Just a 45 mins hour journey from Lisbon, This Fairytale town is every bit of worth a visit. A serene 1 hour train journey with tranquil backdrop of Portugal will give you utmost pleasure and calm your inner child.
A Fairytale castle journey to Sintra ~ Portugal
As you arrive to the colourful town of Portugal, you will feel the vibrant energy moving across. The Sencric town is situated in the middle of charming landscapes, nature’s art and surrounded by gorgeous Castle’s of Portugal.
Cheapest way to Sintra:
If you ask me the most memorable journey is renting a car, and driving through the mountains and if you ask for the cheapest way, will definately be by train. Starting from Lisbon Rossio Station, there is direct train in every 15 mins to Sintra, which will cost you (2.25/1.15Euro) for Adult/Child.
Definately would recommend to start early around 8-9 Am from Lisbon, to have the utmost time in Sintra, if you travelling for a day trip and to have the whole castle for yourself..
Around the Sintra
The town is really small and can be covered easily by walk, but considering the slopes and steepy roads, sometimes it gets really tricky. So if you wanna move around the city you can opt for walking, but if you planning to trek for pena place, then save your legs & energy for the hard trail and opt for local bus 434 to move around the town.
The 434 bus is a tourist bus that makes a loop every hour from the Sintra train station to the historical centre and then to the attractions in the hills. Another option is hop-on-hop-off bus taking you to all the tourist attractions.
These are 3 Castle you don't wanna miss in Sintra.
1) Quinta da Regaleira:
The fairytale lands don’t stop at Pena Palace, Quinta da Regaleira was built by a very rich man with a desire to create a dream residence for his beloved lover. It’s one of the top Sintra sightseeing spots.
Built in the Manueline style the 5-story building has Gothic features on the outside with gargoyles and more intricate details from inside, followed with a huge garden area to stroll around with some waterfalls and caves.
While the residence itself is impressive the real draw to this property are the underground tunnels that were designed to confuse those exploring for fun. The tunnels are very ancient and has amazing details to follow connected with each other.
There are references to the Knights Templar and dark alchemy, some spots were even designed with spiral staircases where tarot card readings were held.
Please note that, to avoid the longs ques’s pre-book your ticket online for 8Euro.
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Pro Tip: Do not miss the Initiatic Well, one of its most fascinating features is located beneath the ground – a pair of wells spiraling deep within the earth. The wells were never used, nor intended for water collection. Instead, these mysterious underground towers were used for secretive initiation rites.
2) Castle of the Moors
The Castle of the Moors is very popular to visit in Sintra for its high vantage point over Sintra. The ruins were originally built in the 9th century by North African Moors to defend Sintra. It was restored by King Ferdinand II in the 19th century after it fell into disrepair.
Today the Castle of the Moors is a welcomed addition to the Serra De Sintra landscape and provides a stark contrast to the romantic buildings throughout the region.
If you looking for the best view for Sintra this is the palace you should consider.
Tickets for the Castle of Moors = 8 Euro P/p
3) Pena Palace:
🚞 How to Reach ??
The star attraction of the city, ofcourse the reason why you wanna travel to this gorgeous city is Pena palace (Some might think its called sintra colourful castle).
Firstly some of you might be confused weather to take a bus to the castle or go by yourself by taking a walk. Even we were confused, which way should we take, but in the end we decided to take the path close to Quinta de Regaleria and hike to the top.
There are many ways to climb up, but be prepared for steepy stairs and roads. From train station to Pena palace its around12 kms, and those kms are definately not straight. We took the hardest trail path for Pena palace unknowingly, the trail was from the jungle by not even proper path to walk and followed by big steepy steps. The trail was from the mountains by not even proper path to walk. we were prepared for hiking, so it worth doing but still was dead tired after reaching top.
In Our experience if you up for some adventure hiking you must go by walk and ditch all the convinent bus rides. It will Take you around 1.5 hours to hike to Pena Place. we would highly suggest you to hike in the morning to have the whole Place to yourself and breathtaking views.
🔷🔸About The Palace
The summer residence of royals that was built in 1838 by King Ferdinand I.
The colourful palace looks like something straight coming from a Disney movie where princesses would frolic around and which you can now do today. Just imagine yourself twirling in front of the brightly painted terraces that overlook the kingdom and taking some breathtaking pictures with the colourful backdrop.
(Best of Instagram Pic’s )
The architecture is a mix of many styles, some of which include Renaissance and Moorish and the palace was actually built upon the ruins of an old monastery.
The best views of the castle are from the outside and the surrounding views of the area are absolutely gorgeous, but if you step inside you’ll be treated to amazing s paintings and eye stuck hand work.
Restaurant Around...🍟
There Are two restaurants to treat yourself after the tiring hike, though there are not many options but still you can sit back and just enjoy the 360 degree view of the city.
If you hiking then you have to go by 2nd option, but if you going directly by bus434 from Sintra station you can opt for option 1.
Please note that last bus from Pena palace is around 5:50 Pm – 6:00 Pm, after that you have to walk by yourself to go down.
The ticket for Pena palace two options
1) Only for Pena Place = 14 euro
2) Pena park + Pena Palce = 19 Euro
** Apart from Castles, the gorgeous city has amazing local market to explore and to do some shopping and there are some famous traditional bakeries to indulge.
Check out Casa Piriquita bakery cafe for some delicious Sintra famous queijadas and travesseiros (puff pastries filled with almond-and-egg-yolk cream)
Let me know your amazing experience in comment box. 🙂
Happy Travelling
Much Love
