We are really enjoying Portugal so far but due to some emergencies occurring before we left for this trip (honestly did not think we would make it!) all planning in the last two weeks prior to the trip was put on hold and we are flying by the seat of our pants much more than we expected. It's sort of fun but as we are already in Portugal, we are having a tough time balancing our time between enjoying what we are doing in the moment and planning ahead for next steps. (Luckily, we had previously booked just about all of our accommodations.)

That's where this thread starts! We are headed to Porto tomorrow via the Douro Valley, which should be fun!, and have a week there (will probably do a day trip to Coimbra). In 8 days we leave for Sintra for one overnight before spending another week in Lisbon. We are trying to play catch up with the things we need to book in advance or plan more carefully, and I feel like from what I was reading here before the emergencies, Sintra was going to be one of those places. I still need to read up on the monuments there and pick the 2-3 we will have time for, but for now, my questions:

-We are trying to book our train directly from Porto to Sintra, though we know of course we will be passing through Lisbon. I got a bit worried like maybe I had heard something about trains booking up in advance and we were looking at that online right now and it seems like we can't book those tickets. Does that....mean that all the trains to Sintra could be booked 8 days out? We will definitely go to a train station and buy them in person in advance during the week if necessary, I'm just trying to get a sense of things and what we might be messing up. Happy to get advice on trains (or anything else!) we should be booking in advance.

-We have accommodations booked for the night in Sintra but it's a little apartment, not a hotel, so I don't think we'll be able to leave luggage. It's so hard to tell if things on the internet are outdated from pre-pandemic nowadays, but it seems like there are luggage lockers in the Sintra train station and/or one or more private companies that you can leave luggage with? I think we may need to do this if we arrive around 3pm on the first day, if we either can't or don't want to check in, but go directly to one monument for the last moments of the day. And may also need to use it the next day assuming we need to check out before we go off to see our 1-2 places for the day before heading to Lisbon.

I definitely need to synthesize all the advice on buses/tuks tuks/other transport within Sintra that I know is on these forums (and from some friends that sent me notes from their recent travels), but that hasn't happened yet! To the extent anyone has a link handy to a good discussion here or wants to repeat recommendations, I am truly grateful.

Thank you!

The Lisbon to Sintra trains can't be pre-booked as they're commuter trains. Just buy your tickets at the station from the ticket agent or the machines.

If you're traveling from Porto to Lisbon on the IC or Alfa Pendular trains, you'll get off at Lisbon's Oriente station and from Oriente take the Lisbon to Sintra commuter train. (The other Lisbon to Sintra commuter train leaves from Rossio station, but in your case, coming in from Porto on the train, you'll take the Sintra commuter train from Oriente).

This is what the Oriente station looks like-
https://www.lisbonportugaltourism.co...e-station.html.

Here's the schedule for Lisboa-Oriente to Sintra:
https://www.cp.pt/sites/passageiros/...rios-resultado

I don't believe that there are luggage lockers at the Sintra rail station since it's a commuter station (and a total zoo in high season). There are lockers at the ticket office of the National Palace in the center of the historic district, but I don't remember how large they are.

There is an arts and crafts shop across the street from the Sintra rail station called "Tradições" that used to offer luggage storage, with a rooster sign outside and a sign "Depósito de Baggage-Luggage Storage". I don't know if they still offer this service.
You could try to message them on their Facebook page. Or call them at +351 21 910 8048
https://www.facebook.com/pages/categ...0249634530888/

For Sintra transportation to the 5 major monuments:
1. There are 2 Scotturb one directional buses, the 434 (to Pena Park for Moors' Castle, then Pena Palace) and the 435 (to National Palace, Quinta da Regaleira Palace/Park, to Tivoli Hotel Palace of Setais, to Monserrate Palace/Park--the "4 Palaces" loop).
The large "Pena Sightseeing" (“Circuito de Pena”), Scotturb one directional loop bus 434, departing from the train station, takes you to Sintra Vila (historic center where the National Palace is located), then to the Moors' Castle, then to Pena Palace, then back to town. Ticket for the entire one way loop: 7/p
When coming out of the station, walk to your left to find the stop for the 434 bus

To your right from the station down the hill a bit you'll find the stop for the 435, "Villa Express 4 Palacios" one directional loop bus that takes you to National Palace, then Regaleira then Tivoli Palacio de Setais Hotel and finally to Monserrate. Ticket for the entire one way loop: 5.50/p

You can buy tickets for both these loop buses directly across the street from the rail station at the Scotturb office.
In the shop they heavily promote the "discount", 24-hour ticket for the 434, the 435 and the 403 that takes you from Sintra past Cabo da Roca to Cascais. It costs 11.50 plus .50 for the combo ticket. You just won't have time to do these 3 bus loops.

These buses can get extremely crowded, especially the larger "Pena" Scotturb bus. Tthe 435 is a smaller, shuttle type bus and wasn't too crowded on our day because many visitors just walk to Quinta da Regaleira from the center of town. We took it from the rail station to Regaleira then to Monserrate then back to the rail station. Because of the recent traffic pattern changes and road construction, the ride from the final stop, Monserrate, back to the train station takes 20 minutes, but it's a very scenic ride.

2. 10 euros by taxi (not per person) for Pena Park with a 20% supplement on weekends/holidays.

The official green and black taxis now have a sign on their doors indicating the prices for Pena (10 euros), for Cabo da Roca outside of town on the ocean (20), for Cascais (18), for Lisbon center (30) for Lisbon Airport (35).

I took a photo on March 19, that's how I remember.

3. 10 euros/p by tuk tuk to Pena Park (some posters here were able to negotiate a ride down from Pena to town for 5 euros, but it may have been a shared ride)

4. Uber, but Uber drivers can get extremely busy in Sintra. Recent posters here have experienced cancellations of rides.

Lovely, thank you for this detailed information, Maribel.

I know the transportation info will be very helpful, and we will definitely need good options, as husband's father will be joining us for a few days, including for Sintra, and since he is getting close to 80, though in great shape, we want to be prepared for anything and not expect to walk everywhere (as my husband might prefer!)

I've been in Portugal since May 2nd. You may have now heard that the trains are on strike, randomly hitting different cities. Today Lisbon and Porto are affected, yesterday I noticed nothing was moving at the Lagos station.

I'd be happy for any advice on our itinerary there! Luckily, we have our train tickets sorted and our luggage on the first day is not a problem after all. TBD on the second day, but I'm hopeful we'll figure something out. In the meantime, I've finally had a little downtime in Porto to start getting to know what to see in Sintra and it seems like I'm trying to narrow down from a pretty standard top 5 of: National Palace, Pena Palace, Regaleira, Moorish Castle and Monserrate. I'm not sure whether we'll be able to do 3 or 4, but welcome comments on the possible plan:

We'll arrive something like 3pm and can immediately check in to our apartment and leave bags. Our apartmernt is apparently right by the National Palace, but I'm thinking of trying to get to Pena Palace (grounds only) and then Moorish Castle on the first day. Downsides appear to be that it will probably be raining the entire time we are in Sintra, so I'm not even sure the Moorish Castle is worthwhile? If we can't see any views? Husband really wants to do it, though, so I expect we'll go to Pena with his dad and then we'd go on to Moorish Castle on our own. That might not work as it appears Moorish Castle actually closes a half hour earlier than everything else, but these two places just seem to go together based on location.

So perhaps we do those two on the second day and do Regaleira and Natonal Palace the first day (in that order, since Regaleira closes earlier).

As far as buying tickets in advance, it sounds like it would make things a little faster when we arrive to have already purchased tickets on the website, but not as critical since we don't need the timed tickets for the interior of Pena.

Anything that doesn't make sense with this? What would you change, given likelihood of rain (we do have rain jackets and umbrellas and at this point can't change our itinerary for better weather!)? I also have not begun to familiarize or plan the transport to each location, which as I've read threads here seems like it bears a lot of consideration, given crowded buses with long lines, Ubers that don't show and other concerns.

Thanks for any comments!

For your first afternoon, the Pena Park does sell it last admission ticket for 6 and closes at 6:30. Ditto for the Moorish Castle. If it's raining, it won't be much fun climbing down to the castle and walking those slippery ramparts in the rain, and if it's cloudy and rainy you won't be able to enjoy great views. (But I hope the prognosis is wrong!)
See all the opening/closing times here on the official Parques de Pena site (except for Regaleira, which is privately run).

Since it will most likely be raining (but I hope not), and your apartment is to close to the National Palace, I might simply try to do the National Palace that afternoon, since it won't be crowded, and it's handy and mostly an inside visit. The last ticket and admission for the National Palace is at 6 and it closes at 6:30. That would give you plenty of time to see the palace at leisure and grab a bite to eat or drink afterwards, hopefully, when the tour bus/train crowds from Lisbon begin to depart and the historic quarter thins out.

To do Regaleira first (closes at 5:30) after your 3 pm arrival, you would need to tuk tuk or take the Scotturb 435 bus (if not packed) or walk the 20 minutes from your apartment to Regaleira. Then you would need to walk back to town (downhill), since the one-directional 435 bus takes a very long (and scenic route) back. It goes from Regaleira on to Setais Palace (a Tivoli luxury hotel), then on to Monserrate, then on to Colares before heading back to Sintra Vila. The ride from Monserrate to Sintra vila alone takes 20 minutes. You wouldn't then have much time for the National Palace afterwards.
Regaleira gardens are vast, and the visit just takes longer, so I don't think if you would do justice to both in the 3 hours you might have.
Just some thoughts
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I think I should just be less ambitious on the first afternoon and only do one monument. That's what I was thinking before and then when I saw they were open a little later than I thought I started having thoughts about sneaking in a second one in the afternoon. But really, we are in no rush on the second day, we just will go back to Lisbon for our hotel that night, so could see 2 or even possibly 3 monuments, esp if the possible rain prompts us to keep our visits to the grounds of Pena Palace and Moorish Castle short!

I agree that you should do just one monument on that first afternoon. Good call!

I thought I'd report out on our trip in case it can be helpful to anyone.

No problem with the trains! I appreciate that (it appears to me at least) you get warning about what days and areas trains will be affected by the strikes. We have not been affected thus far, though I will be monitoring as we'll be headed down to the Algarve in a few days and, in particular, will hope there's no disruption when we try to come back the day before our flight home.

The trains were super easy and on time. Thanks for the tips and links, Maribel!

On the first day/afternoon, we were able to check in, leave our luggage, get a taxi up to Pena Palace (12 euro - I think the driver was telling us they have to go a much longer way now than they used to because of the changes to the streets to one way and/or some construction? Not sure because we had a language barrier, but it did take a LONG time to get up there). We did only the grounds and park, which were fantastic and we spent several hours and definitely didn't have time to do even the Moorish Castle which was a bit of a shame since it's right there. Did have some views of it, though, and it didn't rain on us!

On the second day we were able to leave our luggage with the apartment building, which was fantastic. The apartment we stayed in was fine and nice, but did appreciate the amenities of the luggage lockers, and other things we didn't use like a washing machine and dryer (a DRYER! wow!), a communal kitchen and a communal living room as well. We used Casa da Pendoa and it may have been a bit pricey (not sure) and they really need to fix their keypad on the front door which only works every 8-10th time you enter the code, but it worked well for us.

Before we all got up, my husband went for a run up to the Moorish Castle and it wasn't open yet, but he got to see more and it satisfied his curiosity about it, so that we knew that we would do Regaleira and the National Palace that day. And we did and it was great! It did rain on us toward the end of our visit at the gardens of the QdaR, but we were totally prepared. We loved it all and I will say the crowds were not bad, actually! And it was a Monday! The grounds of the palace at Pena were probably most crowded, but it wasn't terrible (this was probably around 4:30 and later on a Sunday). But on Monday both the QdaR and the National Palace were busy but not what I would call swamped. We waited all of maybe 30 seconds to enter the Iniciatico(?) Well, for instance and basically felt like everything was pretty free flowing the whole time.

I really hope to get back someday to see more of the Moorish Castle and Monserrat, and many other sights as well! It's a lovely little town.

Sounds like a good time for a last minute plan. I also stayed at Casa da Pendoa, do they still offer the Port and the goodies in the refrigerator, and the morning bread on your doorknob?

Thanks so much for reporting back! It seems like the better time for Pena is either very early in the morning, when the Park opens or later in the afternoon--it may be that 4:30 pm on a Sunday afternoon is a good bet. Glad you enjoyed your visit and the Casa da Pendoa!

@mlgb no, or at least we were not so lucky as to receive! I did see reviews about that, but we only found tea and some crackers. Which was all fine. We got some nice pastries at the very old pastry shop, Casa PIriquita, for breakfast and the night before we got takeout at the Italian-Indian food right next door to the apartment. Oh, how things change! It was just days before when we were in Porto and laughed at the idea of eating at an Italian-Indian food place while in Portugal. "Haha", we said, "what a combination! Not sure that would be very good!" But then the night in Sintra came and the smells of butter chicken lured me in when I wasn't feeling too hot, and my husband got a pizza that ended up being our lunch the next day. So we were both humbled and well-fed (and hey, it's nice to have some variety while traveling for over a month, so why not?!). It's been an adventure

Interesting pkt63, when I go back to my emails and click their links, I get a company called LovelyStay which appears to have taken over management. When I went in 2018 I got the impression that it was directly managed (they had their own website, ap, etc). This was in the emaill I got: "We don't have breakfast service, but there is a welcome basket in the apartment included in your stay, in which you may find snacks to enjoy during your stay."

I guess many things have changed since then.

Great advice and notes here