Sintra

Why Sintra:

Sintra is one of the top tourist destinations in Portugal and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It has been a royal retreat for over a thousand years. It is located on the outskirts of the Lisbon metro area at the end of one of the commuter lines. Most tourists day trip to Sintra from Lisbon.

The most difficult ticket in Sintra (and arguably all of Portugal) is the Peña Palace. I planned my entire day around this. My entry ticket was for 10:30. That time is the time you actually enter the palace. There is apparently zero forgiveness for being late. As you will soon see: easier said than done. 

January 2, 2026: Hectic But Cool

I left Lisbon at 7:45. It was a 10-minute jog to the train station. While I had cold weather the entire trip, today was the first day with significant rain. 

I got on the commuter train for two stops before transferring to the Sintra line at Sete Rios. However, the train to Sintra did not show. It was not late- it just did not show. So instead of a 5-minute wait, I had a 30-minute wait. The train ride to Sintra took 48 minutes. 

From the town of Sintra, I needed to get to the Palace, which it turns out is at the top of a mountain. A private company offers bus service for €15, but it is actually only €5 to take an Uber. I ultimately opted for the bus because I had no idea how an Uber would get me down the hill. 

After waiting 10 minutes for the bus, we left. The bus ride took 45 minutes to reach the palace. Not only are the roads incredibly windy, narrow, and one-laned, but there was a ton of traffic. 

I reached the gate at 10:10. I was getting really nervous because there was a long line to check tickets. I made it into the park at 10:20, but then had to go another half-mile up the hill to reach the actual palace. 

I started sprinting in the rain up the perilous and slippery footpath. Halfway up, I ran into none other than my college friend Katherine and her family. They were going on a guided Sintra tour and let me tag along. We reached the entrance to the palace at 10:35 which was apparently close enough because there was a huge line to enter the palace. 

The site was originally a 16^th century monastery. The monastery was damaged in the 1755 earthquake and became mostly ruins. In 1838, King Consort Ferdinand became interested in the site and acquired the land. He then hired German architect Wilhelm Ludwig von Eschwege to build a Romantic-style castle from the ruins of the monastery.

Construction took place from 1842-1854. The Portuguese royal family went all in with incredibly ornate interiors including many Moorish elements. 

After the death of Ferdinand’s wife, Queen Maria II (the true sovereign) died in 1853 Ferdinand remarried to a Swiss soprano opera singer, the Countess Elise Hensler -a learned but very controversial figure in Portugal during her day. The countess made many modifications to the castle while also keeping in pristine shape. The castle was eventually repurchased by the Royal Family. After the Revolution in 1910, the last Royal of Portugal, Queen Amelia, spent her final night in Portugal here before going into exile. 

The Palace is nothing short of spectacular. Every room dazzles. It reminded me of Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany which was built at a similar time, but revives multiple much older architecture styles.

The tromp l’oeil was my favorite ever. 

I waited unsuccessfully in the rain for the bus to take me down and realized it would actually be faster to jog down the hill. Katherine and her family gave me a partial ride in their van before heading south towards the coast. It was shocking how not-pedestrian the roads are (way too narrow with minimal or no sidewalks) and how bad the traffic is. Many banners complained about the traffic and tourist crowds. I can only imagine what this is like in summer. 

Eventually, I made it to Sintra’s other main castle, the Quinta da Regalia. They were unfortunately sold out until 16:00 – 4 hours from now. Uggh. I would have booked this ahead of time but I had no idea how long it would take to see Peña and there are no combination tickets that include both Pena and Quinta da Regalia. But hey at least I was able to get in. 

To pass the time, I first headed into the actual village of Sintra. The commercial district is a cute classic walkable European village. It reminded me a lot of the Neuschwanstein town in Bavaria. 

The oldest business in Sintra is the Piriquita bakery – open since 1862 aka just 8 years after the Pena Palace. The bakery is known a long pastry called a Travesseiro. Sintra as a city is known for a pastry called a Queijada. I got one of each. 

For lunch, I went to a Portuguese restaurant called Tasca do Xico and had a surprisingly good piece of balalhau (codfish). I feel like you don’t have to be a good restaurant in Sintra to do well, but I was impressed. 

I then visited the National Palace of Pena aka the Town Palace. This 15^th century palace was the only one in Sintra that was used as a working palace. The rooms were definitely simpler than in Pena, but still impressive. The ceilings were incredible. 

The palace also contained a “state bed” where royals would conduct official business. It is unclear to me if royals regularly slept in the state bed or if it was for special occasions only. 

After, I still had more time so I went for an hour-long hike in the rain. There are some nice trails in the hills above the town. Surrounding Sintra itself are many exquisite houses of the wealthy elite who want to vacation near the royals. 

Finally, it was time to visit Quinta da Regalia. A crowd of hundreds (300 people to be exact) had gathered to enter in the 16:00 slot. The staff could barely handle the crowd and was attempting to get people into a line. Finally at 4 on the dot, they started to let people in. The really need a better system here. 

Quinta da Regalia was a private home created in 1910 for a wealthy merchant family.  The house and especially the sprawling grounds are whimsical and full of symbols.  

The most impressive part of the palace is the elaborate network of underground tunnels and caves. The Initiation Well is a 27-meter spiral staircase extending nine stories into the earth like an inverted tower. This is thought to be a reference to Dante’s Inferno or Masonry. 

The house itself was impressive but only the small first level could be visited. So the gardens are the real highlight. 

As I was leaving, I just happened to catch the shuttle ride. Because of the one-way streets, the ride took 30 minutes to get back to town- much slower than walking. I then got the train back to Lisboa for a final dinner. 

Final Thoughts:

Sintra is a must-see but the logistics are a disaster. The traffic is terrible and the logistics of getting around is difficult because the palaces are not walking distance from each other and are connected by one-lane roads. 

The main two palaces: Pena and Quinta da Regalia should be booked many days or weeks ahead of time. Budget minimum 2.5 hours to get from Lisboa to Pena Palace. It’s only 75 minutes to Sintra but it will take 15 minutes to figure out the transport in Sintra, 30 minutes to ride the bus to the palace gate and then 20 to actually reach the palace plus some slack for the inevitable delays. 

With one day, I was able to see the highlights but could not see everything. I missed the Moorish Castle, Montserrate Palace, Bister Palace, Capuchos Convent and many hikes. Two days is probably the optimal time to truly see everything and it would give you the opportunity to stay in one of the old grand houses/palaces. 

I think Sintra needs to completely rethink how they do tourism. It’s clear that the place has faced overtourism unexpectedly and has not figured out how to deal with it correctly in a way that provides a good experience for locals and tourists. The tourists are not going away, so they need to make some drastic changes to the town. 

I have a few suggestions for the tourism board: 

1. Build a central ticket office near the train station rather than at the entrance to each palace to keep the crowds in the town and save people the disappointment of walking all the way to the palaces and not being able to enter. 
2. Sell multi-palace combo tickets. The Pena palace (and maybe Quinta da Regalia) should have a timed entry but the others should have open access. Have a second cheaper category of ticket that includes everything except Pena. 
3. All tickets to Pena should include the shuttle ride. The tour time would be the time you board the shuttle instead of the time you actually enter the castle. This will eliminate the stress of visitors not being able to anticipate traffic or the hike. It will also eliminate all the Ubers clogging up the roads.  
4. If you are really frisky, build a gondola from the town to the Pena Palace that can also serve the Moorish Castle. This will funnel guests closer to town and the views will be stunning.