A week around Lisbon!
Jan 21st, 2004, 04:23 AM
#21
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We stayed at the Miradouro last spring and would recommend it.
This is my take on Obidos: It was the first walled town we visited after leaving Lisbon and Sintra. We were "wowed" by it. As we moved on through the country, we realized that there were many, many walled towns and we liked many of them better. It is heavily visited during the day. Is it worth seeing...I believe so, especially if your time is limited (as it appears to be) and it will be your only opportunity to visit such a village.
We had a car to go from Sintra to Obidos. From Obidos, we daytripped to Tomar & Fatima and to Alcobaca & Batalha. We picked up the car before leaving Sintra. The rental office was in Cascais (Europcar via AutoEurope). Frederic, from Casa Miradouro, was kind enought to drive us from Sintra to Cascais to pick up the car (for a price). He also picked us up at the airport in Lisbon upon landing.
This is my take on Obidos: It was the first walled town we visited after leaving Lisbon and Sintra. We were "wowed" by it. As we moved on through the country, we realized that there were many, many walled towns and we liked many of them better. It is heavily visited during the day. Is it worth seeing...I believe so, especially if your time is limited (as it appears to be) and it will be your only opportunity to visit such a village.
We had a car to go from Sintra to Obidos. From Obidos, we daytripped to Tomar & Fatima and to Alcobaca & Batalha. We picked up the car before leaving Sintra. The rental office was in Cascais (Europcar via AutoEurope). Frederic, from Casa Miradouro, was kind enought to drive us from Sintra to Cascais to pick up the car (for a price). He also picked us up at the airport in Lisbon upon landing.
Jan 21st, 2004, 05:39 AM
#22
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Thanks, xxxx. We've been to many walled hilltop villages, but not in Portugal. We enjoy wandering around them but if we don't go to Obidos, I don't think we'll feel like we missed something.
Any scoop on these 2 places in Sintra?
Quinta da Paderna
Residencial Sintra
I can't find anything on the net about the first one, but according to my book it sounds good. The second has availability, but the book says, "it's on the high road between Sintra-Vila and Sao Pedro." Does that mean it's too far to walk into town and to the sights?
Thanks!
Any scoop on these 2 places in Sintra?
Quinta da Paderna
Residencial Sintra
I can't find anything on the net about the first one, but according to my book it sounds good. The second has availability, but the book says, "it's on the high road between Sintra-Vila and Sao Pedro." Does that mean it's too far to walk into town and to the sights?
Thanks!
Jan 21st, 2004, 09:05 AM
#24
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Sao Pedro isn't ringing a bell right now and I don't have any of my maps/notes with me to reference.
I would check with where ever you decide to stay to see if they are willing to pick you up. I don't remember what Frederic charged us or if 21:30 would be an acceptable time to him for airport pick up. I do clearly remember however that it was worth every penny we paid to see him waiting for us after nearly 24 hours of traveling (can't fly direct from the Midwest to Lisbon!)
I would check with where ever you decide to stay to see if they are willing to pick you up. I don't remember what Frederic charged us or if 21:30 would be an acceptable time to him for airport pick up. I do clearly remember however that it was worth every penny we paid to see him waiting for us after nearly 24 hours of traveling (can't fly direct from the Midwest to Lisbon!)
Jan 22nd, 2004, 02:45 AM
#25
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Decided on the Residencial Sintra. In case anyone else is ever looking for this info, here's what the hotel said about their location.
We are situated in a residential area of Sintra 800 meters away from the
historical center, 10 minutes walking time. There are various good restaurants 5 to 10 minutes walking distance from us. If you like to have some more information you can find us in the following
site: www.specialplacestostay.com
And here are some comments I dug up on fodors.
Message: We were at the Pensao recommended in clip below in May, paid 54 euro/night including breakfast. A great, great bargain for the comfort and charm. Sintra is a small place. Other 2 hotels mentioned are very nice and centrally located but perhaps double and triple your budget (repsectively). I liked Sintra very much and would love to spend 2 nights there again someday!
Message: I was in Sintra last week for 3 days. We stayed at the Pensao Residencial Sintra, a converted great house that is somewhat faulty towers, but quite charming and with a beautiful garden and pool, just up the hill from "downtown." All the rooms are huge and have en suite bathrooms. We checked out the Lawrence (right in town and also maybe a converted house) and the Tivoli Hotel Sintra (also right in town and rather posh looking, tho very "hotel-ish"
. We walked out to the Setais Palace--very, very nice, but a good walk from town. There are quite a few taxis at the stand right in town and seemed to be $3-5 to get just about anywhere, so we didn't miss a car. Also so beautiful we wanted to walk a lot, tho at night did take taxi back to the Pensao
Message: I think that might be the same mention I saw on this board last fall for this hotel. We tracked it down and stayed there for 4 nights in July. I think the price was around 50-60 euro, we paid cash and got a 10% discount. From a number of the rooms and from the grounds you can look up at the Moor's castle, beautifully lit at night. We dealt with them by Fax: 21-923-07-38.
Sintra, Cascais, and Lisbon are all incredible (especially Sintra - hiking to the two castles on the hill!!!) and I wish I had stayed in that area for my whole trip rather than driving around everywhere. Driving on the toll road was great, however, it seemed like if you want to get on going northbound, you could only do so from Lisbon. We took lots of windy backroads...the motion sickness factor was extremely high!
Message: PS I noticed you asked, "Sintra or Cascais?". I suggest staying in Sintra and taking a day trip to Cascais. Sintra is beautiful - wooded, mountainous, and quaint, while Cascais is a harbor / beach town (small beach)full of tourists and little shops.
There is a FABULOUS pension in Sintra where I stayed - a quintissential European manor house with beautiful gardens and a new, gorgeous outdoor pool. The hiking trails to the castles started right across the street from it. But I cant remember the name - ack! It was something very simple like Residencial...
We are situated in a residential area of Sintra 800 meters away from the
historical center, 10 minutes walking time. There are various good restaurants 5 to 10 minutes walking distance from us. If you like to have some more information you can find us in the following
site: www.specialplacestostay.com
And here are some comments I dug up on fodors.
Message: We were at the Pensao recommended in clip below in May, paid 54 euro/night including breakfast. A great, great bargain for the comfort and charm. Sintra is a small place. Other 2 hotels mentioned are very nice and centrally located but perhaps double and triple your budget (repsectively). I liked Sintra very much and would love to spend 2 nights there again someday!
Message: I was in Sintra last week for 3 days. We stayed at the Pensao Residencial Sintra, a converted great house that is somewhat faulty towers, but quite charming and with a beautiful garden and pool, just up the hill from "downtown." All the rooms are huge and have en suite bathrooms. We checked out the Lawrence (right in town and also maybe a converted house) and the Tivoli Hotel Sintra (also right in town and rather posh looking, tho very "hotel-ish"
. We walked out to the Setais Palace--very, very nice, but a good walk from town. There are quite a few taxis at the stand right in town and seemed to be $3-5 to get just about anywhere, so we didn't miss a car. Also so beautiful we wanted to walk a lot, tho at night did take taxi back to the PensaoMessage: I think that might be the same mention I saw on this board last fall for this hotel. We tracked it down and stayed there for 4 nights in July. I think the price was around 50-60 euro, we paid cash and got a 10% discount. From a number of the rooms and from the grounds you can look up at the Moor's castle, beautifully lit at night. We dealt with them by Fax: 21-923-07-38.
Sintra, Cascais, and Lisbon are all incredible (especially Sintra - hiking to the two castles on the hill!!!) and I wish I had stayed in that area for my whole trip rather than driving around everywhere. Driving on the toll road was great, however, it seemed like if you want to get on going northbound, you could only do so from Lisbon. We took lots of windy backroads...the motion sickness factor was extremely high!
Message: PS I noticed you asked, "Sintra or Cascais?". I suggest staying in Sintra and taking a day trip to Cascais. Sintra is beautiful - wooded, mountainous, and quaint, while Cascais is a harbor / beach town (small beach)full of tourists and little shops.
There is a FABULOUS pension in Sintra where I stayed - a quintissential European manor house with beautiful gardens and a new, gorgeous outdoor pool. The hiking trails to the castles started right across the street from it. But I cant remember the name - ack! It was something very simple like Residencial...
Jan 31st, 2004, 11:46 AM
#27
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I am going to Portugal on May and somebody recommended www.novasintra.com to stay in Sintra.. It seems to be a nice place to stay...
Feb 9th, 2004, 04:48 PM
#28
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Peep:
If you're still checking, I'd love to read about your trip when it is over. My wife and I and our 2-year old will be spending two weeks just outside of Sintra in May. Chances are anything you find intriguing will be worth checking out ourselves.
Our challenge is that we will be far enough from the train that it is inconvenient, but not impossible. I'm especially interested in any experiences you have in and out of Lisbon on the train.
We're likely to try to do the '$3-$5 taxi' from the other message you found, but we are as curious as you are about the 'would it be a million times easier and faster with a car?' question. Of course, rental rates in Lisbon seem pretty high.
Hope you have fun.
If you're still checking, I'd love to read about your trip when it is over. My wife and I and our 2-year old will be spending two weeks just outside of Sintra in May. Chances are anything you find intriguing will be worth checking out ourselves.
Our challenge is that we will be far enough from the train that it is inconvenient, but not impossible. I'm especially interested in any experiences you have in and out of Lisbon on the train.
We're likely to try to do the '$3-$5 taxi' from the other message you found, but we are as curious as you are about the 'would it be a million times easier and faster with a car?' question. Of course, rental rates in Lisbon seem pretty high.
Hope you have fun.
Apr 15th, 2004, 07:22 AM
#29
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Just back from our trip! Thanks to those who gave me advice!
We spent the 1st 4 nights in Sintra at the Residencial Sintra. It's about a 10 minute walk from the center of Sintra up and down hills. It's not far, but there aren't sidewalks the whole way so you have to watch for cars.
Otherwise, we loved it! The people who run it are very friendly and helpful. Nice rooms. We spent one day in Sintra at the Pena Palace, Moorish ruins and around town.
We arranged for a rent car at the hotel. It was about 80 euros for 2 days for a little, standard car. Over 2 days we used about 20 euros of gas. Apparently there are no car rental companies in Sintra, just in Cascais or elsewhere. They delivered the car and picked it up. It seemed like tolls were expensive on the highway, like 5-8 euros.
One day we drove to Obidos and poked around there for a few hours. It's really touristy but it's still nice. Then onto Nazare. I'm glad we didn't overnight there. It's a very developed beach town and on Good Friday, it was packed! It was really windy and chilly but there were some people sunbathing on the beach.
Next day we drove to Ericeira. We really liked it! It seemed less touristy and much more like a normal town. Then onto Cabo da Roca and the cork monastery. The monastery was cool and definitely worth visiting.
On Easter we took the train from Sintra to Lisbon Rossio. It only cost 1.30 euros each one way and trains go back and forth every 20 minutes, and the trip takes about 45 minutes. Very easy. In Lisbon we stayed at the Residencial Alegria. I found it and the place in Sintra on this sight:
http://www.specialplacestostay.com/home.html
We had reserved a top floor room with a view out the front of the park and were quite pleased. 48 euros per night. It's right off Avenida Liberdade (sp?). We loved Lisbon! What a great city for wandering around!
We spent the 1st 4 nights in Sintra at the Residencial Sintra. It's about a 10 minute walk from the center of Sintra up and down hills. It's not far, but there aren't sidewalks the whole way so you have to watch for cars.
Otherwise, we loved it! The people who run it are very friendly and helpful. Nice rooms. We spent one day in Sintra at the Pena Palace, Moorish ruins and around town.We arranged for a rent car at the hotel. It was about 80 euros for 2 days for a little, standard car. Over 2 days we used about 20 euros of gas. Apparently there are no car rental companies in Sintra, just in Cascais or elsewhere. They delivered the car and picked it up. It seemed like tolls were expensive on the highway, like 5-8 euros.
One day we drove to Obidos and poked around there for a few hours. It's really touristy but it's still nice. Then onto Nazare. I'm glad we didn't overnight there. It's a very developed beach town and on Good Friday, it was packed! It was really windy and chilly but there were some people sunbathing on the beach.
Next day we drove to Ericeira. We really liked it! It seemed less touristy and much more like a normal town. Then onto Cabo da Roca and the cork monastery. The monastery was cool and definitely worth visiting.
On Easter we took the train from Sintra to Lisbon Rossio. It only cost 1.30 euros each one way and trains go back and forth every 20 minutes, and the trip takes about 45 minutes. Very easy. In Lisbon we stayed at the Residencial Alegria. I found it and the place in Sintra on this sight:
http://www.specialplacestostay.com/home.html
We had reserved a top floor room with a view out the front of the park and were quite pleased. 48 euros per night. It's right off Avenida Liberdade (sp?). We loved Lisbon! What a great city for wandering around!
Apr 15th, 2004, 02:24 PM
#30
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Nice to know that you enjoyed your time. I was in Nazare the day before you did. Nazare has a marginal avenue with a relaxed atmosphere and the views from Sitio (the hill above the beach) are really interesting.
Apr 23rd, 2004, 06:54 PM
#32
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I know Hotel Tivoli Palaio de Seteais is just outside of Sintra, but has anyone stayed there and/or experienced their package deals ? Any recommendations or comments would be more than greatly appreciated ???
