FEBRUARY 2020
My mother and I brought a super spontaneous visit to Sintra in Portugal, because I still had some free time before starting my new job. Sintra had been on my list of cities to visit for a while now, as I was interested in visiting some of the beautiful and colorful palaces near Sintra. We decided to stay the night in Sintra and finish our trip to Lisbon, but you can easily stay in Sintra for three nights to take your time visiting all of the castles. We found Sintra a true fairytale, the surroundings are super lush, flowers were already in bloom in February and the castles were absolutely gorgeous.
Practical information
Sintra is the perfect place to visit on a road trip, or to take a train from Lisbon, like we did. The train network of Portugal is really good and cheap and most cities have a train station. The journey from Lisbon to Sintra takes about 45 minutes by train and it costs € 2,50 one-way. We stayed at Casa do Arco, which is part of the luxury hotel Lawrences, we were lucky to be able to use the facilities of the hotel at a discount price. We paid € 45 for a room including a delicious breakfast at the Lawrences hotel (with fresh Pasteis de Nata). The hotel is located within walking distance of the city center of Sintra and the Quinta da Regaleira. Some of the palaces are located far out of the city center and we would advise to use a taxi or Uber for getting around. We were ripped off by a tuktuk driver, who dropped us off at the wrong location. Make sure to negotiate very well where you would like to be dropped off. Another budget way of getting around is taking the bus, but you do need to schedule some time for that. During summertime Sintra is absolutely overrun with tourists, if you value your quiet time, do not visit Sintra in this period. As we visited in February it wasn’t too crowded in Sintra and luckily we had sunny weather and 20 degrees! I would advise visiting Sintra during the off-season, it is more of a location for sight seeing than sunbathing, so the off-season has the perfect temperatures for visiting these kind of locations. As Sintra is small and touristy, you can expect prices to be a little higher than in the rest of Portugal. I found wine quite expensive (port for € 5,50 per glass), but you can do a lunch deal and search for a budget accommodation.
Quinta da Regaleira
Quinta da Regaleira is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which should kind of tell you that it is a spectacular sight! The Quinta da Regaleira is closely located to Sintra old town, so you can take a walk to the entrance. As Sintra has become increasingly popular, the entrance fees of the Quinta da Regaleira have increased over the past years and in 2020 an entrance ticket costs € 10 per person. I did find it well worth it to pay the entrance fee, we mainly visited for the mysterious initiation wells, where ceremonies were performed, but we found all of the gardens super beautiful. We were lucky that some blossoms and magnolias were already in bloom and were surprised that the gardens were super green in February. I can only imagine this place being even more lovely in Spring time.
You should definitely take your time visiting the Quinta da Regaleira, the premises are quite large and the whole garden is filled with mysterious buildings and grottos you can visit. We definitely did prefer the gardens of the Quinta to the palace itself. You cannot visit a lot of rooms in the palace, but it still is worth it to take a look inside.
Palácio de Pena
Palácio de Pena is the main reason we visited Sintra and one of the most famous sights of Portugal! Unfortunately this means that Palácio de Pena has gotten extremely popular over the years and that it is absolutely packed in summer. I hoped it wouldn’t be this crowded in February, but just to be sure I bought the skip the line tickets (€ 14 per person). We arrived at 9.45AM and were two of the first ones in line, before the garden opened at 10AM. I would always recommend buying skip the line tickets and to come before it opens, as we were able to overtake the other people in line and were the first ones to arrive at the castle! My mother is asthmatic and the path to the palace is quite steep, so this was exhausting for her, but in the end she was also really happy we had the full palace to ourselves for about 30 minutes.
I had read that some people were really disappointed by Palácio de Pena and did not find the interior very spectacular, but we didn’t understand that opinion at all. Besides that we loved the colorful exterior, we also loved the interior. You can visit a large part of the palace and the furniture really makes the rooms come together. The inside of the palace has just as much personality as the exteriors and we were in constant awe!
Palácio de Pena features a large garden as well, which we decided not to explore as it was incredibly hilly. If you want to explore the gardens, make sure to bring sturdy shoes and plenty of water. The palace also has a terrace, with lovely views of the palace. We found the prices for lunch or a drink super reasonable given how popular this place is.
Monseratte Palace
Monseratte Palace is a little more off the beaten path in Sintra, so you will find less people here. In comparison to the other palaces we visited Monseratte is an oasis of rest, which adds to the experience of visiting. An entrance ticket costs € 8 per person and for this price you get pretty much all of the palace to yourself. The Monseratte palace is the most Moorish style palace we have visited in Sintra and we were reminded of the Alhambra and Marrakesh. We absolutely loved the details and amazing ceilings of this palace, but we did not prefer it to Palácio de Pena, as the palace was incredibly empty. The palace changed owners several times and a lot of the furniture was sold, therefore we found that it felt a bit cold instead of a place where people have lived. However we were very happy to have visited it, as the style is completely different from the other palaces. I found the combination of the three palaces absolutely perfect for our Sintra experience.
