Hi Everyone,

We will be staying 1 night in Sintra to give ourselves enough time to enjoy the town. We plan on traveling from Lisbon to Sintra early morning then seeing the 1) Moorish castle 2) Pena Palace 3) Quinta da Regaleira (and of course have some goodies at the Casa Piriquita). We also want to see the Park and Palace of Monserrate and do the hike Santa Maria Trail (I assume this trail takes us to the Moorish castle?). We also would like to catch a taxi to see the Cabo Da Roca. We have only 1 day but the next morning we could use the first half of the morning to take the taxi to see the Cabo Da Roca? Then, we need to catch a train to Coimbra.

What would be the best itinerary to do the above? How much time does each of these things take? I need to reserve train tickets from Lisbon to Coimbra (so wondering what time I should do that for?)

Our favorite site in Sintra was the Sintra Palacio Nacional, much older than Pena Palace. It is filled with beautiful tile work.Make sure you include it on your visit to Sintra.

Apart from Sintra which I assume one full day is enough the taxi ride to Cabo da Rocca should take about an hour there and getting out to see the waves crashing into Europe's westernmost point (including Ireland I believe) and back - I took a bus and it seems not that far but not that much there once there - but still an awesome sight.

Portugeuse trains are cheap even at full fare but yes try to get discounted tickets for Sintra (having to backtrack almost to Lisbon) to Coimbra worth getting but Sintra is just a few euro commuter train no need to pre-book. For lots on Portugeuse trains check www.cp.pt - www.seat61.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com.

Thanks... still trying to figure out the order of our day. Does this make sense?

Hike up to the Moorish Castle (or should we take the bus 434? I keep hearing the hike is lovely but I don't want to waste time either)--> walk to Pena Palace --> take bus 435 to Regaleira --> lunch --> how do we get to National Palace? --> walk around the town --> sleep the night in Sintra. Next morning: check out of hotel, take a taxi to Cabo Da Rocca and then we need to get back to Lisbon to catch a train to Coimbra. Thoughts?

Well that's gonna take a half day to the cape and back to Sintra where you take trains back to Lisbon Oriente station for trains to Coimbra. See no quicker way. Take taxi to cape and back with bags and drop off at Sintra station.

that said not sure Cabo da Rocca is worth all that.

Palacio Naxional was in town not up the hill like Pena Palace.