We are arriving one day early before the beginning of our RS 12 day in Portugal tour so that we can visit Sintra. We wonder if we should stay our first night in Sintra, to allow us more time to enjoy the sights there, as our tour group meets at 5 pm the day after we arrive. It seems most people take a day trip from Lisbon to see Sintra, though there is so much to see we thought it might be good to go directly to Sintra after we land at 3 pm on Saturday and uber or train to Sintra from the airport, stay one night and train back to Lisbon mid afternoon so that we can meet our group at 5 pm that day. Is there any reason we might want to not stay in Sintra the first night?
Posted by
Virginia, USA
5853 posts
I spent my first two nights in Sintra and thought it was a good way to start my trip to Portugal. I took the metro and train there and if I had to do it again, I would have just taken a taxi on arrival to save time. I enjoyed staying in Sintra. I stayed at Chalet Saudade which is within walking distance of the train station and thought it was a great place to stay with very helpful owners and a nice breakfast at their nearby cafe. I also had an excellent dinner at Incomum which is across the street (reservation recommended).
If you are arriving at 3pm and need to be in Lisbon the next day by 5pm, you really have very little time; sights will be closed when you arrive and you will need to get up early, check out, and get to the sights first thing. Personally, I would probably skip Sintra and spend the extra day in Lisbon with so little time.
Posted by
Wyckoff, NJ, USA
7904 posts
I'm not an RS Tour customer, but I think the answer is a matter of travel style or itinerary desires. Do you feel you get enough time in Lisbon on the RS Tour? Do you enjoy the (illusion) that Sintra is an undiscovered (!) rural paradise of black-clad widows trudging to independent market shops with a basket on their arms? It is a trivial excursion from Lisbon, not even as hard as Seattle from Olympia. I suppose your amount of luggage might be a factor, and your total hours of travel on arrival day. Have you done this from the west coast before?
It's not a good comparison, because the US starves mass transit, and falsely believes it should "pay for itself". But your question is related to (... your home area ... ) "can a professional Olympia lobbyist live in Seattle", or "Can a tourist see Mt. Ranier on a daytrip from XXXX?" Sintra is a time-consuming (but Must-Do) visit, because of tourist crowding and separation of the individual attractions. You also need to check on Saturday hours for the attractions, and sunset time for that date! Sintra is scenic from the outside, but multiple entries are ESSENTIAL.
Posted by
26 posts
I came in two days early for my RS Portugal tour in 2022 and went straight to Sintra. No need to Uber. Take the Metro from the airport to the Oriente metro station and then take the Sintra train from there. I loved my accommodations at Chalet Saudade. The Saudade is walking distance from the train station. Enjoy Sintra. It is not to be missed.
Posted by
OP
Whistler to Olympic National Park
38 posts
Thank you so much-- super helpful. I just discovered our hotel in Baixa Lisbon for the first night is non-refundable, so we will be staying there and not in Sintra. So good to know Sintra is close and easy to get to. I know we will have to decide what to visit and what to skip given our limited time. Wondering if any one recommends taking a tour or just doing it on our own?
Posted by
11579 posts
We took the train to Sintra and toured it on our own. Easy.I would prefer to stay in Lisbon.
Posted by
USA
134 posts
You will get tired and jet lagged on arrival day.
Try to avoid temptation to take a nap. Instead go to bed early and wake up early to get mist out of your next day.
You can decide to go to Sintra or extra time in Lisbon at last minute by checking your energy levels and weather in both Sintra and Lisbon.
You can actually manage Sintra without lines by buying "grounds" ticket online that morning which actually allows visit to almost all terraces without any lines.
Even though you are close to Rossio station, you can again save valuable time and energy by taking Bolt or Uber directly from hotel to Prna palace entrance. Make sure yo buy 3 euro add on for green bus to tsjr you up hill from entrance to castle. With you joining RS tour next day, why bother with Navigante card and waste time/energy in going from sintrs station to prbs palace. After about an hour or do at the pena palace, you can then bolt over to Regaleria and then bolt back to Lisbon for your 5 pm tour meet.
Enjoy RS tour.