We are interested in visiting: Pena Palace, Montserrat, Moorish and Quinta da Regaleira. As best I can tell, Pena Palace is the only palace where tickets are timed entry. All other tickets appear to be no timed entry and not even specific day. Is this correct?
Posted by
Philly
247 posts
Yes, they are timed for Palace entry. When are you traveling? Sintra is busy on Mondays and probably the weekend. On another post I read that entry speeds up after four or 5 PM search the forum. I was there two weeks ago and entered around 2 PM, there was zero line
Posted by
OP
Beaverton, OR, United States
249 posts
Thank you Gail and Shaun. For Sintra, we will be there on a Tuesday-late May. For Pena Palace, after reading about the lines, I was also thinking of aiming for this palace mid-afternoon and hitting Monserrat and Quinta da Regaleira in the morning. Then lunch in Sintra before heading to Pena Palace and the Moorish Castle after. If the other palaces/castle do not have time entries, that will give us some flexibility.
Posted by
Pacific Northwest
2689 posts
Quinta de Regaleira had a 45 minute line to do the walk down the well. This was two weeks ago. Pena Palace was crazy until 5pm - the timed entry ticket system is not working very well for them as of yet. When we arrived at 4pm, the 2pm people were still in line. Monserrate was quiet and had no line.
Posted by
OP
Beaverton, OR, United States
249 posts
Thanks Valerie--did you have a 'timed-entry ticket' or just enter at any time and wait the lines ---ugh!
Posted by
Pacific Northwest
2689 posts
For Pena Palace? We had a timed entry ticket for 5pm.
Quinta da Regaleira? We bought our tickets as we arrived - around noonish.
Posted by
2 posts
I went to Pena Palace today and it was insanely crowded. I bought a ticket for 1 pm, dutifully went to the entrance queue, and stood in a line that took an hour just to get into the building. In my humble opinion, the juice isn't worth the squeeze. You are packed in like sardines throughout the entire tour of the palace; there are so many people you shuffle along like cattle the whole time. What you see isn't worth that effort. If I had to do it over again I would skip it, or only view the outside. Quinta da Regaleira was much more interesting and less crowded.
Posted by
OP
Beaverton, OR, United States
249 posts
Valerie - thank you. I meant Quinta de Regaleira. Good to know you bought your tickets when you arrived.
Emmermr....thanks also for your feedback on experience at Pena. I will consider perhaps just viewing outside. We will be there on a Tuesday or Wednesday...midweek, but it sounds like it is still crazy busy! Thanks.