Impossible choice: Pena Palace or Quinta da Regaileira ... If you can only do one!
 

Greetings!

Initially I wanted to visit 2 palaces in Sintra: Pena Palace and Quinta de Regaileira. However, thinking realistically in terms of the age of our group (65-83 :)) and the size of 18 people, I came to realize that 2 palaces would not be doable considering that I want to add Cabo da Roca and a dinner by the ocean. All in one day ;)

After reading countless comments that the lines in Pena Palace are super long and hearing from our agent that groups don't get priority entrance, I pretty much gave up on going to Pena palace. I also have been very curious and wanted to see the amazing stone well. I saw the pictures of this well which popped up online a few years ago... and made me think it was from like India or something! Lo and behold...Portugal! So I was pretty much set with my plan for the day in Sintra---Quinta de Regaileira.

However, I got an email from the agent who arrangeds our Japanese speaking guide saying that Pena Palace is testing a new "fast pass entrance" for groups this September, so our group could (in theory) go to Pena without waiting in line too long. So now I am back to having to choose. And it's an impossible chocie since both of the places (Pena and Regaileira) look amazing.

So Pena Palace? Or Quinta de Regaileira?

For now the plan was this:
9am -10am transfer Lisbon to Quinta de Regailere
10-12pm Visit Regaleira
Transfer by charter bus to the Restaurant Incontum
12.30-14.00 LUNCH
short walking tour of Sintra village
14.30-15.00 Horse carriage ride/tour (35min / S. Pedro see route on the map attached)
15.00-16.00 souvenir shopping / free time
16.00-16:40 Transfer to Cabo da Roca
16:40-17.30 Cabo da Roca (pick up certifictes at the Tourist office ;))
transfer to Bar do Fundo and walk on the beach
18.30- 20.30 dinner at Bar do Fundo https://www.instagram.com/bardofundo/?hl=en
20.30-21.30 transfer to Lisbon

*** Convento dos Capuchos -- I was also intrigued by Convento dos Capuchos but I think again it's hard to walk around there for older people.
*** Horse carriage ride... it's reasonably priced at 45EUR/carriage for 4 people. Not sure whether the views are that great though. But I try to add horse carriage rides whenver psosible. We had them in Vienna Shchonbrun palace, Sevile, Romania, Georgia, St. Petersburg. So far we've alwasy enjoyed them, but I am not sure what exactly we can see from the horse carriage in Sintra.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...f85b6b7f68.png
We are planning to do the middle (blue) color route.

I have not seen it, but from the description, the Pena Palace sounds like a better choice that the Quinta de Regailiera, which I have seen. The stone well is really less than what is described, a real disappointment for anyone who has seen the double-spiral well in Orvieto, Italy. OK, you have not seen that one. But the Pena Palace also has garden grounds, with perhaps fewer fantasies, but the palace is probably much more interesting than the mansion of the Quinta.

I'm glad they're finally "testing" a fast pass group entrance to the Pena Palace in September! The drive from Lisbon, however, could take even longer than one hour due to heavy morning traffic, and the new traffic patterns now in force in Sintra.
And traffic is restricted now in Sintra's inner core, just for residents and hotel guests.

I've been through the Pena Palace, but the entry system that they now have doesn't have any capacity controls, so the Palace gets extremely crowded, especially on holiday periods or Mondays, when many Belém monuments close and everyone goes to Sintra instead.
Even when we have our online tickets (purchased well in advance) in our hands and arrive at the entrance slightly before it opens, it quickly becomes congested. The buses can only take you to the Pena Park entrance; then you need to get on the green, park shuttle bus (tickets cost 3 euros and best to have exact change) that will make the steep climb up to the Palace entrance. To climb by foot takes about 10-15 minutes, and the walk is steep!

Pena is the most visited Sintra monument and the one many cruise ship Sintra excursion passengers (but not all) visit. One needs to go through the palace rooms in a narrow single file, and when it's crowded one doesn't have much time to photograph or to linger. But this fanciful, whimsical, over-the-top architecture, as you've seen from photos, really should be seen. What I found fascinating about the interior is that the palace rooms have been left intact, just exactly as they were when the royal family fled in 1910. And the views from the belvederes on a clear day, not shrouded in mist, are terrific.
Many visitors go up and see then daunting crowds, avoid entering the palace and just spend time outside walking the vast grounds and photographing.

The cruise ship Sintra shore excursions don't usually go to Regaleira, and it gets fewer visitors in the afternoon. It also has a café (as Pena Palace has a cafeteria). But there's lots of walking involved if you want to explore all the water features, the grottos, the Initiation Well (steep stairs, not advisable for the mobility challenged), everything fascinating in the gardens.

I've never taken a Sintra carriage ride.

The monument that I most enjoy visiting is the National Palace, the only surviving Portuguese palace from the Middle Ages, with its mixture of Moorish and Manueline architecture. And there's more room here to go at one's own pace. And for some reason, it seems to be the least visited of the big 3 monuments.

A Sintra visit, in general, makes for a rather strenuous/tiring day for those who don't enjoy walking or have mobility issues with all the trekking around involved. Just so that you're prepared! *It's nice that you'll have down time and a rest/dinner on the beach at the end of your day.

. We haven't been to Italy ;)) One thing that attracts me most is that there definitely should be fewer people here than at the Pena Palace.

As luck would have it we are goign on a Monday. I also checked that there will be a couple of cruise ships that day brining about 4, 000-5,000 people. For crusie excursions, I understand most tours do Sintra in the morning and afternoon in Lisbon. Out of curiosity checked a number of Japanese tours, most of them include the National Palace instead of Pena. I think just because usually Pena palace does not provide skip the line for groups and the National Palace is easier. The agent in Lisbon who arranges our Japanese speaking guide said that they usually don't Regaileira for Japanese groups :))

So what I am leaning to is :

10am -12pm Regaileira. Ther is a cafe there, so if someone has difficulties walking, they can stay around the cafe/souvenir shop/enjoy a bit of relaxation on a bench somewhere.

12.,30-14.00 Lunch. the choice between Incomum and Metamorphosis (not so atmospheric but I hear that the service and food very good) Any thoughts?

short walk around the village after lunch + souveniers

14.30-15.15 Horse carriage ride

IF still have any strength left The National Palace (interiors) since the horse carriage ride finishes in front of the palace. (those who want to skip, can enjoy souveier shopping/sweets at Saudade for instance)
IF no energy left for the Palace, short souvenir shopping (30-45min)

16.00- 16.45 transfer to Cabo da Roca

16.45 -17.30 Cabo da Roca (souvenier / photos / certificates)

transfer to Bar do Fundo

18.00-20.00 dinner (to catch the sunset)
20.00-21.00 transfer to Lisbon

Your current program seems ok. Just a note: the sweet shops and cafés in Sintra's center will be packed to the rafters, but perhaps less so after your carriage ride, since most visitors will have taken their coffee/food breaks by then, and day trippers will be commencing their departure back to Lisbon. Just plan on working around some big crowds!

I preferred the National Palace over Pene Palace too.
Pene Palace was extremely over crowded. We arrived by train from Lisbon and then it is quite a drive upwards to get to Pene Palace. We took a tuk tuk which was fun, however your group will need a bus. Getting through the gates is ok, but once you are in, there is one line that takes ages to get through all the sections of the palace, and some parts are narrow. In the sections of the palace when you get to go outside, the views are good, but if you are going in summer that heat is quite fierce.
We did look through the palace, but could not wait to get out of there.

I LOVED Pena Palace!!!

There is a whole Meissen room, where everything is Meissen porcelain including the fireplace.

Sintra is so beautiful. Be sure your group has time to wander around and not spend all the time there looking at tourist sites.

Thin, aristocrat 🏰

I too loved the Pena Palace.

oh.. I wish we were younger and had more time in Portugal! I hate that I have to pick and choose. The Meissen room sounds lovely. Japanese ladies Love Meissen!!!
but I think (hate this indisicivness!) I'm set on a less crowded and more mysterious Quinta de Regaileira. AND if time allows and still have a bit of energy after the horse-carriage ride a short visit to the National Palace. The horse carriage ride ends right in front of it.

ohh! loved going down that well in Orvieto!

Got curious about that well in Orvieto.... "The Pozzo di San Patrizio (English: "St. Patrick's Well") is a historic well in Orvieto, Umbria, central Italy. It was built by architect-engineer Antonio da Sangallo the Younger of Florence, between 1527 and 1537" Wow!!!

Quinta was my favorite.

Both Pena Palace and Quinta are romantic fantasies. There is more to Quinta than the famous well.. and the interiors are more interesting than Pena. In fact, with limited time, I wouldn't bother with Pena's interior at all.

For history, the National Palace is significant, both the exterior and interior. The lines through the interior were slow, though.