Driving Through Sintra
Often rated one of the unique wonders of Portugal, a day in Sintra visiting the old royal palaces is magical. From the ancient ruins of the Moorish castle to the colorful Pena Palace, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and exceeded our stair and step count!
How to get to Sintra
While I like to think of myself as a travel blogger, when someone else does a fantastic job laying out how to get to Sintra - I just give them credit!
Although we drove, I would highly recommend reading this blog post before heading to Sintra! It is loaded with practical tips and tricks to see the famous sights!
The Parking Success
Although I wanted to get an early start since we were staying in the area, we left at 9:15 and arrived in Sintra center around 9:45. Despite the later start, we were able to find a great parking spot on appropriately named....
M.F.A. Avenue.
As we were parking, we called an uber to get us to the top! For less than 7 euros, we were at the top and didnt have to worry about the insane parking or dealing with buses or anything else. Plus, our Uber driver was fantastic and gave us several good recommendations - including fleeing to the beach for lunch!
Palace Entry
Because we bought on tickets online, we were able to fly past the rest of the tour buses and get into the palace gardens. There is an option to pay about 3-5 euros to get a tram to the top of the Pena Palace, but we wanted to beat the crowds to the entrance. Therefore, we walked! While it was tough going uphill, we managed to beat any tram and most of the crowds to the Interior entrance!
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Walking up - beautiful Pena Palace -
The Gate -
View from the walk
The Interior
To gain entrance into the palace’s interior, we bought the extra ticket plus had to wait in a very long (hot) wall. There was a line that split into two - the left hand side appears to be a fast lane, but it goes to the outside terraces. We stayed in the longer right hand lane and it eventually led to the promised land.
Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take any pictures inside the palace, but I am a rebel. I took photos inside the courtyard - watch out world! This is the part where I wished we hired a guide to tell us about the golden age. However, a guide is not as free as wikipedia!
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Interior -
The interior courtyard
Palace's History
Similar to my tips on getting to Sintra and our lack of tour guide, I highly recommend reading about the Pena palace before you go or whilst you're waiting in line for the interior rooms! I used this website!
The Views
Despite the slightly boring interior at times, we absolutely loved the view! We could see the lower Moorish castle, the ocean, and Sintra city center. Plus, there were certain viewpoints that included the beautiful red exterior.
Our Thoughts on the Castle
Because this palace was used in the early 1900s, it is very modern and sleek. It even has a working toilet and indoor plumbing system - they were very proud of that fact! Our favorite room was the king’s room - obviously. Since it was the most important room in the house, it has amazing tiles lining the walls. The king also had beautiful wood mantles and bed frames. Most importantly, he had a gorgeous view of his surroundings! We could see the Atlantic ocean, the conquered Moorish castle, and the beautiful gardens.
The Terrances
By far, my favorite part of the visit to Pena palace was the terrances. While I do enjoy looking at older furniture, I do enjoy beautiful views! The architecture and contrasting colors are absolutely stunning. The creative minds who designed and built the palace are geniuses.
Back to the “left hand side” line I mentioned earlier, if the interior doesn’t excite you, then the outside is well worth it! The line ends at the “majestic” sea gremlin and continues into a courtyard. Once in the courtyard, I found one of my favorite shots!
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Sea Gremlin -
Courtyard -
View of the Atlantic -
View of the old dome -
View of the old palace -
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After the courtyard, we went up the stairs to the “wall walk.” It took us around the palace and had great views of the surrounding countryside. Plus, it had shaded spots and we enjoyed some fresh time here!
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MF on the Terraces -
View of the lines -
Interior courtyard -
Views of Sintra -
Pena palace views
Ancient Moorish Castles
I would highly recommend seeing the Moorish castle AFTER the Pena palace as the lines were nearly down the hill! And we are in the slow season! Yikes! From the Pena palace, the Moorish castle is only a 10 minute slightly downhill walk. We were able to bypass several crowds and avoid the packed buses!
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Pena Palace getting further away -
Description
As I mentioned, we were walking downhill to the Moorish castle, but the ruins are on top of a hill. Or mountain. Or Mt. Everest. At the time, we initially set a stair goal of 90. By the time we left the Moorish castle, we were well close to our goal!
It’s the Climb
At the Moorish Castle, there is a fork in the road - to the left is the highest point of the castle and to the right is just another section. Because we are smart thinkers, we started with the highest, or hardest, point. I am not sure if I enjoyed this idea…
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Hidden wonders... -
The infamous left
We walked and climbed up the stairs, but finally we reached the top! Was the view worth it? Yes! Was I thirsty and hungry? Yes! The views included great shots of the Pena palace and of the Sintra city centre. Despite there just being ruins, we thoroughly enjoyed our visit!
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Moors -
King of the (ruins) castle -
I see... Pena! -
Who is that? -
Views -
Views of the castle -
Portrait mode -
Couple Shot -
Portrait mode
Going Local for Lunch
Our great Uber driver recommended driving out of Sintra to lunch. Coincidentally, it was the same beach that we ate at last night! Rather than a thrilling meal of chicken fingers and a bleh burger, we went classy at Bar do Fundo.
With the sun shining, we made a great decision! The beach is located around 20-30 minutes from sintra so it is an excellent choice if you want local food and quiet space, then this is your place! However, be prepared for a siesta as the food is plentiful and the wait is long!
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Beach views -
Beach views -
Beach views
For our appetiser, we ordered a burrata and garlic shrimp. While the burrata never showed up, the garlic shrimp was yummy and we enjoyed it! For our main, our intention was to share a sea bass. However, we recieved two full sea bass. With head, bones, and tail!
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Butter shrimp -
During -
Veggies -
Midway -
done! -
Full and happy
While Kelly was laughing hysterically at our shocked faces and later our attempts to debone the fish, MF and I tackled our fish. We came up with the theme of the trip - we work for our food. In the end, we crushed it and the sea bass was very tasty! I am glad we had our own fis as MF ended up eating all the greens as well!
Quinta
For our remaining time in Sintra, we decided to tour Quinta over other majestic palaces.
Parking Fail
Because my ego was riding high, I decided we would park right next to the Quinta rather than park and Uber. I mean why have a rental?! Ultimately, it was a huge parking fail!
When we made our first pass on the Quinta, I turned into the tiniest parking lot (maybe 6 cars could park). Then, rather than backing out, I decided to continue down the one way street. Before we knew it, we were driving on dirt backroads with potholes and adventure! Thankfully MF stayed calm and we luckily just ended up near a hotel that we could park on the curb. In hindsight, we should have parked here for the day!
The Quinta Da Regaleira
Whilst not as popular or famous as the sister castles nearby, the Quinta da Regaleira should be visited! Known for a beautiful limestone staircase descending into a cave, the Quinta has so much more in the gardens! Plus, on a hot afternoon, it is a perfect break from the crowds and heat underneath loads of trees!
Cave of Wonders
Firstly, we wanted to visit the spiralling staircase into the cave of wonders. Initially, we had no idea where it was, but we figured it was uphill since the staircase isn’t above ground and we didn’t know where else to look! From the outside, it looks like a pile of rocks until we noticed a crowd and a sign. We would have walked right past it otherwise!
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Entrance
From the top, we descended into darkness and you could just see the staircase across from you. Next, we immediately questioned how someone managed to build this staircase! We had fun taking pictures of each other as it eventually became too dark for anything! At the very end, we had two tunnels. One led to a boring exit while the other led to a really fun lagoon!
While slightly overrated, the staircase is really unique and I seriously wonder how it was built! It would be better to visit earlier in the day when the light was better.
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Hello new friends! -
Oh, look it's MF! -
Going further.... -
From the bottom -
Help!
Hop, Skip, and Jump!
At the lagoon, we discovered a really neat waterfall and noticed a group of people crossing the lagoon via rocks. Obviously, we wanted to follow so we gathered in line to hop, skip, and jump across the lagoon. While it isn’t a giant task, we enjoyed hopping across the lagoon!
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Midway through the rocks! -
Look no hands!
Once through, we were not finished! There were plenty of other limestone caves and lagoons to explore, both in this section and throughout the gardens!
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MF at her desk... -
Limestone caves -
Waterfall
Wonderland
Similar to a theme park or vast palace gardens, the Quinta is similar to a wonderland! There are so many caves and lagoons to explore in the gardens. Each had either a secret hideaway - similar to the staircase - and we wanted to see each one. I think the owner must have gotten very bored!
Pictures do more justice than my words ever could!
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Cool Houses -
Beautiful spires -
Beautiful works -
Limestones -
Hidden lagoon -
Hidden lagoon -
Hidden Lagoon -
Cool lion -
Selfie while exploring! -
Heading to the house!
The House
As we explored the gardens, we were very excited to explore the owner’s house as surely we would learn more about this creator! Sadly, it was not informative at all and was rather a let down. I would skip the house and spend as much time in the gardens!
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The House -
Views from the house -
Selfie! -
Tiles!
Cabo da Raco
On the Sintra coast, there is not a bad place for sunset. For us, we wanted to stop by Cabo as it has a lighthouse for your background. Using our trusty car, we made it just in time to see the sunset behind the giant cloud! We found a great spot with the lighthouse in the background and enjoyed the sunset. We had fantastic pictures as it set behind the wall of fog, rather than the Atlantic Ocean!
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Beautiful sunset -
Beautiful sunset -
Beautiful sunset -
Beautiful sunset -
Beautiful sunset -
Beautiful sunset -
Beautiful sunset -
Beautiful sunset
Sunset
It's local - Pensao Sisudo
Finally, our hotel’s restaurant was open!! Because it is one of the few places open on a Tuesday and in the surrounding area, it was very busy! Thankfully, because we were staying there, we had only a small wait to get a table so I would suggest booking ahead!!
Similar to our travels in Greece, we instantly knew we would enjoy this restaurant because a liter of wine was only €5.5! From there, we ordered a load of tapas to share between Mary Frances and I as Kelly opted to enjoy even more octopus. The main treat was our chorizo as we literally lit it on fire!!! It was definitely one of the best presentations! We also ordered fried green beans and sautéed shrimp. We were thoroughly full!
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Before... -
After! -
Green beans -
Yummy Shrimp! -
Pre-dinner ice cream -
Our hotel / restaurant
FIRE!!
For the grand finale, I had a difficult choice to make… For dessert, each dish was homemade that morning. I had to chose between cookie cake and chocolate cake - my two favorites!! I asked for recommendations and the owner picked the cookie cake so I went with that. While really tasty, it was more coffee flavor with cookie crumbles versus the American version I was looking forward to!
As we went to pay, I walked past the chocolate cake and felt instant regret… It looked absolutely delicious and had warm chocolate sauce in the middle. Unfortunately, I could not bare another bite despite our immensely busy day! We finished with 79 flights of stairs and over 9 miles! Not too shabby considering the miles were mostly uphill!
UnChartered Summary:
- Getting to and from Sintra - TAKE A TRAIN!!! If you noticed large crowds, I would get an Uber to the Pena Palace to beat the crowds. If you have time, follow the advice in this post and use the bus and start at the Pena Palace.
- Entering Sintra, I would highly advise buying your tickets in advance for the main entrance (gardens only) and interior. The price for both is around $15.
- Goes without saying, the early bird gets the worm at the Pena Palace. Get there as early as possible!
- For the Quinta, spend time in the gardens and avoid the house! Perfect afternoon tour!
- For Cabo da Raco, it is a great location for sunset! I would do it again.
Despite the crowds and car situation, Sintra is truly a magical placee. In hindsight, the car was perhaps a mistake but it enabled us to have amazingly fresh seafood and local tapas! The Pena Palace produces stunning views and is fantastic!
Ideal Itinerary
- First train leaves Lisbon around 7am
- Uber costs about $10 and is only a quick 15 minute air conditioned ride!
- Pena Palace opens at 9:30. The interior only takes 30-45 minutes while the outside takes about 30 minutes if you take in all the details. I would highly advise exploring the surrounding gardens as well! Overall, plan 1-2 hours depending on how long you spend in the gardens.
- From the Pena Palace, walk down to the Moorish castle! I would spend around 1-1.5 hours here, mostly walking up the stairs and then recovering!
- Lunch time! As our Uber driver recommended, either Uber to a nicer beach for real food or make it quick and easy in Sintra.
- Quinta is well worth a visit - at least 1-2 hours here!
- Back to Sintra in time for a lovely dinner!