How to plan a perfect day trip to Sintra (from Lisbon)

ByTracy

So…what is Sintra, and why should I go there?

Sintra is a beautiful town outside of Lisbon that is known for its incredible castles, gardens and scenery. It is commonly visited as a day trip from Lisbon, which is what we did. If you have more time, visiting for a few nights would also allow you more time to explore and be less rushed than a 1 day trip.

Just 40 minutes outside of the city, we would highly recommend this day trip to anyone staying in the Lisbon area.

In this guide we will show you:

How to get there

Sintra is only a 40 minute train ride from the center of Lisbon. You’ll catch the train from the Rossio Station which is walkable from most anywhere you would be staying in Lisbon.

You can get tickets same day, and if you have a Lisboa card, your tickets are free. If you don’t have a Lisboa card, tickets are 2.30 Euro one way and need to be loaded on the reloadable Viva Viagem card. We liked the Lisboa card for simplicity sake during our travels and felt like we got our money worth – although it wasn’t an overwhelming savings.

Trains in 2025 run about every 30 minutes and are currently leaving on the :11 and :41 (e.g. 8:11, 8:41), starting as early as 5:41am. We’d recommend getting on one of the early trains in the morning so you can beat the crowds. We got on the 8:11 and made it there before 9am.

Must Visit Attractions

When coming to Sintra there are many things to see, but there are 3 that you’ll find on nearly every recommendation list, for good reason. Below I’ll share details about the options including cost, what to expect when visiting and my own personal opinion on them. I’ll also throw in a 4th optional visit as well.

Pena Palace
  • What is Pena Palace? Pena Palace is the most famous of the attractions in Sintra. It is a brightly colored castle on top of the hillside overlooking the town of Sintra. Construction began on a chapel during the middle ages. After some lighting and earthquake damage, the area remained mostly untouched until the 1800’s when Prince Ferdinand purchased it and worked to turn it into a summer residence for Portuguese royalty. In 1910, the castle was turned into a museum.
  • Ticket Cost and Info: 17 Euro for adults, 15 for kids and under 6 is free. Buy your tickets online in advance for a discount and to avoid waiting in line when you visit. Also the 9:30 (earliest) and even up to 10:30 sell out a few weeks in advance. (more tips on tickets below!)
  • Tracy’s Thoughts: It was SO foggy when we visited. Most everything we read said to go here first thing in the morning because it’s the most crowded. And, while this is true, the morning is more prone to fog. Our pictures did not turn out like the ones you see online at all! Also, we opted to visit the inside of the palace as well, and unless you’re very interested in the furnishings/art of that period, I personally would skip it. I didn’t find it that interesting and you have to walk in a single file line the whole way through, so you’re kind of trapped.
Moorish Castle
  • What is Moorish Castle? Built by the Moors in the 8th and 9th century, and perched on top of a cliff. It had castle walls, courtyards and was initially constructed as a military outpost. Over the years it changed hands many times between the Moors and the Christians, eventually falling into the hands of Prince Ferdinand.
  • Ticket Cost and Info: About 10 Euro for adults, 8 for kids and under 6 is free. We bought same day on the property of the castle.
  • Tracy’s Thoughts: We loved this castle. It was so spooky with the fog, although again, we missed the incredible views. We liked how you could wander through the forest and it wasn’t nearly as crowded.
Quinta da Regaleira
  • What is Quinta da Regaleira? An incredible estate consisting of multiple buildings, grottoes, fountains, gardens, tunnels and more. It was built in the 1800’s where it served as private residences all the way until 1997!
  • Ticket Cost and Info: 15 Euro for adults,10 for kids and under 5 is free Buy Tickets Here and you can buy same day online to skip the ticket line. Shouldn’t sell out.
  • Tracy’s Thoughts: his was probably our favorite stop. This whole property is incredible. You can wander all throughout the property including through beautiful gardens with views of the city and mountains, as well as walk over interesting bridges, through tunnels and down the famous Initiation Well (the only thing in the park that had a line). This inverted spiral staircase goes down 9 flights of stairs and ends with tunnels you can walk through. The large mansion on property is interesting as well, but the property itself is the highlight.
National Palace
  • What is National Palace? Built in the early 1400’s as the National Palace of Sintra, this palace continued to expand with various royalty ordering different extensions to the property over the years. It was inhabited by various royal members until 1910 when it was turned into a National Monument and later that century, enhancements were made to add period specific furniture and decorations.
  • Ticket Cost and Info: About 11 Euro for adults, 9 for kids and under 6 is free
  • Tracy’s Thoughts: We rushed this visit in at the end of the day. We liked it, but didn’t love it. For me, it would be an optional add on. It’s right in the center of the old town, so you’ll see the outside regardless.

Transportation around Sintra

While in Sintra there are a few ways to get around. What you pick likely will depend quite a bit on the way you setup your itinerary.

Things to know: (more tips on transportation below)

  • Pena Palace and Moorish Castle are up on top of a very large hill. Walking up to them is 45 minutes straight up! Don’t recommend this
  • There is a tourist bus, (bus 434) that runs in a loop between all major attractions and comes every 15 minutes or so. This would be the cheapest way to get around, but by lunch time it is incredibly crowded. Single trips cost under 5 Euro and a 24 hour pass costs about 13 Euro.
  • There are also Ubers/Taxis – although when I was there, we couldn’t get an Uber to come to us
  • We chose to ride a Tuk-Tuk because we only wanted one single ride during the day, and planned to walk the rest. This is a bit pricier, but it was part of the adventure for us. Just make sure you negotiate your price ahead of time. I think we paid $20 (so about 10 extra than bus), but for way more fun.

Ideal 1 Day Itinerary

Our itinerary worked out perfectly when we went, so I’ll share that. However, if I were to do it again, I may switch around my itinerary due to the fog in the morning, and the fact that I wouldn’t recommend going to visit the inside of Pena Palace.

Option 1: (our actual itinerary)
  • 8:11am (or 7:41am) – Catch train from Rossio to Sintra
  • 8:40am – walk 10 minutes to center of town to check out streets while no one is there! Or, head straight up to Pena
  • 9:00am – get up to Pena with times 9:30 entrance tickets to Pena Palace, visiting the grounds and the inside
  • 11:00am – walk 10-15 minutes to Moorish Castle and visit
  • 1:00pm – walk about 25-30 minutes all downhill (steep) to center of town and eat lunch (we ate at Paco Real and liked it)
  • 2:30pm – walk 15 minutes to Quinta da Regaleira and visit
  • 4:30pm – visit the National Palace of Sintra
  • 5:10pm – run the 10 minutes to catch the 5:10 train, or take a bit more time to catch 5:40 (we ran)
Option 2: (what I might recommend now…)
  • 8:11am (or 7:41am) – Catch train from Rossio to Sintra
  • 8:40am – walk 23 minutes through center of town to check out streets and National Palace from the outside while no one is there! Continue on to Quinta da Regaleira and visit.
  • 11:00am – walk 10 minutes back into town and get an early lunch
  • 1:00pm – catch Tuk-Tuk up to Pena Palace. Afternoon tickets likely wont sell out (check the few days before to make sure there are still plenty available), so you can either buy online, OR – go to ticket office if not a long line, get a 10% discount with Lisboa card and JUST get the palace grounds ticket instead. Skip going inside the palace
  • 3:00pm – walk 10-15 minutes to Moorish Castle and visit
  • 4:30pm – walk about 25-30 minutes all downhill (steep) to center of town
  • 5:00pm – eat a nice dinner in Sintra before catching a later train

Tips and Tricks

There’s no perfect way to do Sintra. A lot of it will depend on your own personal preferences on how much you want to walk, how busy you want to be and which particular attractions are the most appealing to you. After visiting, I found that Pena was probably my least favorite, although its the most well known!

Here are a few things I would recommend, and some mistakes we made that you can learn from:

  • Transportation
    • When taking the train, make sure to get off at the end of the route at ‘Sintra’ and not ‘Portela de Sintra”.
    • Get the earliest tickets possible! It’s a long day, but getting there early to beat the crowds is great. We got some amazing pics (first one on this page) when no one was around!
    • Could you drive to Sintra… yes, technically you could. Would I recommend it – no. It doesn’t save you much time and parking is very limited on small streets. You still would also need to negotiate transportation in and around the palaces anyway once arriving.
  • Tickets
    • The official ticket site is: https://www.parquesdesintra.pt/en/parks-monuments/. Pena Palace tickets, especially the early ones will sell out, so buy in advance if you want to go early. They list how many tickets are left for each slot, so you can monitor to see how early you need to buy (probably no more than 2-3 weeks in advance even for early tickets).
    • Pena is probably the only one you need to buy in advance, but of course, you could buy others.
    • Lisboa Card gives 10-20% off the attractions I mention, but you need to buy at the entrance. We opted to save time by buying online and skipping the super long ticket lines instead. We figured paying an extra few $ was better than waiting for 30 minutes in a line.
  • Food
    • If you need coffee and breakfast in the morning like me, be prepared to buy stuff ahead of time. We assumed we could just swing by a bakery and coffee shop on the way to the train station before 8am but NOTHING was open. Americans are used to coffee shops opening at 5am, so this was odd for us. Grab something the night before and bring to eat on the train.
    • You’ll also want to bring a bag with some snacks. While there are lots of food options in town, the options in and around the palaces are very limited. For instance, we went up to Pena and Moorish Castle for most of the morning, and actually left a bit earlier than expected because we were starving and there were no food options at the top of the mountain. Bring some snacks so you can extend your time up there before grabbing lunch.
    • If you haven’t already, find the ladies selling ginginja! It’s cherry flavored liquor in chocolate cups.
  • Getting Around
    • It’s a literal mountain that Pena is on top of. Don’t plan to walk from the train station to the top.
    • Walking down is tiring too. At least it’s downhill and really pretty, but it’s steep and probably a 30 minute walk. Be prepared for what you’re comfortable doing. (pic below)
    • We made the mistake of walking from the Sintra train station to the center of town by the National Palace. We waited there thinking thats where the bus came, but it never arrived and neither did the Tuk-Tuks. Once you get off the train, I’d recommend staying right by the station to catch a ride. We ran back that way, scrambling because we couldn’t find a ride and were going to miss our timed 9:30 entrance!
  • Additional Tips
    • Bring good walking shoes – it’s a busy day!
    • Determine what is a must visit ahead of time and have a plan. It’s not a place I would recommend just winging it, unless you really don’t care what you visit.

Hope this helps! Want help planning your own trip to Sintra or Lisbon – reach out to us!

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