Full day in Sintra..what to focus on
 

Hello!
Planning to take a full day side trip to Sintra from Lisbon in late December. We would arrive by train at around 10am and head back at sunset, around 5pm..giving us 7hrs, with a break for lunch. It looks like there are a ton of sights but not sure which are MUST and which are nice to see if you have time. Pena Palace, Quinta da Regaleira, Moors Castle, the main park all look amazing but everywhere I look it says each of those can take up several hours of not half a day. Any suggestions?

Sergey

We preferred the National Palace of all the sites in Sinatra. It is historic with incredible tile work. Peña Palace is newer and has a fantasy quality to it, Disney-esque, but the National Palace seems so much more authentic.

We walked from the city to the moors castle which we enjoyed enormously.

I was just there last week, on a day trip from Lisbon. From Roxio station it's about a 40-minute train ride.

From outside the station, take the bus to the Palacio Nacional. It is a real, historic, solid, no-nonsense palace full of history.

Then take the bus up to the Palacio Pena - way way up there, and to our surprise is is not the one with the impressive ramparts we had seen from down below, that's yet some other complex as you'll see once you're up on the ramparts of the Pena palace.

The Pena palace is completely different from the Palacio Nacional, multicolored and downright whimsical in its design, a lot of fun, you're not duplicating the experience from the earlier palace visit. It is also situated in huge gardens, great for an extended leg stretch!

No comments on Quinta da Regaleira? It looks like a real highlight/treat, no?

>Quinta da Regaleira<

We only had one day, so - like there always is in areas so rich with worthwhile targets - we didn't get to this one. Nor the moor's castle ruins, and a bunch of others...

There's always hoping for another time, but if you try to cram too many into one day, that day won't be memorable, more like a blur.

Hi
Quinta da Regaleira was our favourite!
So much to explore and discover, the gardens are magical and fascinating! Awesome underground towers with tunnels leading off in different directions - something wonderful around every bend.
Totally loved it.