Sintra, again

We initially talked with a taxi driver about a ride and he was far less than interested in just going from the train station to our hotel in the middle of the city...a short walk as it turned out was our mode. We then just took the bus and walked a fair amount.

Jon, seems to me that if you try to do all this in a day, you will be rushing and short-changing each site, and spending a lot of money on taxis. In general, I think each of the sites you mention merits a half-day, leisurely visit. You might also check out out day tours from Lisbon, and see which might include the stops you are most interested in. In 2017, I started out my visit to Portugal with 2 nights in Sintra, and enjoyed taking in the sites you mention, in one full day plus two half days, all by walking and public bus. I did not get to the interior of the Palacio Nacional, although some others have mentioned in was best of all. I really liked the Palacio da Pena and the Quinta da Regaleira, including the gardens, and enjoyed poking around the central town, including interesting shops and workshops, bakeries, restaurants and neighborhoods.

I agree with the suggestion to take a small group tour from Lisbon.. I’ve visited and taken guests to Sintra three times and the tour i took was, by far, the most enjoyable. Having a taxi wait for you at the Quinta isn’t feasible as you will spend way too much time there for a taxi to wait.
The other option is to find a private driver or tour. Sintra is a headache because of the high number of tourists and the recent decision to make the downtown streets pedestrian only.
I also agree with the poster about trying to do too many things in one day.

We did Pena (exterior only), Moorish castle, and Quinta la Regaleira in that order and it was a full day. We took an uber from the train to Pena. Our plan was to get a cab/uber from the Moorish castle back to town but we went to the one-way road and it just looked like chaos with buses and gridlock. We ended up walking all the way down. Quinta takes a lot of time to poke around. It's big and when you explore the tunnels/stairs/side trails it pops you out someplace different than where you started, leading to a lot of backtracking. But worth it! We spent 1.5 hours there - we were tired and didn't try to get in every part of it. We could have easily spent 3+ hours there.

The walk from the entrance gate at Pena to the actual castle is uphill - there's a separate shuttle bus you can pay for but you will have to queue up and wait for it. Pena to Moorish is downhill. The walk from the entrance at Moorish to the actual castle is gently rolling and very pretty.

Thanks for the responses. It looks like I'll have to ruminate on this a bit more.
Jon

I've come across a HOHO bus in Sintra. I didn't check when the internet site was last updated, but I'm assuming it is relatively current. the HOHO describes the "blue" route as running every 30 minutes from 9:30 to 17:00 in October. It appears the route runs in a counter-clockwise direction beginning at the train station with the last stop at Volta do Duche.

Is the following a viable option if the HOHO bus is used along with a taxi?

• 8:01 train Rossio, arrive Sintra 8:41
• Taxi to Palacio da Pena
• Pre-purchase ticket for 9:30 entrance
• Visit until until 11:00 or thereabouts
• Walk to the Castelo dos Mouros (it looks like about a half-mile, I'm assuming down a grade and back up another and a duration of 45 minutes ?)
• Visit the Castelo until around 14:30
• Hop on the HOHO 15:00 and ride the circuit to the train station and on to the Palacio de Sintra arriving around 16:00
• Visit until closing
• Walk to Sintra, stroll around Sintra
• Take taxi back to train station
• Take the 19:06 (or later) train back to Lisbon

We would only pre-purchase admission to the Palacio da Pena. The duration of visits for the balance of the itinerary could fluctuate. If we arrive at the Palacio de Sintra too late for entry, hopefully we can walk around the place before heading down to the town.

I don't know why you would use a HOHO bus that runs every 30 minutes when you could use the 434 that runs much more often than that. I wouldn't count on any bus arriving at a precise time in Sintra, though.

I didn't hike a direct path from the Pena Palace to the Moorish castle - I did hike it, but 1/2 mile sounds about right. Should take more like 15 not 45 minutes to do that. I stated at Pena and then headed to the Moorish castle, but in retrospect wish I'd done it in the opposite order, so I could have just hopped on the next 434 back to town from Pena - no stops between Pena and downtown Sintra.

Quintra da Regaleira was the favorite thing I did in Sintra, though my pictures of the Pena Palace (which I did not go inside of) look more interesting now (photos of Quintra da Regaleira don't do it justice.). I found the Moorish Castle ruins more interesting from afar than close up. Walking through the Moorish Castle ruins was a big yawn. Didn't get inside the national palace at all.

AndrewH

Thanks for the information on the walk between Pena and the Castle. Upon further investigation, and finally finding a map of the route of Bus 434 (it wasn't easy) , it appears the 434 and the HOHO follow the same route!. Your question of why the HOHO vis-a-vis the 434 is a valid one. I've read (can't recall the source) that the 434 can be jam-packed (we'll be there on a Saturday) and while the published frequency is every 15 min, the actual frequency may vary, and some buses may be full-up at the stop one might want to board and one would have to wait for the next bus. I know the full-up situation could also be the case on the HOHO, but since it costs more, I thought this might "thin-out" the crowding to some extent. But who knows?

I am beginning to realize that when some folks talk about visiting the venues at Sintra, they mean they saw the exterior, while others visit the interior. This explains why some of the tours I've looked at say they visit a number of venues, plus other places outside Sintra, while some folks have responded to my noting on this forum of allowing an hour and a half at each venue wasn't sufficient time.

I think rather than solve the transportation matter before departing, I'll wait until we get there and make a decision then, perhaps the 434 (435 to Quinta De Regaleria), the HOHO or a taxi; maybe even a tuktuk. As I've noted earlier, the only admission we plan to pre-purchase is for the Pena venue. For the others, if the queue for admission is too long, we'll just look around and go elsewhere. Thanks again for your comments and your thoughts on the Quintra da Regaleira. Not many of the day tours i've looked at (from Lisbon) mention this as a stop; it looked very interesting to me. Thanks again.
Jon

Jon

For the Pena Palace the pre-purchased ticket is not for a time slot.
It is just a ticket for the day and can be used anytime.

I purchased the entry ticket in advance the evening before online and was emailed PDF tickets which I screen-shotted while on wifi and then just showed the pictures in my phones camera album at the gate. They scan in with a barcode reader.
You need to show twice, once for the park entry and other for inside the palace area, assuming you are getting that combined ticket.
I just visited this Sunday ; 2 days ago
Being there before 10 AM it is not crowded. Around noon and all afternoon it becomes a zoo and really takes away from the experience.
We drove and found parking rather easy a little lower than the Moorish Castle on the road up at 10 AM, to park closer to the Palace itself I am certain you would have to get there at 9:30 in the summer.

I did also pay the 3 euro for the bus ride uphill from the main park entrance to the castle, otherwise it is a good haul uphill. Advise you do that as well and then save your legs for the walk up to High Cross after visiting the Castle, that is what we did.
After visiting the high cross and a couple of other points in the park went back to the Castle had a quick snack and the crowds were now overwhelming.
You cannot buy the bus tickets online, some people call it a tram but it is a bus.
In the morning the line was a couple of buses capacity long so expect to wait 20 min or so, and much longer later in the day.
Bus tickets you can buy in the gift shop just after the park entry which is MUCH better than waiting online to buy them at the front entry to the park.

Walked down to the road, and then downhill easy walk to Moorish Castle entry area/parking lot.
For there is a more level walk to where the castle walls are.

After the Moorish Castle we walked back down to our car and drove into town, explored the town area when into the Palacio Nacional de Sintra and enjoyed being among the crowd watching the World Cup final outdoors in the square.
Once that ended we had an early dinner and left town. Ended up not having enough time to see Quinta da Regaleira.
I wanted to but my wife wanted to explore the side streets and shops in Sintra instead.

Having a cab wait for you at Qunita da Regaleira does not sound like a good plan though, I believe cabs in Sintra are very pricey so that would be a costly way to do things..

If you picked 3 or your 4 options I think it will be an easier day but if you skip the shops and downtown exploring in Sintra itself and just hit the sites you could do all 4 on your list in the day, especially with a 9:30 Start time.
We actually expected to be there earlier but our bnb served an incredible breakfast but not starting until 9 AM which we thought crazy late, after experiencing the day before how fresh and good the breakfast was I decided it was worth it to go late to the castle and walk a little more as a result. Our bnb was only a 15 min drive or so away.

Did not see may taxis about, plenty of tuk tuk drivers though and other cute taxi like rides as well as the buses.
Would be easy to catch a tuk tuk outside of the Pena Palace park entry area but not at the Moorish Castle entry. None are waiting around there.

Worst part of the day, was after the Moorish Castle when we walked down to the our car, that road only runs one way so we had to drive up along with all of the other tuk tuks, cars, busses and walkers up to the Pena Palace and then back down again on the one way loop and that was really a painful experience with constant stops on the uphill park and generally little room for the walkers on the road.

Really bad system they have in place, the town should not allow passenger cars on that road and instead have more frequent busses for that stretch ; add pay parking lots to pay for the new bus system would make the experience better and make the town more money.

To clarify one small detail. I would say the walk to the Pena Park main entry area to the Moorish Castle main entry area is only 5 min max and yes almost completely downhill.
From the main gate there is a walking trail only that takes another probably 15 min to reach where the walls of the Moorish Castle start and where they check your tickets.
Even with a cab this walk cannot be avoided and that is mostly downhill there and then mostly uphill going back.

Really just explaining at both of these sites there are areas no cars or cabs can drive. Park entry to the Palace itself no cars allowed and from the Moorish Castle small parking lot entry to the walls where the official entry is no cars or cabs can drive.