Sintra from Lisbon

Sintra is the day trip everybody does, and the mistake everybody makes is arriving at Pena Palace at eleven. Book the timed ticket for the first slot, go up while the coaches are still on the motorway, and do Regaleira and the Moorish Castle afterwards. The train from Rossio takes forty-five minutes and the 434 bus does the hill; a tour saves you the bus and adds Cabo da Roca and Cascais on the way back.

The one rule

Pena first, early, with a ticket bought before you go. It is the only ticket around Lisbon that really sells out, and the slot is strict: arrive after your window and you queue for a new one. The palace opens at half past nine, and the difference between the first slot and eleven o'clock is the difference between walking the terraces and shuffling along them. Everything else in Sintra can be improvised on the day.

Getting there without a tour

The train leaves Rossio station every twenty minutes, takes about forty-five, and the Lisboa Card includes it. In Sintra, walk ten minutes into the old town or take the 434 bus, which loops from the station through the town to the Moorish Castle and Pena and back. On a busy morning the bus queue is the second bottleneck after Pena itself, and this is where a tour earns its price: the van goes straight up. The road to Pena is closed to most cars in season, so a hire car is not the answer either.

What to see, in order

Pena Palace is the painted one on the top of the hill, and the palace ticket includes the park, which most people skip and should not; the walk down through the park to the road takes twenty minutes and is the quietest part of the day. The Moorish Castle is the ridge opposite, all walls and views, cheaper and rarely full, and the best half hour of the day for anyone who likes to look down on things. Quinta da Regaleira is in the town, a garden of tunnels, grottoes and the initiation well everyone has seen a photo of; by late morning there is a queue to go down the well, so it is either an early stop or a late one. The National Palace in the town centre, the one with the two white chimneys, is medieval, flat and quick, and fits between Regaleira and the train. Monserrate is twenty minutes beyond the centre and has the best gardens of the lot; the coaches do not go there, which is the reason to.

Tour or train

Take the train if Sintra is the whole day and you want time inside the palaces. Take a tour if you want Cabo da Roca and Cascais on the same day, if you are not good with hills and bus queues, or if you are a group of four, because the private tours are priced per vehicle and stop being expensive when divided. The half-day tours, five hours with Pena and the town, are for people who want the afternoon back in Lisbon; they cost more per hour and the reviews say they are worth it.

Reading the tour prices

Some Sintra tours include the palace tickets in the price, some add them at checkout, and some let you choose. The cheap listings are usually the ones without tickets. The reviews that complain about "hidden costs" are almost always this, so read the "what is included" tab on each tour below before comparing. Pena on its own is about fourteen euros, Regaleira eleven, the Moorish castle eight, so a tour that quotes twenty-five euros without tickets is really fifty-eight with them. [prüfen]

The Lisboa Card and Sintra

The card gets you the train to Sintra and back, and a discount at some of the palaces, but not entry to Pena. There is a bundle that adds Pena to the card; it only pays if you are also doing Belém within the card's hours. For a Sintra-only day, the plain train ticket and the palace tickets bought separately are cheaper and simpler.

Weather

Sintra has its own weather. The hill catches the Atlantic cloud, so it is often misty on the top when Lisbon is clear, and Pena's terraces disappear into it. Check the forecast for Sintra, not Lisbon; if the morning is grey, do Regaleira and the town first and go up at midday when it usually lifts. In the rain Regaleira is the best thing in Sintra, because half of it is underground.

How long to allow

A full Sintra day is nine hours door to door with three sites; the tours that add Cabo da Roca and Cascais run nine and a half and move accordingly. A half day is Pena and the walk down, five hours, and a good choice on the last day before a flight. Two full days is not too many if you add Monserrate and the coast, but nobody plans that, and the planner on the main page will tell you when the day is full.