My wife, myself and my adult daughter will be spending several days in Lisbon. Wanted to visit Sintra and are considering our options for a day there. Should we take a tour, engage a private guide or do it on our own? Would like it to be as easy and informative an experience as possible.
What sights would everyone recommend we see as "not to miss" or "nice if you have time". Also recommendations as to restaurants to grab lunch while we are there. Thanks for your responses, it is appreciated! Happy Travels
Posted by
Portland, Oregon
5687 posts
I did it myself - easy to get from Lisbon to Sintra by train. From the Sintra train station, you pick up bus 434 to take you up the hill to Pena Palace, which is what most people want to see.
The Pena Palace is colorful and beautiful from the outside. I didn't go inside - I've seen the inside of enough castles and palaces, personally, and didn't feel the need to see another one. I'll bet a guided tour would make an inside visit more informative, though.
The highlight of Sintra for me was the Quinta da Regaleira, which is down by the town not up on the hill. I highly recommend a visit.
Whether a guided tour would work best for you depends on our personal travel style. It's not usually something I do, but you might.
Posted by
Ontario, Canada
4573 posts
I did it as a cruise tour, so it included Cascais, which I quite enjoyed. Between the towns are cork forests. I believe if you had your own car or private tour, you could see about cork farm tours....if that interests you.
Posted by
Cascais, Portugal
1669 posts
I’ve done Sintra both on a tour and by myself. I enjoyed the tour more because I didn’t have to navigate the throngs of tourists at the sites. Admittedly, it was also the first time so that might have had some bearing on my enjoyment.
My choices for a first timer would be Peña palace but just from the outside. The inside isn’t that great. Quinta de Reguleira for the grounds. Again, the inside of the house isn’t that great. And, if you have time, Montserrat. Both the grounds and the house are amazing.
And, respectfully to the other poster, the cork forests of Portugal are mostly in the Alentejo. The Sintra hills might have an ocasional Cork tree, but I’ve never see them. The forests are lovely but, unfortunately, have a lot of eucalyptus.
Incomem is an upscale restaurant in Sintra. These days, I use the reviews on Google maps and am always pleased and agree with the reviews.
Posted by
BC Canada
79 posts
We travelled via train to Sinatra by ourselves in November and it was easy. By choice we went to the Quinta da Regaleira and Castelo dos Mouros. Used grab to get around. Highly recommend both and travelling by your self.
Posted by
46 posts
We're headed to Portugal (and Spain) in May and will be day tripping to Sintra from Lisbon. We're doing it on our own, though a friend was there last summer and took a tour, which he enjoyed.
As far as lunch, in doing online research we came across a vlogger who does by the name of Max Nomad. He suggested two places, both of which we are considering: Sopa d'Avo and Tascantiga. You may also be familiar with the show Somebody Feed Phil, which streams on Netflix ~ for indulging your sweet tooth, Phil recommends Piriquitas, where he had both their travesseiros and queijadas.
Have safe and fun travels!
Posted by
755 posts
There is a lot to see in Sintra, so we took the train and spent the night so as not to be rushed.
Posted by
47 posts
Taking the train is pretty easy. There is a bus from the train station to Pena Palace, but we took Ubers to get around when we were there in late January. Regaleira is definitely worth a good chunk of time.