My wife and I will be visiting Portugal for the first time this spring. We fly into Lisbon (LIS) arriving in the early afternoon 3 days prior to beginning a guided tour of interior areas & the southern coast that will depart from but includes no time in Lisbon. We plan to rely entirely on public transportation outside of the tour. Sintra seems to be a highly recommended place to visit, with many recommending an overnight stay. Would it be worthwhile to travel directly from the airport to Sintra (metro + train) spend that evening (Day 1) and part of Day 2 in Sintra, then return to Lisbon the afternoon or evening of Day 2 and spend that evening and the next full day (Day 3) in Lisbon? We join our tour early on Day 4, but will return for another full day in Lisbon before our early flight home from LIS. Would we do better to just spend our “free” time In Lisbon?
Posted by
Ontario, Canada
368 posts
Stay 3 nights in Lisbon and spend a full day in Sintra to avoid wasting time to check in & out as well as worrying about your luggage. Sintra’s only 40 minutes by train (Rossio stn).
Posted by
11606 posts
Day trip to Sintra.
Posted by
Ottawa, Ontario
89 posts
I agree with the day trip to Sintra; there is lots to see in Lisbon and a day really does it for Sintra. Just be sure you take a bus or cab up to the castle! We walked it and it took FOREVER! (I had misread Rick's description...)
Sharon
Ottawa, Ontario
Posted by
WA State
3961 posts
We did a small group day tour to Sintra, Bluffs of Roca Cape, Cascais, etc. We agree with others on this thread-- Spend more time in lovely Lisbon.
Posted by
Ontario, Canada
368 posts
Agree with Sharon. We cabbed to Pena Castle, under €10, then walked to the Moorish ruins then continued down another 1/2 hr to town.
Posted by
Southern Oregon
630 posts
In 2014, we stayed in Lisbon before our Rick Steves Portugal tour and day tripped to Sintra using the tour company Sintra Magik. Gonzalo was a wonderful private tour guide. He picked us up and got us to Sintra in 45 minutes, quicker and easier than using the train. We got up to the castle well before the major crowds were there because of this, then he recommended a great restaurant for lunch in SIntra that was off the beaten path with mostly locals there. After lunch he took us to Cabo da Roca and Cascais and then finally getting us back to our hotel in Lisbon after a full day. Highly recommend the company!
Posted by
Porto, Portugal
80 posts
Hello @dcainco,
I'm Portuguese and I consider Sintra one of the most beautiful places in Portugal - it's a romantic place, and if you're going with your wife you should take that into consideration... Having said that, I believe one day tour won't be enough to visit the most interesting points in this town.
You have many places I think you should visit: Sintra National Palace, Pena National Palace, Quinta da Regaleira, Monserrate Palace, Moorish Castle (not to mention others)... If you take your time and not hurry visiting these monuments, I think you'd spend at least 2 hours in each (give or take...).
Both Lisbon and Sintra are very touristy but I think Lisbon is like many other capitals with many museums, some monuments etc. while Sintra as a unique cultural landscape that stands out... it's not by chance that it is listed as UNESCO's World Heritage (Lisbon "only" has Torre (Tower) de Belém and Jerónimos Monastery listed there).
Whatever you decide to do, I hope you two enjoy Portugal ;)
Posted by
OP
Lakewood, Colorado
33 posts
Thank you all for your responses. On your advice, we will spend all three nights in Lisbon and I will explore how we might best use our limited time to see at least some of the recommended sites in Sintra. I am hopeful we won’t be part of crowds of tourists; at least we won’t be there on a Monday.