We traveled for a week in Portugal and hit the highlights – Porto, Vila Nova de Gaia, Lisbon, and a day trip to Sintra. I’ll be detailing our journey in the next few blogs, focusing on what we did each day (and sharing what was worth it and what wasn’t), where we stayed, where we ate, and what I would do differently next time!

HUGE THANK YOU to my brother Ryan and his partner Brandon! They visited Portugal a few months before us and laid the foundations for this itinerary. 

This blog will focus our day trip to Sintra. Click the links on the days below to continue reading the other blogs!

Day 1: Arrive in Porto
Day 2: Explore Porto
Day 3: Explore Vila Nova de Gaia
Day 4: Travel to Lisbon
Day 5: Explore Lisbon and Alfalma Neighborhood
Day 6: Sintra Day Trip
Day 7: Explore Lisbon, LX Factory, Castelo de São Jorge, and Belém Tower
Day 8: Travel Home

Let’s jump in!

Day 6: Sintra Day Trip

We purchased tickets in advance for Pena Palace (the most popular!) and the Moorish Castle. We purchased tickets for Quinta at the door, since it was a last minute decision later in the day.

Tip before you leave for Sintra – bring some snacks with you! It’s a long day of attractions and there’s not always food around when you’re outside the city center.

We ate breakfast near the train station in Lisbon at A Padaria Portugesa. The ham sandwich with brea cheese was so delicious, as was the cream pastry. My notes from the trip just say, “definitely recommend” haha. It’s counter service, but the line was getting pretty long while we dined inside!

After breakfast, we went to Rossio station and took the 9:01 train to Sintra. Just buy a single pass, destination Sintra, and add two journeys so you get a return ride as well. There are two different rides – one ride with one train and one with two. It seems like a pretty easy transfer, but still, if you want to avoid the hassle, look at the route (in Apple Maps or whatever) and choose a train time without the transfer.

The train filled up to standing room only before departure, so hop on early if you want a seat. The train ride to Sintra was about 50 minutes.

From the Sintra train station, we walked up to the main city center, grabbed a pastel de Nata and orange juice from Fábrica de Nata, then caught an Uber up to the entry of Pena Palace.

It’s quite a trek up to Pena Palace and I’m glad we didn’t wait around. The Uber takes about 30 minutes to drive up to the entrance from the city center. Then it’s a 10-30 minute hike up to the Palace. We did it in 10 minutes, but all their marketing says 30 minutes. It’s a steady incline all the way, so take that into account!

The tour through Pena Palace took about an hour and a half.

Thoughts on Pena Palace in Sintra:

It’s cool, but there are SO MANY people. We visited in October, so maybe that’s a busy season? You basically wait in a line your whole tour. It’s like Disneyland or something. You can’t really wander the palace, you just stay in your place in line, following the person in front of you the whole time, and wait for the next room. I found it almost too crowded to explore and appreciate. It took about 90 minutes to walk through.

See what I’m saying? The crowds were crazy.

We opted to walk from Pena Palace to the Moorish Castle. It took about 30 minutes and wasn’t too bad a walk, just gradual inclines and declines. If your mobility or fitness levels aren’t great, I would maybe try to Uber between the two.

Again, we bought castle tickets in advance, but you don’t need to specify time. We walked along the castle wall and climbed to the highest tower. It was so cool but the tower climb is straight stairs. It’s no joke! I personally loved it here. There were way less crowded and it was so much quieter and more chill. You just get to climb all over a castle and it’s amazing.

After the castle, we walked down the whole mountain back into town. Took about 40 minutes, 30 of which was single track stairs. This was, in hindsight, kinda crazy and I would not recommend unless you are in good shape and want to exercise. Just take an Uber back to town!

By this time, we were starving. Again, I wish we had brought some snacks because there wasn’t a ton of food (or any, really…) at Pena Palace and the castle. Once back in the city center, we ate a late lunch at Baccalau de Vila and loved it. We also stopped to get some queijadas (a sweet cheese tart that originated in Sintra) and more ginja. 

Rejuvenated after eating, we walked to Quinta and toured around. We bought tickets at the gate and it was totally fine – no crowds here. We climbed up to Initiation Well first, the main attraction at Quinta, then meandered the rest of the grounds.

We walked back to the train station from Quinta and took the 6:50 train back to Rossio station. Once back in Lisbon, we ate McDonald’s because we were EXHAUSTED.

Additional Notes

Overall, we climbed 73 flights of stairs during our time in Sintra (according to my Apple Watch). That is an absolutely insane amount. If you are planning a visit, I would think ahead of time whether you want to walk everywhere or bite the bullet and Uber. Thinking about it in advance is good because 1. You’ll be ready for the cost of it, and 2. You’ll be able to better plan your time. Brian and I are in moderate shape – not athletes or anything, but are capable of walking and climbing up and down stairs without much struggle. If you are at all worried about mobility, I would definitely just Uber everywhere.

Sintra in a day? No way. There is so much to see and do and the city itself is worth exploring! Everyone talks about this like a day trip and it’s really not. The city center is SO much more than I thought. I really thought Sintra was just Pena Palace, but the city itself is so cute and worth exploring. I’d recommend 2 days, if possible – one for attractions and one for just exploring the city.

Rating attractions: Moorish Castle #1, Quinta #2, Pena #3. And there are also so many more places to explore than just those three! I actually bought tickets to another castle by accident, haha.