Questions about Sintra
 

Hello,
We will be spending 5 nights in Lisbon starting April 22. We plan on going to Sintra for a day. How many palaces is it possible to visit in one day? And I would love to know your favorite palaces and why they are your favorite. I know everyone has different likes and dislikes, but I genuinely like to hear what places people like the best and why.

If we have time to visit 3 palaces, these are the ones that seem the most intriguing to me:
Palacio do Pena
Sintra Palace
Quinta do Regaleira

Any thoughts?

What is the approximate cost to take a taxi from the Sintra train station to the palaces? I know there is a bus but i keep hearing there are long lines and I don’t want to waste time waiting in line.

Thank you!

We stayed in Sintra for three nights and had a car. We thoroughly enjoyed the Quinta de Regaleira. The gardens are sort of a "Harry Potter' type of setup...lots of winding pathways, secret tunnels and caves. The outdoors are definitely the focus of this attraction. Loved our time there. We also loved the Palacio de Pena. Beautiful rooms and gardens. Since you are coming in for just one day I would combine these two.

Hi Karen,
Excellent 3 palace choices.
Now, how to save time (tips from a tour guide ;) :
1 - Buy tickets previously. Pena Palace and Sintra National Palace are managed by the same company (combo savings in there) and tickets are sold online with discount. Low season is until March 23rd and you can't buy tickets for high season before this day. After that, go to https://www.parquesdesintra.pt/en/ - ticket office and buy and print your tickets for both the Pena Palace and the National Palace of Sintra. At Quinta da Regaleira - no online ticket office, so, unless you are with a tour guide, the queues will be there (the good news are it moves fast);
2 - Taxi from train station - to be honest, it would be a miracle for you to get one as everybody has your idea. If you don't want to lose time or be in a bus like a sardine in a can, take a tuk-tuk (they are all over), 5€/person (pretty much a standard, but ask before you jump in), to take you to Pena Palace;
3 - Start with Pena Palace or finish with Pena Palace - Be there early in the morning or late in the afternoon. It's in the middle that it gets tricky and lines can be huge.
Another option would be a private driver or a private custom tour from Lisbon - more expensive, yes, but someone would worry with schedules and buy tickets for you.
For some reason, big crowds are expected at that particular week and the next one. We, for instance, are fully booked for that week. Whatever you decide, make you choice quickly!
Hope that helps.
Enjoy your time in Portugal.

Dring our 5 day stay in Sintra we have visited Quinta da Regaleira and Palácio Nacional da Pena on one and the same day. Palácio de Monserrate and Palácio Nacional de Sintra another day.
Monserrate is my no. 1, Pena Palace my no. 2.

Thank you everyone for your helpful responses. Right now I am leaning towards Quinta da Regaleira and Palacio da Pena. I wish we had more time but I don’t want to take time away from Lisbon either.

Thanks for the info! I will be in Sintra in May. Hopefully, staying overnight and getting out early in the am will allow us to avoid some of the crowds.

Masterphil,
Because I keep hearing how crowded Sintra is, I think you are smart in staying overnight. We only have 5 nights for this trip, so I didn't want to short change Lisbon or waste time checking in and out of hotels, so we have decided to see Sintra as a day trip from Lisbon. Where else are you going in Portugal?
Karen

You left out our favorite, right in town, Palacio Nacional, historic, beautiful tile work. We also visited Peña Palace the same day.

Hi Karen....We fly into Malaga (spend the night). Drive to Cordoba (spend the night). Drive to Seville (spend the night). Drive to Lagos (spend 3 nights exploring the Algarve). Drive to Cascais (thinking about stopping in Evora during this drive) (2 nights Cascais).. One night Sintra. Drive up to Porto (3 nights). Drive back to Lisbon (3 nights) making some stops along the way.

Wow! You have a busy schedule.We were in Malaga, Cordoba, and Seville in September and loved all of them. Wish we had more time in Portugal. Hopefully, we will be back another time.

Why did you prefer Palacio National over Pena Palace?

For those who paid extra to go inside the Pena Palace... was it worth it? I've been to too many palaces and I can't remember the inside of a single one! I remember the grounds but never the interior :-).

I appreciate the tip on the site to purchase the tickets, NMT, but for whatever reason this particular site isn't accepting my credit card. I'm relatively patient and have tried four times and called my credit card company (Chase Business card) twice. And the credit card company informs me that they have never been contacted to process the attempted charges.The site requested me to pay by ATM, which I assume means debit card, and I'm not willing to do that for an unknown site.

Bookmarking

Palacio Nacional- Much more historic than Pena Palace. Beautiful tile work too.

Thanks for responding to my question about why you preferred Palacio National to Pena Palace!

Bookmarking, thx.

Hi Iwan2go,
Just to give you an update:
- Quinta da Regaleira | There is now an online ticket office https://regaleira.byblueticket.pt/ (schedule: daily 10am to 6.30pm - last entrance at 5.30pm)
- Pena Palace | There are no longer high or low season tickets, and you have to choose the date and time to enter the palace | New ticket office at https://bilheteira.parquesdesintra.pt/home/en

Thank you so much, NoMap! We’ll be in Lisbon in early January, so the most recent info is very helpful.

Great info, we'll (hopefully) be there in March 2022, and we're planning 3 nights in Sintra, enough time to see all the palaces and a day trip to Cascais. Thank you NoMapTours for the links and Karen for starting this.