Can anyone recommend a small group tour to Sintra?
 

During our Lisbon stay, my husband and I would like to visit Sintra. Our top priority is the Pena Palace. We are also interested in the Quinta de Regaleira and Monserrate Palace; maybe the Moorish Castle and/or the National Palace. The small group tours - even those with high Trip Advisor ratings - describe a day tour to Sintra as a whirlwind, and cram in trips to Cascais and/or Cabo da Roca. I would rather see the Pena Palace and maybe one or two more sites than being allowed 30 minutes here and there.

Is there a "slower" small group tour that anyone can recommend from personal experience? I have no problem with being in a group of 6-15 people and would just as soon not pay $200+ per person for a private tour. We do not plan to spend the night in Sintra.

Thanks in advance.

In my experience, the small group van tours, as you've noted, do pack in a lot in one day---not only Sintra (usually with only one monument, not all 3) plus a stop in the center of the town, then on to Cabo de Roca and Cascais, making a loop. And the guide isn't allowed to accompany the guests through the Pena Palace but instead just gives them an explanation during the ride and they go on their own.

But this one seems to provide guests the time, at least, to tour the Palace on their own and then go to Quinta da Regaleira (you can read through all the TA reviews of this touring day). And you can email them to make sure they do include both monuments.
https://www.portugueseforadaytours.c...ll-group-tour/

The private tours allow guests to tailor make their day in Sintra, but yes, they do cost much more.

Hi
Yellow bus has a tour of Sintra departing from Lisbon.
https://www.yellowbustours.com/en-GB...ntra-Tour.aspx
Their tour is 50 euros per person, minimum 2 people.
The tour it's mostly the Palacio da Pena , with some time in the village of Sintra.
If you book with them make sure you are booking the guided tour as opposed to the Hop on Hop off service they offer in Lisbon.
Happy travels

Wevtook the train from Lisbon and visited the newer Pena Palace and the much older National Palace which we liked best. Easy to do by yourselves.

In Sept. 2017 we booked a small van tour (8 people) from Lisbon to Sintra (Pena Palace)
Cabo Roca (Western most spot in Europe) and
Cascais (really loved this town)

We used Inside Lisbon and were very satisfied with the service. We felt that we had plenty of time in all three places, including time for lunch in Cascais. After touring Pena Palace we had plenty of time to walk around the town of Sintra.. we also were not rushed at Cabo Roca.https://www.insidelisbon.com/

As tours go, this was one of our favorites. If you are comfortable going on your own, do so but within the time frame of our Lisbon days this worked out quite well.

We've also used Inside Lisbon but not for a Sintra tour but instead for city walking tours.

They do offer an 8-hour Sintra Palaces tour, which I assume is more of what you're looking for, omitting Cabo da Roca and Cascais, and concentrating only on Sintra with entrance to 2 palaces. It operates year round on Monday-Wednesday-Friday-Sunday.

https://www.insidelisbon.com/package...ace-regaleira/