Hi all,
looking at a day trip to Sintra and want to see Peña Palace, Moorish castle and Quinta de regaleira. Is Parques de sintra the official website? Because I am finding it difficult to navigate to find combo tickets but there are dozens of other websites that have them but not sure which sites are safe to use and which to avoid. Any suggestions would be great. The other query is- the 434 bus, is it a 850am start time in late May? So would 9:30 be the earliest safe time to book peña palace for?
Posted by
USA
134 posts
May I suggest you to take about 30 minutes of time to go through just last 2 months of threads related to Pena/Sintra?
TLDR
1. Don't visit interiors. Park tickets are sufficient to visit all terraces and enjoy wonderful views
Thus no need of a timeslot.
Visiting very early or very late means less crowds
- Sintra weather cud be very different from Lisbon. You do not want a rainy or windy day. Monitor weather abd buy tickets only on previous night.
3 Do not take bus. Use Bolt
- Read recent threads on this forum
Posted by
OP
206 posts
Thanks. I had read those, but wasn’t sure about the bolt suggestion because I’ve seen so many comments saying the exact opposite.
Posted by
USA
134 posts
Easy to get Bolt or Uber from hotel to Pena Park entrance especially in the mornings
Depending on where your hotel is located, 18 to 20 euro. About 45 minutes.
Where you run into challenge sometimes is the return.
If your return is to Lisbon or Cascais or cabo, that will not be an issue but all you are doing is taking 4 euro ride down to town, it is not worth for drivers to take the long one way winding road full of stopped traffic from the town just for short distance 4 euro fare.
This is particularly case when you are trying to hail from Moorish castle. Drivers at Pena park entrance can not drive back
But if you order from Pena park entrance, chances are very high that one of the drivers dropping others will get assigned to you.
In any cass, as backup, there are always tuk tuk or gypsy cars waiting to take you down for 5 euro pp. They overcharge on their way up but are desperate for rides down as many folks hike down.
Three factors will affect quality of Sintra visit
1. Weather
2. Skipping interior tickets and lines and timeslot hassels
3. Use of bolt/uber
Posted by
Reston VA
315 posts
- Don't visit interiors. Park tickets are sufficient to visit all terraces and enjoy wonderful views Thus no need of a timeslot. Visiting very early or very late means less crowds
I generally agree with this assessment.
The Pena Palace was crowded and I really couldn't wait to get out. Coupled with the line to get in (oddly chaotic for timed entry) and I would 100% skip it.
I really enjoyed the Moorish castle, and we liked wandering the walls and the nice views. I think this alone would be what I would recommend to visitors.
In general, if I had to do it over again, I would have not bothered with Sintra at all. More effort than it was worth if weighed against other things to do with a short stay. I think a week in Lisbon would be when I would add it in. Under a week? Probably not.
Keep in mind, we also took the train to Sintra and just walked up and up and then down and down :D I enjoy that, but maybe it affects my perception. We did luck out as it was rainy as we arrived, but burned off as we headed up to the Palace and was great through the time we headed home (also by train).