One of Lisbon's best day trip locations, Sintra is a magical place with its fairytale castles perched atop sharp peaks overlooking the forests and valleys below. Exploring this charming region's palaces, gardens, and museums is one of the top things to do in Portugal. In this article, I'll show you how to plan a great day trip to Sintra from Lisbon and prepare you for what to expect.
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About Sintra
A charming Portuguese town about 28 km (17 mi) northwest of Lisbon, Sintra is known for its opulent palaces and beautiful gardens built on the hillsides of the Sintra Mountains (Serra de Sintra). Dense forests cover these jagged peaks giving the area a mystical vibe which is fun to explore as you wander through the gardens.
Sintra's historic center (Vila de Sintra or Sintra-Vila) is known for its 19th-century Romanticist architecture. As you explore, you'll encounter royal palaces, historic estates, villas, and gardens.
In the 1990s, the Cultural Landscape of Sintra was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Sintra is not only a pioneer of European romanticism, but its diverse collection of monuments and buildings span a long period in history.
Another reason that Sintra is recognized is for its gardens and parks, which have a botanical richness that blends local and exotic species of trees.
Best Time to Visit Sintra
Because Sintra is one of the most popular tourist spots in Portugal, I highly recommend visiting during the off-peak season. Avoid summers, which are not only crazy hot, but also very crowded. Spring (March - May) and autumn (Sept - Oct) are the best times of year to visit Sintra. However, given how mild the winters are in Portugal, you may find winter to be a great time to visit Sintra. At least in winter, you won't be fighting large crowds.
If you are traveling to Sintra during the peak or even the shoulder seasons, I recommend planning your visit to Sintra on a weekday. Though even during the week, be prepared for it to be very crowded.
How Long to Spend in Sintra
Although many people (including us) visit Sintra on a day trip from Lisbon, it can feel quite rushed. If you only have one day to spend in Sintra, a day trip is a great way to see a couple of the castles and get a taste of Sintra.
However, if you have time in your itinerary, staying for a night or two in Sintra is a better way to fully experience this lovely Portuguese town. Visiting Sintra for two days, you could check out most of the palaces and museums. Not only that, but after the day crowds leave, you'd get to experience the quieter side of Sintra.
In retrospect, I wish we'd spent one night in Sintra so that we could have seen some of the sights that we missed on our day trip.
Sintra Palaces, Parks, & Monuments
Since Sintra is home to so many impressive castles with sprawling gardens, it's difficult to decide what to include in your itinerary. Below is a list of the top Sintra monuments. However, the surrounding area is home to several other beautiful attractions which you could explore if you have more time.
View of National Palace of Sintra and its iconic chimneys
Pro Tip: The official ticketing website (Parques de Sintra) does not offer combo tickets. However, it does offer discounts if you pre-purchase tickets or purchase tickets for more than one monument at a time. Quinta da Regaleira is not part of the Parques de Sintra and tickets must be purchased on a separate site.
Getting to Sintra from Lisbon
The best ways to get from Lisbon to Sintra for a day trip are by train or by private tour. Avoid driving to Sintra to avoid sitting in traffic and the hassle of finding parking.
Train from Rossio Station, Lisbon
If you're exploring Sintra on your own, the best way to get from Lisbon to Sintra is on the CP suburban train. This train leaves from Rossio Station every 15-20 minutes. The ride takes about 40 minutes and costs only €2.30 one-way.
Pro Tip: Get to Rossio Station early to buy your ticket as there will probably be long lines. I recommend waiting in the ticket counter line instead of at the electronic machines, especially if you're buying multiple tickets. At the machines, you can only purchase one ticket at a time and each ticket requires a different credit card. This process takes forever and the lines move more slowly than the ticket counter.
Using the Lisbon Card from Lisbon to Sintra
If you've purchased the Lisbon Card, you don't have to purchase a separate ticket at Rossio Station. The Lisbon card can be used to take the CP Commuter train from Lisbon to Sintra.
The Lisbon Card is a tourist card (24-, 48-, and 72-hour) that covers public transportation as well entrance to many museums and tourist attractions around Lisbon for the allotted time period.
Organized Day Trips from Lisbon to Sintra
One way to avoid worrying about transportation to and around Sintra is to take a guided tour or hire a driver. It's a more expensive option, but one that might be worth the money to avoid queues for transportation.
Both Viator and GetYourGuide offer many highly-rated full day tours to Sintra from Lisbon. Almost all of these tours also include a stop in Cascais as well. Personally, I think adding Cascais seems like too much for one day as there's plenty to see in Sintra. This Sintra Private Tour seems like the best option for seeing just Sintra sights.
Driving to Sintra
In general, it's best to avoid driving to Sintra. The historic center of Sintra is a restricted zone and roads surrounding the town get quite congested. Parking is limited and fills up quickly so you'll need to get an early start.
Pro Tip: If you drive to Sintra, plan to park on the outskirts of the town, then use public transportation or taxis to get around. Visit the ParkingSintra website to see where these parking lots are located.
If you're driving to Sintra and planning to stay overnight, just make sure your hotel has parking included. This way, you can drive to Sintra and have a guaranteed place to park while you explore.
Where to Stay in Sintra
Sintra has a nice range of beautiful hotels and guesthouses. Whether you choose a charming bed & breakfast or luxurious manor that makes you feel like you're staying in a palace, staying in Sintra for a night is a great escape from the city.
Places to Stay in Sintra
Below are a few highly-rated Sintra hotels and guesthouses which guests loved. Although we did not spend the night in Sintra, these are a few properties that I would consider for a future trip.
Sintra Accommodations Map
If you'd like to see what else is available in Sintra, use the map below to help you find a great place to stay. Filter by your individual preferences and input your travel dates to see what places are available and what their nightly rates are.
Getting Around Sintra
Sintra Bus
Although you can get to some of the monuments close to town by walking, the best way to reach most of the palaces is on the Sintra bus operated by Scotturb.
Buses depart from the Sintra Train Station and go in a one-way circular route to the following destinations:
Since the bus only goes in one direction, most people plan their route based on this direction. That will make things easier to get around, but may also make the monuments more crowded during your visits.
How to Purchase Sintra Bus Ticket
You can purchase your Sintra bus tickets 1) in advance on the Scotturb website, 2) from a ticket office in Sintra, or 3) once you board the bus.
If you plan to use the bus the entire day, your best option is to purchase the 24-hour hop-on, hop-off ticket (€ 13.50 in 2024). That way, you only have to worry about buying a ticket once and can use the bus as often as you need.
Other Ways to Get Around Sintra
Uber and Taxis
Although somewhat more difficult to catch, taxis and Ubers are available in Sintra. We ended up catching a taxi from Sintra-Vila up to the National Palace of Pena, but got lucky that one arrived at the taxi stand just when we needed it. Ubers cannot drive into Sintra town, so that caused us some delays trying to figure that out.
E-Cars and Jeeps in Sintra
Various other fun modes of transportation are available to get you around Sintra, if you're willing to spend a bit more. Renting a small e-car to drive yourself around looked fun. Or, you could join a group jeep tour.
When we got off the train, we also noticed local guides hawking their services, so you might find a good deal when you arrive. Usually, I just feel overwhelmed with options when this happens and prefer to book ahead.
Hiking in Sintra
If you're feeling up for a workout, think about exploring Sintra on foot. Several hiking paths climb through the beautiful forests of Serra de Sintra, including the Caminho de Santa Maria footpath. This path leads you directly up from Sintra-Vila to the National Palace of Pena via many, many stairs.
Hiking is an alternate way to get to the Sintra monuments as well as to explore off-the-beaten path sights and viewpoints. This Visit Sintra website gives a good overview of the hikes available in the Sintra-Cascais Natural Park.
Pro Tip: The National Palace of Pena is 528 m (1,732 ft) above sea level and is a steep ~320 m (1,050 ft) climb from the Sintra Train Station. Be sure to wear good sneakers and bring plenty of water, if you plan to hike up.
Sintra Day Trip Itinerary
Sintra has many beautiful palaces to visit, so it's difficult to choose which ones to see on a day trip from Lisbon. Given the time constraints of opening hours and transportation, expect to be able to fit around 2-3 attractions into your Sintra day trip itinerary.
If you want to see more than 2-3 places or explore the hiking scene, I recommend staying in Sintra for a couple of days.
Popular Day Trip Itinerary for Sintra
As I mentioned above, given the bus route, many people choose to complete their day trip to Sintra in the same order. Below, I'll share a popular itinerary and timing suggestions.
During our day trip to Sintra, we did not follow the popular itinerary above for a couple of reasons. Firstly, Jeremy and I (and our friends that were traveling with us) are not early risers and did not start until 10:00 am. Secondly, I thought that going the opposite direction might mean fewer crowds.
So, I planned our Sintra itinerary backwards. In some ways, it worked in our favor. But it did cause stress at certain points, which you'll see if you continue reading.
Our Sintra Day Trip Itinerary
In this next section, I'll share our actual itinerary in Sintra. Due to our later start, we only had time to visit 2 monuments - Quinta da Regaleira and National Palace of Pena.
Hopefully, the comparison of these two itineraries will help you to get an idea of what's possible for your own day trip to Sintra.
Catching the Train at Rossio Station
Our day began when we met our friends at Rossio Station at 10:00 AM to take the train from Lisbon to Sintra. Unfortunately, the ticket lines were LONG!
After splitting up to wait in multiple queues, we found the ticket line for the counter moved more quickly than the ones for the machines. We bought our tickets at 10:30 am then boarded the 10:40 am train to Sintra.
Because the train was packed, we ended up standing the entire 40-minute ride to Sintra. Not ideal when you're going to spend the entire day on your feet walking!
Arriving at Sintra Train Station
As you can imagine, the hordes of people exiting the train at Sintra meant the area around the train station was chaotic. Buses pick up beside the train station. Turn right when leaving the station and head parallel to the train tracks to find the bus stop.
To avoid the long bus queues, we decided to walk to Quinta da Regaleira, which took ~30 minutes to walk 1.6 km (1 mi).
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Although the walk was mostly flat, we encountered some stairs as we cut through Sintra's historic center.
Quinta da Regaleira
By the time we arrived at Quinta da Regaleira, it was already noon. So, you can see how quickly the day can get away from you!
Tickets for Quinta da Regaleira
Although the line to purchase tickets was not too long at Quinta da Regaleira, it's still worth it to book your tickets online in advance. Any minute you don't have to wait in line in Sintra is key!
Tickets for Quinta da Regaleira are valid for up to 120 days after purchase. So, you don't have to book a time slot or date in advance, you just have to know you'll go at some point during your trip.
About Quinta da Regaleira
Built in the late 1800s, the Quinta da Regaleira is a beautiful estate and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Regaleira Palace was designed by Italian architect Luigi Manini to reflect the cultural, philosophical, and scientific interests of its owner António Augusto Carvalho Monteiro.
Although the palace is lovely, the gardens, tunnels, and initiation wells on the estate are really what drew my interest. Walking through the gardens and climbing various towers to see the views on this beautiful day was my favorite part.
Sintra-Vila off in the distance
At Quinta da Regaleira, the star attraction is the initiation well. In order to climb down the well, you have to queue (again). We waited about ~20 minutes. Since the well is what brought us to Quinta da Regaleira, we weren't going to miss it!
Once we toured the gardens and grottos, we made our way to the main estate. Along the way, we passed a small Roman Catholic Chapel that resembles the main palace in architectural style.
The interior of the Quinta da Regaleira is nice, but it reminded me of any historic mansion. My favorite part was the intricated wooden ceilings so I walked around looking up.
Overall, we spent around 2 hours at Quinta da Regaleira visiting the gardens, the well, and touring the mansion.
Lunch in Sintra town
Since Quinta da Regaleira is close to Sintra town, we walked back to it to get something for lunch. Unfortunately, we were too close to our pre-booked 3:30 pm time slot at the National Palace of Pena to have the laidback lunch we'd hoped to have.
Instead, we settled for an uninspiring takeaway sandwich which may have been the most unappealing thing I ate in Portugal.
Taxi to National Palace of Pena
By the time we'd quickly eaten lunch, I was stressing about how we were going to get up to National Palace of Pena. We tried to order an Uber, but quickly realized they couldn't actually pick us up in Sintra's historic center, which is a restricted zone.
Luckily, a taxi pulled up to the taxi stand just as we were debating (freaking out about) what to do. We all piled in and off we went. With the winding roads and a bit of traffic, it took around 25 minutes to reach the gates of the National Palace of Pena.
Learn from our mistake: If that taxi hadn't arrived when it did, we most likely would have missed our timeslot at the Pena Palace. This is where taking the bus in the morning straight to Pena Palace might have been better, though it did work out for us in the end. If you follow our route, definitely allow plenty of buffer time (~1 hour) to travel from Sintra-Vila to Pena Palace.
Steep Climb to Reach the Pena Palace
Despite luck being on our side, we still were not at the palace when we got out of the taxi. After being dropped off at the gates, you still have to climb up a very steep hill to reach the actual entrance where they scan your ticket.
It's not so bad if you can take your time, but we arrived at the gates just before 3:30 pm, which was our timeslot. Given how many times I read that there is no delay tolerance and the time on the ticket is the time you have to enter the palace, we practically ran up that hill.
Sweating profusely and slightly dying, we entered the National Palace of Pena with our tickets at 3:35 pm.
National Palace of Pena
The main reason most people visit Sintra is to see the National Palace of Pena. This colorful palace has been splashed across everyone's Instagram feeds for years and it's easy to see why.
Booking Tickets for National Palace of Pena
The National Palace of Pena is one attraction I highly recommend booking online in advance. It's the most popular sight in Sintra and tickets do sell out.
When booking, you have to book not only the date, but also the time of your visit. One downside of Pena Palace being so popular is that they're incredibly strict about the time slot and give no delay tolerance.
As you've read, that caused a lot of stress and anxiety about missing our timeslot... and we almost did! To give all ticket holders time to get through, I think they allow ~10 minutes grace period. But they seemed to cut it off well before the next timeslot (4:00 pm).
About National Palace of Pena
Formerly a monastery stood on this site, but in the 18th century, it was heavily damaged first by lightning, then the Great Lisbon Earthquake of 1755. After the earthquake, only the chapel remained. In 1838, King consort Ferdinand II acquired the old monastery and rebuilt it with the help of German amateur architect, Wilhelm Ludwig von Eschwege.
Today, the Pena Palace is a Romantic-style building with touches of Medieval and Islamic elements. It's a UNESCO World Heritage Site and also one of the Seven Wonders of Portugal.
When you enter the palace, you'll spend the first part going through the interior. Again, not my favorite part of the palace as it's crowded and feels like you're being herded through each room. However, it was interesting to see the intricate ceilings and beautiful furnishings.
After finishing up inside, you can wander around the exterior for as long as you'd like. By the time we left, the crowds were thinning and a beautiful evening glow lit up the back side of the palace.
Late-afternoon is a great time to be at the palace and this is when going against the "ideal Sintra itinerary" worked out well for us.
We spent about 2.5 hours in the National Palace of Pena visiting the interior of the castle, then taking our million photos around the exterior.
National Palace of Pena Park
After visiting the palace, you won't want to miss the National Palace of Pena Park (Parque da Pena). Its vast gardens are definitely worth a stroll.
Since we had a mid-afternoon tour time, we saw the gardens afterwards and had them practically to ourselves. In the lower end of the park, we found duck houses in the ponds that showed that even the ducks live royally at the Pena Palace.
We explored Pena Park for around ~45 minutes after leaving the palace.
Jeep Ride back to Sintra Train Station
After leisurely strolling around the Pena Palace gardens, we had planned to catch the bus back to Sintra Train Station. However, we did not check the bus schedule beforehand and ended up missing the last one of the day! Not our finest moment.
Luckily, as we were trying to figure out what to do, a tour guide in a jeep pulled up and offered us a ride back to the train station for €5 per person - a pretty reasonable offer since we were stranded!
Three other girls were stuck as well so all of us piled into her jeep and she drove us back down the mountain. It was a fun ride and I was actually kind of glad we'd missed the bus!
Train from Sintra to Lisbon
Since we stayed in Sintra so late, we ended the day with far fewer people than we began it. Catching the train at 7:20 pm, we got to sit down and relax on the way back to Lisbon.
Final Thoughts
As you can see, a day trip to Sintra from Lisbon is a great way to see some of the beautiful monuments that Sintra has to offer. I hope seeing these different itineraries helped you to get an idea of what your Sintra itinerary might look like.
*Visiting Lisbon? Check out my full itinerary >> 4 Days in Lisbon, Portugal – A Complete Itinerary.
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Hi Becky. Great information. We will use it for our return visit to Portugual. Thank you!
Thank you! So glad you’ll be able to use the information when you return to Portugal.