Maribel

scrb11,
I forgot that friends stayed at the Casa De Canilhas in Mesão Frio when all the quintas between Régua and Pinhão were fully booked during the harvest season. And from the house there are very photogenic views, if that helps.

scrb11

That does have nice views.

I am looking at a couple of other places, just on the south edge of the town, with great views as well, Casa Vale do Duoro and Vila Duoro guest house. Both are within easy walking distance to restaurants and markets.

But the dining options seem limited compared to Pinhao. Peso da Régua is 20 minutes away by car and there are more dining options there. However, from all the photos on Google, you can tell the Mesão Frio and Peo de Régua restaurants are all these small places off narrow sidewalks so no outdoor tables even though they're right by the river or have access to great views.

Looking around Google Maps, I see this place, which is modern and high end. They designed the place to take advantage of river views.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/O+...!1BCgIgARICCAI

I want to avoid indoor dining as much as possible.

Maybe takeaway Portuguese food isn't so bad? But some of these tiny hotel rooms aren't well suited for eating.

I might have to choose Pinhao because they have a few places with outdoor tables.

Maribel

I know the places with outdoor tables in Pinhão, and some are seasonal and weather dependent.
In November the Vintage House Rabelo restaurant vine covered terrace was not open due to the rain. The Veladouro and LVB restaurants' terraces near the pier were open. The Quinta de la Rosa Cozinha da Clara outdoor terrace was closed due to the rain, but is usually open on a nice day. The "mom and pop" (think very hearty fare, abundant portions, low prices) on the town's main street.Rua António Manuel Saraiva, do not have outdoor terraces.
The Writer's Place, across the street from th Vintage House parking does have outdoor seating IIRC, but I haven't eaten there.

My favorite restaurants in Régua are: the tiny Tasca da Quinta (no outdoor terrace) and the high end Castas e Pratos in a former railway warehouse (small outdoor dining area)

scrb11

Cozinha terrace looks wonderful. Do they have enough parking out there for dining guests? That road doesn't look like it's made for pedestrians to share with cars.

Maribel

There is minimum parking at the entrance but cars do park below on the road leading up to it. Cozinha da Clara has offered us some fine meals. It's on the expensive side by Portuguese standards, but the cooking is lovely.
On our last visit I had a soupy rice with shellfish served in a Staub-type pot, which was delicious, and my husband had the baby goat. We enjoyed a bottle of their 2017 red wine. They also have vegetarian options.

You can walk to the Quinta de la Rosa from the center of Pinhão via the pedestrian bridge.

scrb11

Interesting, the Google Street View and satellite photos don't show the lower level parking.

Apparently the Quinta also has a smaller place, Tim's Terrace, which is for pizza and BBQ. But reviews say hours aren't reliable.

Looks like Cozinha has nicer patio furniture.

Melnq8

Tim's Terrace is only open in summer. I only know this because I contacted them awhile back.

Maribel

No exactly "lower level parking". It's parking on the left side of the highway leading to the Quinta de la Rosa. That's where the employees often have to park.

I know that Tim's terrace isn't open out of season because we asked and it wasn't open when we were there in November. It's barbeque and outdoors, so seasonal.

Veladouro in town has a covered terrace and it serves an excellent and copious Caprese salad that I took back to the Vintage House for an in-room dinner, when we didn't feel like going out.

scrb11,
The list of Miradouros that I attached doesn't include those in the Baixo Corgo (lower/western part of the Douro around Mesão Frio).
Here they are
https://www.cm-mesaofrio.pt/pages/673

ccrosner

We stayed in Pinhao for two nights in October 2021 and were actually underwhelmed. If we had it to do again, we probably would just have taken a day trip to the Douro Valley from Porto (which we loved!). After touring port houses and tasting rooms in Gaia, there was only so much tasting we wanted to do in the Douro Valley. The DV is definitely worth seeing but Pinhao is the small “burg” that Maribel references. We did do a challenging hike up the hill behind the town which was great.

as for your Sintra/Cascais plans, we enjoyed staying in Sintra for two nights and wished we had spent more time enjoying Regalaria. When we had a bit of extra time, we took an Uber to Cascais for lunch. That worked well and we were glad we had stayed in Sintra instead.

scrb11

Thanks for the information.

I'm not much for wine tasting but I would visit a quinta or two for the scenery and learning a bit about the process.

There are some guided tours out of Porto but they run 9 hours so it's a whole day anyways.

Already booked 3 nights in Cascais so I can either drive up to Sintra or Uber, if parking situation up there is hairy. But in mid April, I'm hoping the traffic won't be so bad.

Maribel

The parking situation in Sintra, trust me, is challenging. The town council banned private cars from the historic center quite a while ago and established new traffic patterns. At several monuments (Parque de Sintra--Pena Palace being one), there isn't any parking for private vehicles.

So, you're no longer allowed to drive and park private vehicles in the Sintra hills. The hotels in the center of Sintra indicate this on their web sites.

There is parking near the Sintra train station, located 1.5 km from Sintra's center. At the station you can take a taxi, an uber, a tuk tuk or the (usually very crowded) circular bus 434, called the Circuito de Pena, run by Scotturb.
This bus departs every 20 minutes, starting at 9:15 from the train station. It's a one directional hop on/hop off bus that takes visitors to the top of the town to the Park, the Moorish Castle and Pena Palace, then back down to the center to the National Palace. You buy your one-way or round trip ticket, to make the entire one-directional loop from the driver. You're allowed to make this loop only once.
The tourist bus loop:
Sintra Station -> National Palace / Historic City Centre -> Moorish Castle -> Pena Palace
->Moorish Castle -> National Palace / Historic City Centre -> Sintra station.

To reach Regaleira and Monserrate you take a different bus, the Scotturb minibus 435, called the Villa Express 4 Palacios, that also departs from the train station,
It goes first to Regaleira and then to Monserrate. It also passes by the Palacio de Setais, which is now a Tivoli hotel. Ticket for the entire bus route costs €5. Pay the driver.

From Cascais there are 2 buses to Sintra: From the bus station, Cascais Terminal, located below the Cascais Villa shopping mall, you can take Scotturb bus 417; trip takes 30 minutes to Sintra train station. Buy ticket from driver; fare: €4.35
https://scotturb.com/carreiras/horarios/inverno/.

Or the longer, scenic route: you can return to Cascais on bus 403 that goes along the coast, past Cabo da Roca. Trip takes 1 hour. Bus departs every 30 minutes. Last bus from Sintra departs at 7:40 pm.
https://scotturb.com/en/carreira-403-eb/.

This is the most updated blog post about managing a Sintra visit from Lisbon-
https://www.thatonepointofview.com/sintra-day-trip/

Maribel

scrb11,
Here is the email sent to me just this week from Parques de Sintra regarding our upcoming visit:

"Good afternoon,
Thanks for your contact. We inform you that it is not necessary to present a Vaccine Certificate or a PCR covid test to visit the monuments under the management of Parques de Sintra. You can check the conditions of visit, prices and opening times at:https://www.parquesdesintra.pt/en/pl...es-and-prices/.

Important note: Road traffic in Sintra has recently undergone changes, with unauthorized access to the Moorish Castle and the Park and Palace of Pena for private vehicles and circulation in the historic center limited to residents. We recommend that you prepare ahead your visit to Sintra, informing yourself about road circulation and access by public transport. Please see the "How to get there" section for the access conditions to get to all the sites: https://www.parquesdesintra.pt/en/pl...-to-get-there/

Kind regards,
Miguel Pereira"

scrb11

In 2020 I booked the Sintra Boutique Hotel because they included parking. They also refunded my money even though it was a nonrefundable booking.

So I was inclined to book with them again.

But when I studied the hotel's location and where attractions and restaurants were, it didn't seem as convenient, so I booked Cascais instead. So I'll probably make a day trip or two, either out of Lisbon or Cascais.

I want to visit both Pena palace and the Mouros castle but I'm more interested in taking pictures outside and maybe from the ramparts/decks on them.

For comparison, I liked the outside of Neuschwanstein a lot more than the inside, especially from Marienbruke and the views of the countryside below. Actually they don't even allow camera use inside.

I have similar recollections about Segovia and El Escorial, though it's been a long time since I've been to those.

Of course there's a lot of history to appreciate inside. But these days, crowded interiors don't have as much appeal as they used to.


Actually one of my goals is to take some pictures and videos with a drone. Portugal has a process where you have to get explicit approval in every place you would fly. Lisbon, Cascais, Sintra and Cabo da Rocha are all restricted for drone flights but the civil aviation agency said try submitting applications for them anyways.

Maribel

Photography isn't allowed inside the Pena Palace.

abbydog

Hello! I just returned from Sintra last night, and Maribel's advice was invaluable. However, I wanted to note that I was permitted to take photos inside the Pena Palace.

Maribel

Thanks, abbydog, for the update on photography at the Palace.

scrb11

Do you need a ticket to get to the outside terraces of the Pena Palace?

I heard that it was like €7 to access all the grounds but €14 to go inside.

If there's a big crowd, I'd probably prefer not to go inside at all. I'd climb the ramparts of the Moorish castle for the views and maybe the outside terraces, walk the grounds a little bit. Looks like you can really hike to some distant parts of the grounds, which are on higher elevation, if you want to.

Looks like the Moorish castle are just ruins? Couldn't find picture of the interior?

Maribel

You need a Park ticket but not a timed entrance ticket to the Palace to photograph around it. With the Park ticket you can photograph from the loggias outside.

Please read the information here---all the info you'll need including the access
https://www.parquesdesintra.pt/en/pa...alace-of-pena/

Please read the info about the Moorish Castle here-
https://www.parquesdesintra.pt/en/pa...oorish-castle/

scrb11

Thanks, I didn't expect Muslim motifs and ornamentation inside. Did they use the timed entrance to limit number of people inside?

Maribel

The timed entrance is new, I believe, and an answer (I'll soon see) to the overcrowding inside, so a form of "crowd control". In the past visitors had complained about having to go in an overcrowded, forced line through the Palace rooms.
The Pena Palace is a hodge podge of styles.

abbydog, thanks again for your correction (not an update!). I just looked at our Sintra photos and duh!, I found some of the Pena Palace interiors.