Sintra
Updated: Apr 26
It would be a shame to miss Sintra if you have more than two days in Lisbon. There are many options for guided tours (we did a Get Your Guide tour). https://gyg.me/24mwR5U5
It is also easy to reach on the train from Lisbon if you want to go it alone. Our tour included a stop at Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in Europe. This is a quick stop on the bus and a great view.
We were fortunate to have a funny guide who made the tour worth the relatively cheap price. Personally I like the history lesson during the bus drive that this type of tour gives you. I'm sure many would prefer silence.
The sights in Sintra are many. Most will pick a few and hope to come back some day to complete the job. Our tour had the Pena Palace and Quinta de Regaleira. The three other big sites are the Castle of the Moors, Sintra National Palace and Monserrate Palace. If I had been on my own, I would have added the Castle of the Moors, which we could see from a distance. It looks incredible in photos and is sitting way above the rest of the sites on a cliff. Gives me a reason to go back some day.
It is a lovely stroll up to the Pena Palace off the bus. The palace does not disappoint. Lots of tourists, but you'll still be
in love with the place. You will take a lot of pictures. It is fun to view the interior and the exterior of the palace is very cool looking with its multicolored sections. It should be tacky but it's incredible. It was originally a medieval chapel before being converted into a monastery by King Manuel in the 16th century. It got a renovation after it was in ruins following the 1755 earthquake that you will hear a lot about if you visit Lisbon.
King Ferdinand II had a flair for the artistic and is responsible for the fairly tale style that draws the crowds today.
Next stop was the Quinta da Regaleira. I made sure our tour included this site. This is a palace and gardens which only date to the late 19th/ early 20th century, but the design of Luigi Manini has the desired effect. It is a really fun place to wander through with gardens, stone architecture, tunnels and a famous well that is the show stopper. Just like the Pena Palace, it appears like it was built to please the eye of tourists a century in the future. There were tunnels and gardens all in the same over the top style which everybody loved. After wandering around for a bit it was back on the bus. I chose this tour despite the final stop as we had already visited the beach town of Cascais, appropriately pronounced cash-cash. This was a quick stop before getting back to Lisbon. We had already visited this swanky
beach town a day earlier to meet friends. It was crowded and a thousand degrees but not without some charm. Sintra was a highlight of our Lisbon trip.
Next stop was the Algarve.
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