We are late in our planning, but we will be in Portugal, arriving on Oct 31. We know that Nov 1 is the national holiday of All Saints Day. Does that mean most places will be closed?
We were thinking of going to Sintra, but reading about all of the crowds, we are unsure. It's true it would be in November, when hopefully the crowds wouldn't be as great, but would the Pena Palace be even more crowded on November 1 since it's a holiday?
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
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Cascais, Portugal
1826 posts
Almost nothing will be closed that will impact your travels. These holidays are called Bank Holidays and other than government offices, the banks are pretty much the only things closed. Sintra would likely be no more busy. November is better regarding crowds. And, Peña Palace is significantly more busy than the rest of the sites.
Monserrat and Quinta de Reguleira should be very doable by then and are my favorites. Peña is pretty spectacular from the outside and if the day is clear, the views are great. Don’t bother fighting the crowds to go inside as it’s pretty underwhelming IMO.