Taking the Train from Lisbon to Sintra

Spending about an hour going through various threads on this forum will give you a wealth of information.

Even quick scan of Rick's book will be a very good ROI of time.

Of course there is that Sundar Pichai's very powerful website. But it can give you a lot more info than what you may want to study and filter.

To answer your questions:
1. Train to Sintra from Lisbon is a local suburban train like S-bahn or Chicago Metra or LIRR or NJT or VRE or Septa. You can certainly buy ticket at station or put some funds on Navigate Occasional card and zap through.

BUT, why bother? Especially with the hassles of getting from Sintra train station to Pena Palace?

JUT USE Bolt or Uber. It's cheap and saves TON of time and energy.

1. Lisbon is very walkable city and transportation pass need will depend on desired mode of transport and frequency per day.

Usually it is recommended to buy 24 hours pass once and finish off your appetite for trams and funiculars because these vehicles do not accept contactless credit cards which bus and metro accept.

Most people will suggest you to buy Navigate Occasional card (cost 0.50 cents) and load some funds and road and loose some unused funds at the end of the trip

But again Bolt is so cheap that for 2 people it make sense to use it and for 3/4 people it is actually cheaper.
Plus you get point to point transportation without much wait or fear of pickpocketers. Language is never a barrier as there is no mandatory need to exchange even one word. (English is easily understood by most Portuguese but drivers are a different story. Many can't speak a single word of English. They could be very recent immigrants from Brazil, Mozambique, Pakistan)

TLDR:

1. For your tram+funicular day use 24 hour pass
2. Otherwise just Use Bolt - within Lisbon or to)from Sintra. (Unless you have never used Rickshaws in your life, stay away from those ripoff artists called Tuktuk drivers)

In the past visits, had used public transport as prescribed by most travel guides and travel blogs

But last month, used Bolt almost exclusively and found advantages with Bolt were so much that felt somewhat stupid for not using them previously. (Most rides were from 3.5 to 5.5 euro for door to door private service)

Navegante Ocasional card can be loaded with money ( and some types of tickets) for zapping in the Lisbon commuter trains, buses, Metro and ferries.
https://www.metrolisboa.pt/en/buy/viva-viagem-card/

Lisboa card allows for similar type of travel and some free or discounted attractions entry fees.
https://www.lisboacard.org/

The price/validity structures are different, you'll need to determine which one best suits your needs.

Rossio station has the trains above ground and the Metro below ground.

@Gail,

"Language barrier" was mentioned in context of Bolt/Uber drivers. If you run into Portuguese or Indian driver, it is not an issue. But with Brazilian or East European drivers, English speaking abilities were close to zero. But with model of Bolt/Uber that's not an issue. That was the point.

And just out of curiosity kennyD, since you are pushing Bolt, exactly what is the price for a Bolt from Lisbon , e.g. Rossio, to the center of Sintra, and how long does it take to drive? Trains from Oriente are under 2.5 euro, take about 45 minute, and run several times per hour. The rechargeable card works fine for transit -but not for private drivers.

Paid about 18-20 euro from hotel to Pena park main entrance. 45 minutes total.

For four people, it was cheaper and much much faster than transport to Rossio, train to Sintra, bus to Pena

Even for 2 people, savings in time and energy makes it worth it

It was about 4 or 5 euro to go from Pena park entrance to Regaleria park entrance.

Was it fairly easy to get a Bolt at Pena Palace or did you have to wait awhile?

I agree with traveljunkie re Bolt. Train from Lisbon to Sintra is cheap, but just getting to Sintra is only half the battle. You still need to find a way to get from the train station all the way up to Pena palace. Waiting, lining up for a bus or trying to catch a bolt in Sintra. With enough people in your group, it is cheaper to just catch the bolt from Lisbon all the way up to the palace.

You can use Google Maps to get an estimate for the bolt ride from Lisbon up to the pena palace entrance.

Jenifer, there may be a wait to catch a bolt at the palace. A bolt may not drive all the way up to pena palace for the singular purpose of picking you up, especially if you only want a short ride back down to Sintra. The one way nature of the drive is not worthwhile for a driver to make a special trip to pick you up. Your best bet is to wait by the Pena palace entrance and make your request. Hopefully, when a bolt driver is dropping off people, they will conveniently pick you up at the same time. The way the app works, a time estimate will be provided to you.

You could catch the bus back down to Sintra, but those bus drivers are known to upsell you for the full day ticket even though you only need the one-way trip. You must insist on your your right to buy just the one way ticket, but just be aware that you may be arguing with the bus driver with a lot of impatient people waiting behind you.

The other alternative is that some local people park in front of the entrance and offer to give tourist a ride back to town for about €5 per person. If the bolt app shows that there is a long wait for a bolt, this might be quicker to get back to Sintra and then you have the option of taking the cheap train back to Lisbon.

Good luck.