We took a day tour with Lisbon Riders to Sintra. I was foolhardy enough to mess with Lisbon Riders’ standard tour to Sintra because I wanted to see about 5 buildings in/near Sintra, including Pena Palace, Quinta da Regaleira, Convent of the Capuchos, Sintra National Palace, and the Palace of Monserrate.
While the saga/sitcom of our attempt to see them all is better detailed in my other travel writing locale, I wanted to share these things I noticed about the Pena Palace:
On the advice of Lisbon Riders, Pena Palace was our last stop. We had timed entry for 5pm. When we arrived at 4pm and started walking up the pathway (note: this is a pretty steep and tiring climb) we passed a line of people at least a kilometer long. At 4pm, they were waiting for their 2pm timed entry.
We walked right into the courtyard area at about 4pm - this area is not time-controlled. We toured the exterior areas and then decided that we’d just head back to Lisbon, satisfied with the other sites we had successfully toured. But - and here’s the key thing - during the 40 minutes we were in the courtyard, that entire massive line disappeared. So that while the 2pm timed entry people had a huge wait, the 5pm timed entry people (other than our hysterically tired group) walked right in!
Lisbon Riders told us this is commonly how it plays out - terrible lines all day long and then a total lull at about 5pm. If you can schedule your day this way, you’ll be far smarter than we were:)