Roughly forty minutes from Lisbon by train, Sintra feels like another climate: cooler, greener, wrapped in mist on some mornings. A day in Sintra can take in a fairy-tale palace, a hilltop fortress and a garden with a secret spiral well, if you plan the order well. Here is a relaxed route that starts early and leaves room for pastry.
Trains to Sintra leave regularly from Lisbon’s Rossio station, and the line ends in the town itself. From there, local buses and taxis climb to the hilltop sites.
Morning: the Moorish Castle and Pena Palace
Start high. The Moorish Castle has watched over Sintra since the eighth or ninth century, and its stone walls climb the ridge in a long, graceful line. On a clear morning the view runs all the way toward the Atlantic.
Pena Palace stands close by. Raised in the nineteenth century on the ruins of a monastery, it served as a royal summer retreat under King Ferdinand II, and its yellows, reds and terraces make it one of Portugal’s most recognizable buildings. Both sites belong to the UNESCO-listed cultural landscape of Sintra. Timed tickets are common, so book ahead and arrive at opening.
Midday: lunch and a travesseiro
Come down into the old town for lunch. Sintra’s signature sweet is the travesseiro, a puff-pastry pillow filled with almond cream, and Piriquita is the bakery most often associated with it. Follow it with a coffee on a shaded terrace and give your legs an hour.
Afternoon: Quinta da Regaleira
Quinta da Regaleira was created in the early twentieth century for António Augusto Carvalho Monteiro, and it is a place of Gothic detail, grottoes, fountains and tunnels. The highlight is the Initiation Well, a spiral stair that descends like an upturned tower. Walk down slowly. Come back up through the tunnels, where the air turns cool and the light turns green.
The estate lies within walking distance of the town center, which makes it an easy final stop before the train home. Linger over the gardens if the light is good.
If you have a second day: Monserrate
Monserrate Palace blends Gothic, Moorish and Indian influences, and its botanical gardens gather plants from around the world. The arches and plasterwork repay close looking, and the gardens reward an unhurried hour.
Sintra’s hills are steep, so wear comfortable shoes. Back in the capital, a table from our guide to fine dining in Lisbon makes a fitting end, and a tile-focused day, as in Azulejos in Lisbon, pairs beautifully with this one.
