Sintra—Pena Palace Park Only Ticket

As you are not trusting what you are reading online, i suggest emailing the palace directly:

[email protected]

Excellent advice. Thanks for the link to the email address.

Usually, this forum is lot more reliable than TA. (IMHO)

But in this particular case, one cannot blame anyone as policy has been changed a few times.

As of this spring, (2024), park only ticket was perfect.
(No time slot, no lines and you can visit almost all terraces including outdoor cafeteria - you can even do famous wall walk)

But that doesn't mean that policy will not change.
(Capacity remain same, crowd keep increasing exponentially)

Suggestion above to get email directly from them closer to your trip is a good one

Social media has indeed ruined old fashioned traveling charm - you need to find alternatives all the time

Regaleria is great and much less crowded (except for the well part).

Monserrate palace is still not that widely known.

Tip: take uber/bolt from your hotel directly to pena palace entrance - will save you lots of time, energy and hassels

Thank you.

As of 2 weeks ago, park only ticket gets you access to most of the terraces.

This was also discussed on the Forum in June and I ended up emailing Pena Palace. Here's the response from June 16th.

[email protected] [email protected] 8:31 AM (13 minutes
ago) to me

Good afternoon,

Thank you for your contact.

We would like to inform you that you may purchase tickets just for the
Pena Park at:
https://bilheteira.parquesdesintra.pt/evento/parque-da-pena/249/en.
Doesn't require a selection of a date/hour.

Please be advised that tickets to Pena Park include a visit to the 85
hectares of gardens, entry to the Condessa D'Edla's Chalet and a visit
to the Terraces of the Pena Palace.

We would like to inform you that road traffic in Sintra has changed,
with access to the perimeter of Serra de Sintra (namely Parque da
Pena) conditioned for private vehicles and circulation in the historic
center limited to residents.

You could leave your car in one of the available parks
(www.parking.sintra.pt) and use a taxi, Uber or other vehicles used
for tourism such as the Scotturb bus 434 (https://scotturb.com/pt/) at
the train station in Sintra, which connect Sintra to Pena Palace and
Park.

You can check the access conditions, prices and schedule at:
https://www.parquesdesintra.pt/en/plan-your-visit/opening-times-and-prices/

For any other questions, please contact us again.

Kind regards,

Miguel Pereira

Direção de Programação e Serviço ao Visitante

Serviço ao Visitante | Customer Service

Thank you, Allan. It seems my question now has an answer!

Does anyone know if the policy still holds true that you can by a Park Only ticket and still access the terraces surrounded the Palace? Because I went to the official website and it says tickets for Park of Pena ONLY will include Chalet & Garden of the Countess of Edla; Valley of Lakes & Little Bird Fountain; and Temple of Columns, The Warrior's Statue and The Queen's Table. It didn't mention the palace terrace areas. So I'm really confused as to whether something has changed recently.

Leaving for trip to Lisbon next month and still at odds as to which type of ticket to buy for Pena Palace (preferably skip the interior as my kids will have no interest in standing for hours just to look at the interior). Can anyone please give feedback on most recent experiences? And how do you skip the line for interior access and go straight up to the upper terrace areas if Park Only ticket is valid for access?

hotspurs99, I suggest emailing the Pena Palace. Allan has provided the email address above.

[email protected] [email protected]

If the policy has changed and you really want to see the terraces, I would buy the regular ticket and just don’t go inside the palace.

Hotspurs99, we were there 6 weeks ago and had access to all terraces and gardens. Here's a link to my Trip Report. I don't talk about ticketing in Day 3 while we were there but I do explain that signage is terrible and how to get to the terraces. https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/trip-report-part-1-hills-and-castles-portugal

Hi Allan, I'm a Calgarian too, living in the NW part of the city! Your trip report is very helpful. Interestingly, you and I share a lot in common because I'm the type who prefers to get to my destinations while on vacation rather than stop every now and then for snacks and breaks. LOL! I've got a few questions, if you don't mind me asking:

1. How long did the Uber ride take from town to The Moorish Castle? I read some reports that suggested 30-40 mins up the mountains, while Google map seemed to indicate half that time. How long should I plan for Moorish Castle?

2. Was the 10 min walk on uneven dirt trail through the forest to Pena Palace by the side of the road? From some YouTube videos, I thought it was a paved road, the same one used by the buses.

3. What time did you arrive at Pena Palace? Was it crowded at that time, and did you have to line up for long to get tickets? I presume you only bought the 10 euro Park Only tickets at the ticket counter.

4. Once you got your ticket, did you just walk up to the Palace, past all the lines and straight into the Gift Shop to access the upstairs terraces? This is where I'm a little confused. At what point did you have to show your ticket to the staff in order to go in? At the Gift Shop entrance? Or at the stairs leading up to the terraces inside the shop?

5. How long did you spend at Pena Palace? Did you explore the surrounding park or just the terraces at the palace?

6. Did you ride a Uber from the palace back to the train station? I'm just wondering if there's signal up there for my Uber app to work properly on my phone.

We went to Pena Palace in late September, and did Park Only tickets. We had access to almost all the terraces (I think there are a couple of small upper terraces that are only accessible for interior ticket holders). The perimeter wall walk was closed when we were there. The day that we went had heavy fog, so there was no view. That might have dampened some of the crowds, although there was still quite a line for the interiors. Because it was so wet that day we didn't tour the gardens, although they looked quite interesting.
For the person who asked about the walk between Pena and the Moorish Castle, it is a pedestrian only paved pathway down the hillside through the trees. It can be slightly steep, and I was glad for my trekking pole on the wet cobblestones. The path branches in a couple of places, and the signage is not always the clearest, but we made our way -- within 45 minutes.