ridge behind the palaces runs its own cooler, mistier weather than the coast just a few kilometres away.
• Villages and quintas. Smaller manor houses and gardens fill the hillsides beyond the famous four, most of them a short drive rather than a walk.

Practical

• Weather. A few degrees cooler than Lisbon, with summer days nearer 25C; cloud sits on the ridge on days that are clear everywhere else.
• Getting up the hill. The train from Rossio station takes about 40 minutes; from the station, it's the Pena circuit bus, a tuk-tuk, or a genuinely steep walk up.
• Timed tickets. Pena Palace and Quinta da Regaleira both sell entry by time slot in high season; the earliest slots go first and clear the fastest queues.
• Crowds. Weekends and midday are the densest; an early train up beats the coach groups to the gate.