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Sintra plans

Posted by (Maryland) on

I'm planning out a day trip to Sintra when we are in Lisbon in April.

From other posts, sounds like a Bolt or Uber from Lisbon is the best way to get there, and they can take us directly to the Pena Palace (or at least up to the gates, where there is another bus or 15 minute walk up to the Palace?). I've read mixed things about whether going in the Palace itself is worth the time/cost. But on the ticket website, there seems to be only 1 option for a ticket. I couldn't see a 'grounds only' ticket for the gardens - am I missing something?

Also seems like best to start at Pena Palace and then can walk down to Moorish Castle, 15-20 minute walk. Some have said this was a good site, others less so. Also looking at the Quinta da Regaleira which looks interesting, but like a 30 min walk from the Moorish Castle, is that right? Then are there other worthwhile sites as well for a short trip?

We don't have a problem walking between these sites, but would be curious to know the other modes of transport between them. Sounds like getting Uber from Moorish Castle can be difficult?

How much time do you think we'd need for the above, including walking between if thats the best/only way? thanks!

Posted by
1403 posts

We used the same strategy for Pena Palace (Bolt from Lisbon, earliest timed Palace admission) and the Moorish Castle (walk). Afterwards, we were tired and caught a bolt back to Lisbon.

If you want to go to Quinta da Regaleira afterwards, you can walk, catch the bus or a bolt back at the roadway. When we went, there were also locals with cars hanging out at the roadway entrances to the Moorish Castle and Pena Palace Park offering rides back to Sintra for €5pp. Good luck

Posted by
525 posts

Eric, thanks for asking this, as we wanted to do something similar. Have you decided yet?

When are you going?

Posted by
4 posts

We were in Portugal in December and spent a day in Sintra. The Moorish Castle was our favorite, actually. It is just a lot of ruins, but it was great fun to climb up and down them and the views (including the view of Pena Palace) were spectacular. We did the grounds only ticket (Pena Park) at Pena, as I was led to believe that the best part is really the views from the outside. Another stop we made that I really enjoyed was Monserrate. The grounds there are lovely, it was much less crowded compared to the other sights, and the architecture itself and the story behind the place were quite interesting. To get around, we bought tickets for the hop-on hop-off Scotturb bus, that served us well for getting around. There is also no shortage of local drivers who line up outside all these attractions and try to get you to ride with them.

Posted by
191 posts

Have never used Bolt, but an avid user of Uber. Will Uber be good for trips Sintra, , Porto, Coimbra and Lisbon?

Posted by
4773 posts

We used Uber instead of Bolt with no issues for multiple rides during our stay last Fall including Lisbon, Porto and Sintra.. Most drivers are driving for both.

Posted by
47 posts

Do the sites other than Pena Palace require a timed ticket? Or only a generic ticket for entry?

For those who have been, other than main sites in my post (PP, MC, QdR) what other sites in Sintra are worth seeing?

We'd like to make the best use of our time (but dont mind some walking in between), but I'm assuming if we arrive at PP by 9 am, we' would like be able to do most of above by 3 pm? We like to spend time in the sites, but our style is not to linger in sites (unless absolutely huge and demand the time) for hours on end. An example would be Tower of London where we spent no more than 1.5-2 hours, saw most of things but not every detail.

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