# Sintra

A town in the mountain range of the same name, less than an hour from Lisbon by train, the former summer residence of the court. Romantic palaces, a 10th-century wall and gardens with tunnels, all a World Heritage Site since 1995, and Europe's westernmost cape a short way off.

Fuente: https://www.geocalia.com/en/portugal/lisbon-region/sintra · Revisado: 2026-11-12

## How do you get there from Lisbon?

By train. CP's Sintra line leaves from Rossio, right in the centre, and also from Oriente and Entrecampos, and drops you at Sintra station in a little under an hour. If you come by car from Spain, leave it in Lisbon or in the car parks on the outskirts of Sintra, such as Lourel: the historic centre is closed to traffic except for residents.

## How do you get around the mountains?

On foot and by bus. The centre, the National Palace and Quinta da Regaleira are five minutes' walk from each other. Pena and the Moorish Castle are up in the mountains and do not admit private cars: take bus 434 from the station or walk the Vila Sassetti path, about 45 minutes uphill. For Monserrate and Cabo da Roca you need a bus or car.

## What should you book in advance?

Pena: if you buy online you choose the date, and in spring and summer the first slots sell out. Quinta da Regaleira recommends buying on its website to skip the ticket office. If you only have a day, choose two big visits, not four: between queues, climbs and descents there is no time for more.

## Dónde está
- Cerca: Cascais and Estoril (a 11.7 km), Ericeira and Mafra (a 18.4 km), Costa da Caparica (a 21.9 km), Lisbon (a 22.2 km)

## Qué hacer
- **Pena Palace and park** (3 h 30 · Everyone; under-6s do not pay · Desde 20 € per adult, essential visit): It was built by the king consort Ferdinand II in the 19th century on top of an old monastery, and mixes Arabic towers, Manueline windows and fairy-tale battlements. It is the most visited place in Sintra, so the order in which you do it matters.
What you see in the palace
The palace is explored along the outdoor terraces and through the rooms the royal family left furnished. Parques de Sintra highlights the private apartments, the Manueline cloister of the old monastery, King Carlos's chambers, Ferdinand II's bedroom, the great hall, the chapel, the kitchen, the Arches courtyard and the sentry path, which goes round the building on the outside with the mountains and the Atlantic at your feet. From here you see opposite the Moorish Castle, running along the neighbouring ridge.
What you see in the park
The park is as important as the palace and covers the whole slope: a forest of species from half the world planted by Ferdinand II. Its main corners are the Valley of the Lakes and the Fountain of the Birds, the Queen's Fern Valley, the Camellia Garden, the Temple of Columns, the Pena farm, the chalet and garden of the Countess of Edla, and the Cruz Alta, the highest point of the mountains.
Opening hours and tickets
The park is open from 9:00 to 19:00, with last sale and last entry at 18:00. The palace, from 9:30 to 18:30: the last ticket is sold at 17:30 and last entry is at 18:00. Palace tickets are sold only for a specific day and time.
As well as the essential visit (€20 adults, €18 young people aged 6 to 17 and over-65s, €65 for the family ticket of two adults and two young people) and the park-only one (€12, €10 and €40 for the family), Parques de Sintra sells a complete visit (€45 adults), a guided visit to the palace (€75) and a dramatised one (€95). Children under 6 do not pay. Parques de Sintra publishes occasional closures on its website: on 11 November 2026, for example, all its monuments were closed.
The internal shuttle between the park entrance and the palace runs every 15 minutes. It goes up from the park stop from 9:00 to 18:15 and the last one comes down from the palace at 18:30.
How to get there
From Lisbon, the Sintra line train leaves from Rossio, Oriente and Entrecampos. At Sintra station you take Scotturb bus 434, which goes up to Pena. The park has two entrances, the main one and the Lakes one. Access by private car is not allowed: park in the historic centre or in the peripheral car parks, or walk up the waymarked trails, such as Vila Sassetti.
- **Quinta da Regaleira and its initiation well** (2 h · Everyone; teenagers love the tunnels · Desde 20 € per adult): The millionaire António Augusto Carvalho Monteiro commissioned the estate from the architect Luigi Manini and filled it with symbols. You do not have to decipher them: just get lost in the garden from top to bottom.
What it is and why it is worth it
Carvalho Monteiro, born in 1848, was a wealthy collector, a lover of culture, philosophy and science. At the end of the 19th century he commissioned Luigi Manini, an Italian architect and set designer, to create an estate on the outskirts of the centre of Sintra. The result mixes Manueline, Renaissance, medieval and classical styles, and is designed as a journey: a hillside garden with towers, grottoes, fountains and passages, culminating in the initiation well. It is not a water well, but an inverted tower with a spiral staircase that descends into the earth and ends in tunnels.
It is the Sintra visit that most appeals to those who are not into palaces. You explore at your own pace, without a guide, with a map you can download.
Who it is for
For almost everyone. Teenagers love the tunnels and the well; adults, the garden and the architecture. With small children it works if they walk or are in a carrier: the terrain has slopes, steps and tunnels, and people with reduced mobility should go accompanied. Dogs are not admitted, except guide and assistance dogs, nor are suitcases or large backpacks.
How to get there
From Lisbon, on CP's Sintra line train, which leaves from Rossio, Oriente and Entrecampos and takes a little under an hour. From the station to the centre there is a walk, and from the centre to the estate, five minutes along the Seteais road. The historic centre is closed to traffic: if you come by car, leave it in Lisbon or in a car park on the outskirts.
When to go
It is open every day except 1 January and 24, 25 and 31 December. From April to September, from 9:00 to 19:30; from October to March, from 10:00 to 18:30. Last entry is at 17:30 all year, and the palace and chapel close half an hour before the garden. The best times are opening and the last hour of the afternoon. In August the queues are long; in spring and autumn, more bearable.
How much it costs
€20 for adults aged 18 to 64, €15 for young people aged 6 to 17 and over-65s, and €60 for the family ticket for two adults and two young people. Children under 6 do not pay, but need a ticket. People with disabilities and one companion pay €12 each. The audio guide costs €5, is hired only at the ticket office and has 30 listening points in several languages, including Spanish. Buy only on the estate's official sales website: the monument itself warns of websites that resell tickets.
If it rains
The visit is mostly outdoors, and in rain the stone of the well and tunnels is more slippery. Go with shoes that grip. If it pours, start with the palace and chapel and leave the garden for when it clears, or swap the day's order with Sintra National Palace, five minutes away.
- **The Moorish Castle along its walls** (1 h 30 · No fear of heights; with steps · Desde 12 € per adult): What it is and why it matters
The Moorish Castle is a 10th-century fortification, from when the peninsula was under Muslim rule. Its walls follow the ridge of a summit in the Sintra mountains, built with granite blocks that blend into the boulders and crags. From below, in the town, it looks like a crenellated line cut against the sky; from above, the view takes in Sintra, Pena Palace on the next summit and the Atlantic.
It is not a castle with rooms: it is an enclosure of walls, towers and archaeological remains that you walk round in the open air, going up and down stone stairs along the wall-walk.
What you see
Parques de Sintra marks twelve points of interest. The main ones:

The wall-walk and the towers: the walk along the top of the wall, with uneven steps and very steep stretches, as far as the Royal Tower.
The keep and the parade ground, in the core of the enclosure.
The cistern, which stored the fortress's water.
The silos and the Islamic settlement, remains of life inside the enclosure.
The church of São Pedro de Canaferrim and the medieval Christian necropolis, from the period after the conquest.
The Traitor's Gate and the second ring of walls.

Opening hours
Open every day from 9:30 to 18:00. The last ticket sale and last entry are at 17:30. The ticket office closes from 12:00 to 13:00, but there are automatic machines. Parques de Sintra publishes occasional closures on its website: on 11 November 2026, for example, all its monuments were closed.
Tickets and prices

Adults aged 18 to 64: €12.
Young people aged 6 to 17 and over-65s: €10.
Family of two adults and two young people: €33.
Children under 6: free.

You can buy on the Parques de Sintra website or at the ticket office.
How long
An hour and a half to go round the walls without rushing. If you link it with Pena, which is about 30 minutes' walk away on a waymarked path, spend the day in the mountains.
How to get there
You cannot get there by private car. From Lisbon, take the Sintra line train (Rossio, Oriente or Entrecampos) and, at the station, Scotturb bus 434, which goes up to the castle and Pena. If you go by car, leave it in the historic centre or in a peripheral car park and go up on foot or by bus.
On foot there are two official trails: the Santa Maria one, of 1,770 m and about an hour, which leaves from the Info Parques de Sintra office in São Pedro de Sintra, and the Seteais one, of 2,410 m, which leaves from Seteais palace. From the centre, the Vila Sassetti trail climbs through a forest to the entrance.
Accessibility, with children and with a dog
The walls are not accessible by wheelchair or pushchair: everything is stairs and slopes. If you are afraid of heights, the wall-walk is tough, because in some stretches it runs along the edge of the rock.
With children over six or seven it is one of the visits they enjoy most in Sintra: it is a real castle, for climbing and exploring. Hold their hands on the stairs. Dogs are welcome, according to Parques de Sintra.
- **Vila Sassetti trail, from the village to the Moorish Castle** (45 min · 1.9 km · Legs for a continuous climb · On your own · free): What it is
The Vila Sassetti trail is the footpath that links the historic centre of Sintra with the mountains: it climbs through the Vila Sassetti gardens to the Moorish Castle area and the entrance to Pena park. Parques de Sintra bought the estate in 2011 precisely to open this alternative to the road up, and it is the nicest way to reach the top without a bus.
Vila Sassetti is a summer house that the hotelier Victor Carlos Sassetti, born in Sintra, began to build in 1890 with his friend Luigi Manini, the architect and set designer of Quinta da Regaleira. The inspiration is the castles of Lombardy: a great circular tower in Lombard Romanesque style, in terracotta tones, wedged between granite rocks and woodland. It was later rented by Calouste Gulbenkian, who used it as an occasional residence from 1920 until his death in 1955.
The route step by step

Start in the centre: the entrance to Vila Sassetti is next to Largo Ferreira de Castro, near the historic centre and a few minutes' walk from the National Palace.
The villa gardens: the path climbs between the walls of the estate, with the tower of the house in sight, fountains and stairs among rocks.
The forest: above the villa, the trail winds among chestnut trees and oaks, with natural stone and small streams.
Arrival: you come out at the Moorish Castle area and the entrance to Pena park. From the castle, a waymarked path of about 30 minutes leads to the main entrance of Pena park.

It is about 1,850 m of climb and around 45 minutes at an easy pace. It is a continuous slope, with no technical stretches, on dirt paths, stone and steps. The descent, by the stairs and damp stone, is slower than it looks.
Hours and price
Passing through Vila Sassetti and its gardens is free. Parques de Sintra opens it from 10:00 to 18:00; outside those hours the gate is closed and you will have to go up or down by another route. The monuments at the top, the castle and Pena, are paid for separately and have no private-car access.
Signposting and orientation
The path is signposted as an official Parques de Sintra itinerary. If you are continuing to Pena, Parques de Sintra's own Sintra on Foot itinerary links the centre, Vila Sassetti, the castle and Pena, and rates it as medium difficulty, with some climbs.
When to go
All year. In summer the forest gives shade for almost the whole climb, which makes it more bearable than the road. In winter and on foggy days the stone and steps are damp and slippery: wear shoes with soles that grip. If it rains hard, go up on bus 434.
Water, with children and with a dog
Go up with water, especially in summer: up there there is only what the monuments offer. With children who already walk it is a good 45-minute stroll, with rocks and corners that keep them entertained; it is not suitable for pushchairs, because of the steps. With a dog, keep it on a lead.
Combine it
It is the best way to link the visits in the mountains: go up by Vila Sassetti, enter the Moorish Castle, continue on foot to Pena and come down on the 434. Or the other way round: go up by bus and come down on foot this way.
- **Sintra National Palace and its chimneys** (1 h 30 · Everyone; under-6s free · Desde 13 € per adult, essential visit): What it is and why it matters
Sintra National Palace is the palace of the two white conical chimneys that dominate the village square. Parques de Sintra presents it as the oldest palace in Portugal and the only one that spans the whole history of the country: it grew out of several royal residences built over the centuries, and its first building probably dates from the 10th or 11th century, when Sintra was under Muslim rule.
The kings used it for centuries to hunt, to spend the summer in the cool of the mountains and to take refuge from the plague in Lisbon. That is why Gothic, Mudéjar, Manueline and Renaissance live side by side inside, without a single plan. The two chimneys, its best-known silhouette, crown the royal kitchen.
What you see
The visit follows the main rooms:

The Swan Room, with a ceiling painted with swans in different poses.
The Magpie Room, with the ceiling covered in magpies carrying a rose and a ribbon in their beaks.
The Coats of Arms Room, with the gilded wooden dome and the shields of Portugal's noble families, and walls of blue and white tiles.
The Manueline room, the golden chamber, the chapel and the Council room.
The kitchen, beneath the chimneys: looking up you understand their size.
The gardens, free to enter.

The Mudéjar-style tiles in several rooms are among the oldest sets of this type in Portugal.
Opening hours
The palace and gardens are open from 9:30 to 18:30. Last entry to the palace is at 17:30 and last entry to the gardens at 18:00. The ticket office closes from 12:00 to 13:00, although the automatic machines keep working. Parques de Sintra publishes occasional closures on its website: on 11 November 2026 all its monuments were closed.
Tickets and prices

Essential visit: €13 adults, €10 young people aged 6 to 17 and over-65s, €35 for the family ticket of two adults and two young people.
Complete visit: €35 adults, €20 young people, €25 over-65s, €95 family.
Dramatised visit: €65 adults, €20 young people, €50 over-65s, €130 family.
Children under 6 do not pay. The gardens are free.

Bought on the Parques de Sintra website or at the ticket office.
How long
An hour and a half for the essential visit without hurrying. It is the easiest visit in Sintra: it is in the centre and without slopes.
How to get there
The palace is in Largo Rainha D. Amélia, in the historic centre. From Lisbon, the Sintra line train (Rossio, Oriente or Entrecampos) drops you at Sintra station, and from there Parques de Sintra estimates 10 to 15 minutes to the palace; Scotturb buses 434 and 435 also stop nearby.
Traffic in the historic centre is restricted to residents. If you go by car, leave it in the car parks on the outskirts and continue on foot or by bus.
With children
The swan and magpie ceilings, and the kitchen with its chimneys, work well with children: give them a mission, such as counting swans. Children under 6 do not pay. The dramatised visit is a good option for families with older children if it fits your date.
Combine it
It is the visit for arrival or for the last part of the day, because it is within walking distance of everything. From the square the Vila Sassetti trail leaves towards the Moorish Castle, and a few minutes' walk away you have Quinta da Regaleira.
- **Monserrate Palace and gardens** (2 h · For escaping the Pena crowds · Desde 12 € per adult): What it is
Monserrate is a palace and park on the western slope of the Sintra mountains, about 4 km from the centre. The British industrialist and collector Francis Cook turned it in the 19th century into one of the great works of Romanticism in Portugal: a palace of Oriental inspiration, designed by the architect James Knowles Jr., with domes, openwork arches and stucco that looks like lace, surrounded by a garden with plants from every continent. Before Cook, the estate had already been a refuge for British writers and travellers.
It receives far fewer visitors than Pena, and you can tell: here you stroll in silence.
What you see
The park is the main thing. You go down paths among enormous trees and pass through themed gardens:

The fern valley, with tree ferns.
The Mexican garden, of dry-climate plants.
The rose garden and the Japanese garden.
The great lawn in front of the palace, with the open view of the valley.
The ruins of the chapel, the Indian arch, Beckford's waterfall and the Vathek arch, which recall another famous British tenant of the estate, the writer William Beckford.

The palace can be visited inside: the central gallery, the music room beneath the dome and the salons decorated with carved stucco. Note that its roof is under restoration works, with scaffolding, until the first quarter of 2027.
In the park there is also a nature interpretation centre and an old farm.
Opening hours
The park is open from 9:00 to 19:00: the last ticket is sold at 17:30 and the last entry is at 18:00. The palace is open from 9:30 to 18:00, with the last ticket sold at 17:00 and last entry at 17:30. The ticket office closes from 12:00 to 13:00, but there are automatic machines. Parques de Sintra announces occasional closures on its website.
Tickets and prices
Entry to the park and palace costs €12 for adults aged 18 to 64 and €10 for young people aged 6 to 17 and over-65s. The family ticket, for two adults and two young people, costs €33. It is bought on the Parques de Sintra website or at the ticket office.
How long
Two hours for the palace and a full tour of the park. At a relaxed pace and with a picnic, half a day.
How to get there
From Lisbon, take the Sintra line train to Sintra station and from there Scotturb bus 435 or Carris Metropolitana 1253. Parques de Sintra currently recommends arriving via Colares, because of roadworks. The electric Hop On Hop Off shuttle that linked the monuments is out of service.
By car, Monserrate is on the road from Sintra to Colares. If you continue west, by mid-afternoon you reach Cabo da Roca.
Accessibility and with children
The park is on a slope: the paths go down from the entrance to the palace and the valley, and then you have to climb them. There are dirt stretches and steps.
Children like the farm, the waterfall and the giant ferns, which look from another age. It is a good place for them to run, because there is lots of space and few people.
- **Cabo da Roca and its lighthouse** (1 h · Everyone; keep an eye on children at the edge · Desde 5 € the essential lighthouse visit): What it is
Cabo da Roca is the westernmost point of continental Europe: a tip of the Sintra mountains that drops into the Atlantic in cliffs of about 140 metres. It is about 18 km from the centre of Sintra by road, within the Sintra-Cascais natural park. At the top there is an esplanade with a stone monument that marks the spot, a viewpoint with a railing and the lighthouse.
What you see is open sea, with nothing in front of you until America, and the line of cliffs to the north and to the south.
The lighthouse
The Cabo da Roca lighthouse is one of the six that the Marquis of Pombal ordered built by a letter of 1758, and has operated since 1772: today it is the second oldest on the Portuguese coast. It is run by Parques de Sintra, which opened it to the public in July 2026.
There are two visits. The essential one covers the courtyard and the interpretation space on the history of the lighthouse and of navigation on this coast. The panoramic one adds the climb to the top, with a broad view over the Atlantic. The courtyard and interpretation space are open from 9:30 to 17:30.
Tickets and prices

Essential visit: €5 adults, over-65s and young people aged 6 to 17; €15 for the family ticket of two adults and two young people.
Panoramic visit: €10 adults, €7.50 over-65s, €5 young people; €20 for the family one.
Children under 6 do not pay.

The viewpoint and the esplanade of the cape are free and open at any hour.
How to get there
From Lisbon, take the Sintra line train (Rossio, Oriente or Entrecampos) to Sintra and, at the station, the Carris Metropolitana bus 1253 to the cape. From Cascais, the 1624 leaves from the terminal and passes the cape on its way to Portela de Sintra, via Azóia and Almoçageme. That way you can do a circuit: Lisbon – Sintra – Cabo da Roca – Cascais – Lisbon, returning on the Cascais train.
By car you get there on the EN 247 from Cascais or from Colares. There are also waymarked trails from Cascais, Colares and the Sintra mountains.
When to go
All year. Sunset is the prettiest time, with the sun dropping into the sea in front of you, and also the busiest. In winter and in fog, which is frequent here, the cape turns grey and the wind can be very strong: check the forecast before coming.
Bring a coat even if it is hot in Lisbon. There is no shade on the esplanade.
With children
It works well if you go with a coat and a firm hand near the edge. The essential visit to the lighthouse, at €5, is short and they like it. For under-6s it is free.
Combine it
From Sintra, the cape makes a good afternoon after Monserrate, which is on the way along the Colares road, or after a day of palaces high in the mountains such as Pena Palace.

## Dónde comer
- **Incomum by Luís Santos** (Restaurant, Sintra, €€). Qué pedir: a starter with Sintra mushrooms and the octopus or the confit salt cod; the mains are around €20.
- **Casa Piriquita** (Bakery, Sintra, €). Qué pedir: a warm travesseiro, of puff pastry with egg and almond cream, and a queijada for the road.

## As a family: Sintra with children, with real castles

Sintra has what a child imagines when they think of a castle: walls to walk along, towers, tunnels and a colourful palace at the top of a hill. The trick is not to link too many visits and to go up to the mountains by bus.

### What works best
The Moorish Castle, for walking along the wall

The tunnels and the well at Quinta da Regaleira

Pena park, with lakes and an internal shuttle if legs give out

Cabo da Roca, to see where Europe ends

### Where to sleep
In the centre of Sintra, by the train station and the 434 bus

In Lisbon, if you prefer to go and come back in a day

### Where to eat
Pastry shops in the centre with travesseiros and queijadas, the sweets of Sintra

A picnic in Pena park

### Keep in mind
Children under 6 do not pay at the Parques de Sintra monuments or at Regaleira

No pushchair: a baby carrier for slopes and stairs

The edge at Cabo da Roca has no fence in every stretch: hold hands

### Qué hacer as a family
- Pena Palace and park
- Quinta da Regaleira and its initiation well
- The Moorish Castle along its walls
- Sintra National Palace and its chimneys
- Cabo da Roca and its lighthouse

## With teenagers: Sintra for teenagers, on foot and underground

What hooks them is moving around under their own steam: walking up to the mountains, getting lost in the tunnels of Regaleira and looking out from the walls. Palace rooms bore them sooner.

### What works best
The initiation well at Regaleira and its tunnels

The Vila Sassetti trail, a 45-minute climb to the castle

The wall of the Moorish Castle as far as the Royal Tower

The terraces of Pena, more than its rooms

### Where to sleep
In the centre of Sintra, to set out early on foot

### Where to eat
Sandwiches and sweets from the centre to take up to the mountains

### Keep in mind
Ages 6 to 17 pay the young person's rate at the monuments

The walk up is continuous: water and shoes with grip

### Qué hacer with teenagers
- Pena Palace and park
- Quinta da Regaleira and its initiation well
- The Moorish Castle along its walls
- Vila Sassetti trail, from the village to the Moorish Castle

## Consejos

### Pena in the morning, Regaleira in the afternoon
Or the other way round, but never both at midday. The early hours are the quiet ones.

### Sleep a night in Sintra
When the groups from Lisbon leave, the town empties and in the morning you reach Pena first.

### Bring a coat even if it is sunny in Lisbon
In the mountains there is fog, damp and a few degrees less.

## Preguntas frecuentes

### Can you see Sintra in a day from Lisbon?
Yes, with an early train: Pena and the Moorish Castle in the morning, Regaleira and the centre in the afternoon. Monserrate and Cabo da Roca need another day.

### How much do the tickets cost?
Pena, €20 for the essential visit; Quinta da Regaleira, €20; the Moorish Castle, €12; the National Palace, €13. Children under 6 do not pay.

### Is there a combined ticket?
Parques de Sintra manages Pena, the castle, Monserrate and the National Palace, and has family rates. Quinta da Regaleira is separate.

### Is it a good idea with children?
Yes. They love the castle walls and the tunnels at Regaleira. With a pushchair, not so good: there are hills, steps and dirt paths.

### Is it open all year?
Yes, all the monuments open daily apart from occasional closures, such as Christmas and New Year. Check Parques de Sintra's notices before going.