yestravel

I am thinking of spending our last nights before flying back to the US in Sintra. How is the drive to the airport? Thanks!

Robert2533

The drive is easy. but it's easier to take a private transfer and forget about traffic and dropping off the rental car.

yestravel

So maybe drop our car off before we get to Sintra and take a taxi to the airport. That might be a good idea. Thanks!

dedlaw

I would say that it depends on the timing - trip from Sintra to LIS is less than an hour (including gassing up -- there are several gas stations on the highway as you near the airport), and car return there is pretty fast. From rental car parking structure it's a two minute walk into the terminal. So, if you have a flight at noon or later, staying in Sintra and then driving in would be easy; earlier it might begin to feel rushed or stressful. We left Sintra and dropped the car at LIS, but then spent several days in Lisbon and took a taxi back to the airport. That trip took maybe 25 minutes in traffic, but we didn't have to spend time dropping off a car.

yestravel

I looked at the links on the bus and train and it seems like a hassle to go return the car and then get to Sintra. Taxis are €50. Don't mind paying that one way, but not €100 for a roundtrip.
Our flight will likely be at 10:30am. It seems like taking a taxi will only save the car return time and gas, maybe 20 minutes or so.
The route from Sintra to airport looks like it goes around the outskirts of Lisbon and is 28km. Is this the case? Would 30 minutes be a reasonable time to get to the airport from Sintra??

Lisbon_Eagle

You can travel from the Airport to Sintra in under 5 Euros using public transport.

yestravel

Yes, but it takes too much time and seems like a hassle with our carry on luggage.

Lisbon_Eagle

There are daily train services from Entrecampos to Sintra that takes about 38 minutes.

Anyway, if you want to travel from the Airport to Sintra by car, there's a direct route that is around 28km indeed.

You only need to turn right twice at the Rotunda do Relógio (The square next to the airport) and take the 2ª circular freeway. Then you go always straight ahead until you exit Lisbon and continue the journey with the IC19\A37 highway.

It's always straight ahead. The difference is on the type of road and location.

Bear in mind this important warning: 2ª circular is the most important access from the northeast entrance of Lisbon (connecting to the northern A1 highway to Porto) and the northwest entrance (connecting to the A37 to Sintra).

From the airport until reaching the A37, 2ª circular takes about 8km and many northern and central Lisbon exits are all around. Public transport also takes the 2ª circular. Were talking about the busiest road in Lisbon if not one of the busiest from the entire country. If there's an accident in rush hours, you know what to expect.

Also understand that the A37 is also one of the busiest highways in Portugal, since while connecting Sintra to Lisbon it crosses many important locations in between.

yestravel

Thanks for the great info.
Here is our situation. We have several options.
We will have a rental coming from our trip up North. We can take the rental car with us to Sintra. Or we can drop the rental car at the airport, and get to Sintra by public transportation. We will be in Sintra a ew days before we have to leave for the USA.
I will need to go from Sintra to the airport for a 10:30 flight to the USA on a Monday morning. I am trying to figure out if we should keep our rental car while in Sintra and drive ourselves to the airport. I gather we would need to leave our hotel in Sintra around 7:30 am to do this. Or would we need to leave much earlier due to rush our traffic?

The other option would be to drop our rental car at the airport, get to Sintra by public transportation, spend a few days in Sintra. then we have to get back to the airport on a MOnday for the 10:30 flight to the US. I am thinking we would need to take a taxi.

Or we could change our last days and go back to Lisbon which seems easier in terms of getting to and from the airport.

Lisbon_Eagle

If you have the luggage problem and you want to stay a few days in Sintra, maybe you should take the car. Sintra is quite hilly too and if you have the opportunity visit the surroundings of the quite beautiful natural park.

As long as you know that the IC19\A37 highway ranks second as the entrance\exit of Lisbon with the most volume of vehicles per day. And the 2ª circular's traffic is always intense.

Of course the volume of traffic on a working Monday morning it's also expected to be significant. Dozens of thousands of vehicles go through that highway into Lisbon or to the outskirts of Lisbon everyday.

If both the highway and the freeway on a particular day will be too slow to drive or not i can't tell, there are several variables.

Maybe the best option is to leave Sintra very early in the morning. Then travel easily, drop the car, and wait for the flight without a nervous breakdown lol