Sintra palace Portugal: Which Palace to visit in Sintra?

If you don't leave enough time to explore Sintra town center you will miss many scenes like this one!

Also worth mentioning is that Sintra town in Portugal is a much more than just the palaces, the entire town is a one amazing scenery. I talk about this in details in my other post. But it’s important to know when planning your visit to Sintra, that one day in Sintra is not enough to see everything it offers and all its palaces without hurry.

But first, let’s clear a confusion I often see in online forums when people talk about “Sintra palace in Portugal”.

Colorful romantic looking famous Pena Palace

PENA PALACE AND SINTRA PALACE ARE NOT THE SAME PLACE

When people think about Sintra Palace in Portugal, or Sintra Castle they usually think about better-known Pena Palace.

You can see pictures of the colorful and exotic yellow, red and lilac towers and battlegrounds of National Palace of Pena everywhere. And yes, the building is indeed very beautiful, and you should definitely admire it from the outside!

People often also mistakenly think that Sintra National Palace is that place as well. No, Sintra National Palace and Pena Palace are not the same!

Here are the pictures of both palaces to help you understand which is which. 

It is easy to recognize Sintra National Palace by its white building with 2 tall conical chimneys. These chimneys are like nothing I've seen before. Besides, it's the only palace in Sintra town center.

However, there are other palaces in Sintra as well!

Mysterious Initiation Well of Quinta da Regaleira. I was lucky when I visited the well, as there were not too many people there, and I didn't need to wait long. This is because I went in October, otherwise in summer the line to get on the spiral staircase is long. 

How Many Palaces Are in Sintra Anyway?

Here is a short answer first, and then I'll elaborate. 

There are five major palaces in Sintra, Portugal:

• Quinta da Regaleira, a manor house surrounded by wonderful lush gardens with an unusual Initiation Well with a spiral staircase and a few tunnels. It was built in the late 1800s (picture above).

• Pena National Palace or Palácio Nacional da Pena, and Pena Park. This is the most famous palace in Sintra, Portugal, that well known palace with Romantic looking colorful buildings. Read my comparison of Pena and Sintra National palace below in this post to give you a better idea if you should visit it.

• Moorish Castle (Castelo dos Mouros), or the Castle of the Moors is a 9th-century ruin (with many intact walls left to walk on and it’s fun!). It is located on the Serra de Sintra hill, overlooking Sintra town and most people miss it, but I think it’s the 2nd best palace in Sintra.

Moorish Castle. I had so much fun there, visiting! I went on a windy day, though, and I was almost blown away my wind. But it was fun, regardless. 

Arab Room in National Palace of Sintra. It's just one of the many exotic rooms you'll see there.

• National Palace of Sintra or Palácio Nacional de Sintra, the best-preserved medieval Royal residence in Portugal. This is the second medieval palace in Sintra, along with Moorish Castle, and it was remodeled during different periods to accommodate the needs of the Portuguese monarchy and its court.

      Read my comprehensive guide on visiting National Palace of Sintra in my other posts. Look at this picture to see some of the amazing tiles on the walls of this palace (below).

Awesome tiles on a wall in National Palace of Sintra

• Monserrate Park and Palace (Parque e Palácio de Monserrate), a romantic palace located in a wooded park and surrounded by exotic plants. This Palace is father away and usually skipped because of that.

There is also smaller Tivoli Palácio de Seteais next to Quinta da Regaleira, but it is a hotel now.

Two other wonderful buildings in Sintra, Chalet and Garden of Condessa d'Edla, which is not technically a palace, but is still worth visiting, and a place is a bit further away from the center - Convent of the Capuches.

SINTRA NATIONAL PALACE VS PENA PALACE

How does Sintra National Palace compare to Pena Palace, and which one should you choose to visit?

Short answer: Pena Palace is better known and has a pretty exotic exterior but an average interior, while Sintra National Palace is authentic and impressive inside. You still need to check out Pena Palace from the outside.

Here is the second entrance to Pena Palace compound. There is no line to go through these pretty pseudo Moorish Gate and you can walk on Pena Palace battleground without going inside Pena Palace. 

Don't skip the cafe there to load on calories you'll need for your energy. 

Insider's Note. You can save 1 euro, and lots of time if you buy a combined ticket to Moorish Castle and Pena Castle & Gardens (or just Pena Gardens) from the Moorish Castle gates. There is no line there. 

This way you'll skip the first line you see at the Pena Palace entrance ticket booth. You already have your ticket, so walk right through the first gates. 

IS PENA PALACE WORTH GOING INSIDE

Pena National Palace is not worth going inside if you only have one day in Sintra (or even 2 days) and here is why.

My advice about not going inside Pena National Palace might surprise you, as most websites tell you to visit Pena Museum and go inside it. But that would take you the majority if your day, as the line to see inside the palace is usually very long (yes, even with the skip the line option that you have to purchase separately!), see the picture below. 

Line to enter inside of Pena Palace. This is the bottom level of the line, it goes one level up eventually. And it's already the second line. The first line is to enter Pena Garden and palace compound.

Besides, the interior of this palace is just mediocre compared to other palaces).

Better strategy is to go and see exotic and pretty buildings of Pena Palace from the outside. Pay for the Pena Park visit (you’ll have an option to pay for either Pena Park only, or Pena palace included), and enjoy a free access to the battlegrounds without paying for the Pena Palace visit.

Visit this palace interior only if you have 3 days to explore Sintra and don’t need to rush.

So, if you only have one day in Sintra, save time by NOT going inside it Instead, use the time saved to visit Sintra National (also Town or Royal) Palace.

A few facts to help you chose which palace in Sintra to visit

Pena Palace is a newish Palace, built in the 19th century. It’s pretty, but it has a Disneylandish artificial  feel to it. It is also always way too crowded.

Sintra Royal Palace was started in the 11th century with some major additions from 15th century. It feels as authentic as they come. This is the place Portuguese monarchs have chosen to live in. It has exotic Moorish influences in almost every room with Mudejar elements. It’s a heaven for an architecture admirer.

The Castle of the Moors is a 9th-century structure (in ruins), but with many battlements remodeled later during medieval times and still intact. It has great views of Sintra town below and walking on the castle walls is just so much fun! I’ll put a video of my walk there soon.

As you can see the pic below of the view of Sintra centre, Moorish palace is not really that high up. You can see Sintra National Palace clearly from there. Sorry for my half face pic :), I'm not good with selfies. 

Video of my  Quinta da Regaleira  pond crossing

Watch a video of my Lago de Cascada creek crossing in Quinta da Regaleira, jumping from one elevated steppingstone to another. Fun!

A practical note. If you video record everything, holding a phone in one hand while doing activities, wear shoes with better grip than the slippery sandals I had on me that day. I almost slipped once, as the stones are slanted.

Monserrate Park and Palace, the 5th large palace, is lovely, and both the palace interior and the park are worth your visit.

However, you won’t be able to see all these palaces if you only have one day in Sintra. I'll show you which palaces you’ll be able to fit into one-day visit later. 

Meanwhile, let's see how you can get between all the palaces I've covered. 

Quinta da Regaleira was built in the end of 1800s, and it doesn’t have an old authentic feel to me, even though it's actually full of real history. The Initiation well, for example, that resembles an inverted tower, was built on symbolism related to the Knights Templar and Masonic rituals.

The well is very cool and worth the visit and jumping from a stone to stone over a creek in Lago da Cascada was fun (see my video below)! But somehow it fell a bit over the top to me?

Some people like this palace the best, but it wasn't my favorite, though. Still, I liked this palace. I was, probably, just too spoiled by other palaces in Sintra.  

How to get to Sintra Palace and getting around the palaces.  

I explain here how to get to each Palace in Sintra and between them, based on my own experience and updated 2024 research to make sure all the info is current.

To get between Palaces in Sintra you can either:

• Walk

• Take a bus

• Get Uber or Grab

• Taxi

• Tuk-tuk

• Drive a car (the worst option as it's impossible to find parking)

Which option is better? Let's get into more details. Firstly, let's see if you can walk in Sintra between the palaces. 

Can you walk between palaces in Sintra?

Yes, you can walk between palaces if you’re moderately fit and you will see incredibly beautiful places.

Don’t listen to anyone who say that waking in Sintra is a waste of time. In fact, walking between the palaces could be the best part of your trip to Sintra! I waked between all palaces, but Monserrate Palace. 

I enjoyed these walks so much and I saw some unbelievably cute scenes (like the picture above), that I decided to cover these walks in a separate post with a video soon.

Meanwhile, since now you know you have many options of getting between Sintra palaces, let me show you an ideal itinerary I created for someone who wants to see as many palaces as possible on one day trip to Sintra from Lisbon. 

Would you be sad if you missed cute old narrow alley like this one? Can you believe this was actually one of the widest streets back in time! :) I would be very sad if I missed them, but then I'm all about authentic walks like this.  

Sintra One Day Itinerary 

Here is my custom itinerary, based on my own experience (so - it's doable). I created it in case if you are planning to visit to Sintra town in Portugal for a day trip only and are determined to see the most. Personally, I advise to spend longer than 1 day in Sintra. 

Start your day as early as your first train from Lisbon to Sintra allows. After arriving on a train to Sintra train station:

•  From Sintra train station bus stop, take a bus up to the Castle of Moors.

  Buy a combined Moorish Castle + Sintra Gardens Only ticket. You’ll save €2 and time you otherwise waste in line to buy the Pena ticket at Pena busy ticket booth. There is no line in Moorish Castle booth.

  Stay in Moorish Castle for 30 minutes.

  There is an absolutely wonderful alternative to walk up to Moorish castle, but it’s not suitable for Sintra one day trip.

• Take the forest path to Pena Palace, like I did.

  Once at Pena Gardens gate, since you already have the ticket, just walk past the ticket line, and walk a steep path for 15 min to Pena Palace 1st gate. You can take an optional bus to get there as well, but there will be a line for this bus and extra €4-5.

• Explore Pena Palace from outside only, enjoy walking through the first gate and on battlements, the café, but don’t stand in line to visit Pena Palace inside.

• Walk back to the road and take a bus, or Uber or Grab down to the city center.

        Alternatively, if you're used to walking everywhere, just walk down to Quinta da Regaleria. There           are 2 different trails that will take you            to different sides of Sintra coming down from Pena              Palace hill. You want the path that will take              you almost right to Quinta da Regaleria.

         It’s a 30 min walk down to the main road through Park das Marendas and villa Sassetti.

        Insider's Tip. This walk takes the same time as using a bus getting from Pena Palace to Quinta da         Regaleria due to one-way longer route the bus or Uber have to take (but you won't).  

• If you took a bus from Pena Palace and didn't walk down - walk between Sintra National Palace to Quinta da Regaleria (15 minutes), and don't stay there more than 1 hour.

• Take bus 435 back to Sintra National Palace.

• Visit the National Palace of Sintra inside (read above). It's near the train station.

• Take the last 18:30 train back to Lisbon.

There is also another way to walk down from Pena Palace that I loved the most, and I cover it in my other post, but you won’t have time for that on a one day in Sintra trip.

So, here is a very adventurous itinerary that you'll be able to follow if you're fit and used to walking everywhere. It's a medium intensity, so you should be fine. Otherwise, use whichever part of my itinerary you like, and come back to Sintra for more adventure. 

Now, let me get into some details about a few stretches of walk I proposed in my Interary. 

Stretches of your Sintra palaces visit you ABSOLUTELY need to walk

Even if you take buses, uber or tuk-tuk everywhere else, walk these 2 stretches of getting between the palaces. 

Walk between Sintra Town Palace (National) and Quinta Galleria.

As I proposed already, you should walk between Sintra Town Palace in the city center and Quinta da Regaleria. If you won’t walk, you’ll miss very cute old streets like these 2 on my pictures.

I think I liked this stretch of walk better than the visit to Quinta da Regaleria itself, it felt magical. It took about 20 minutes with some picture stops.

You will see this scene on your walk to Quinta da Regaleria if you walk there. 

Another scene on my walk to Quinta da Regaleria.

Walk between The Castle of Moors and Pena Palace

In fact, to get between Castle of Moors and Pena Palace you have no other options! One is on the top of one hill, and another is on the top of another hills, and the road is not really nearby!

Yes, you can catch a bus on the road once you reach it after a forest hike to ride the bus for 3 minutes, but you’ll spend more time waiting for it.

Just take the forest path straight to Pena Gardens from the Moorish Castle, it’s very pretty (pic above). Soon, you'll reach the main road with traffic, and you’ll walk 10 minutes on the main road. It’s comfortable and it’s marked for pedestrian use, see my picture below.

Hiking between Moorish Castle and Pena Palace is the best way to get between them and the fastest way. It took me only 20 minutes and it was very easy and pleasant.

Forest walk between Moorish Castle and Pena Palace.

Soon, you'll reach the main road with traffic, and you’ll walk 10 minutes on the main road. It’s comfortable and it’s marked for pedestrian use, see my picture below.

Hiking between Moorish Castle and Pena Palace is the best way to get between them and the fastest way. It took me only 20 minutes and it was very easy and pleasant.

Clearly marked pedestrian walk on the main road between Moorish Castle and Pena Palace.

An optional walk between Sintra Town Palace and Moorish Castle

This was my favorite walk, and I’ve done it both up and down the hill but take it only if you have more than one day in Sintra.

Because I enjoyed this walk so much, and I took many pictures and videos of this walk, I decided to write a separate post about it, with videos of the best moments I had. Let me just mention for now that these were my favorite hours in Sintra and can't stop smiling thinking about that walk. 

Look at the cutest old alleys with old authentic walls and houses I saw! Just keep in mind that it's possible and really worth it! In fact – it’s a national trail, see the red and yellow lines marking this path?

So, this concludes my review of walking between Sintra palaces for now.  

In short, walking is the best way to get to every palace but Monserrate Park and Palace if you are fit.

However, most people choose to use buses to get to palaces in Sintra. Let me give you the information of the bus lines available to you. 

Using the bus in Sintra: Circuito de Pena bus

The Circuito de Pena, is a bus service that operates in a one direction loop covering major sites in Sintra.

Arrive to Sintra on a train, then you’ll find the bus stop right by the train station. Make sure to use Navegante Transit Card to save time and money. Or, the ride is free with Lisboa card.

There are 2 bus lines, 434 and 435.

bus route 434

Because of the many one-way streets in central Sintra, in order to reach all palaces, the bus has to do the figure 8 double circles loop. This confuses everyone, because I haven’t seen this explained anywhere. 

Having this in mind, here are the bus stops of bus route 434 in Sintra:

• - Sintra Estação (Sintra train station)

• São Pedro de Sintra

• - Sintra Vila (Sintra National Palace, centro historico)

  The bus just completed the first circle of the figure 8 loop, driving on one-way streets. Now, the places circle starts:

• - Castelo dos Mouros (Moorish Castle)

• - Palácio da Pena (Pena Palace)

  Then back to Sintra town centre:

• Sintra Vila ( Sintra National Palace)

• Back to Sintra Estação

But what about Monserrate Palace, you’ll ask?

To get to Monserrate palace, you need to take the second bus route in Sintra, 435.

Look how close this bus on 434 route got to me and a stucco wall on the one-way narrow road in Sintra near Pena Palace.

Bus route 435 in Sintra

The bus uses some of the same roads as bus 434, so there will also be one-way loops.

Here are the stops of 435 route:

• Sintra Station

• São Pedro de Sintra

• Sintra Vila

(So far the route follows the 434 route, but then starts its own loop)

• Regaleira

• Seteais Palace

• Monserrate Palace

• Colares

• Ribeira de Sintra

• Montes Santos

• Sintra Station

The first bus departs at 08:50 and the last bus is at 07:50 pm (summer) or 07:00 pm (winter) on 2024 schedule. It runs every 10 minutes.

https://scotturb.com/en/route/circuito-regaleira-monserrate-circuito-da-pena is the official Scotturb company bus website that shows this route and the schedule.

P.S. if you find a different sequence of bus stop names on another website (there are a few), I would reconsider trusting that site with any advice. They just used AI automatic tools to extract information from other genuine websites, and AI often gets confused with “illogical” one-way loops. Trust the official bus website, instead (and my site 😉).

Here is how much the bus ride in Sintra is:

€4.55 single or €13.50 24-hours.

Did you enjoy taking the bus in Sintra? Here is a link to other buses in Portugal and how to use them. 

Is there Uber in Sintra, Portugal?

Yes, there is Uber in Sintra, and there is also another rideshare, operating in Portugal – Bolt.

Read everything about Uber and Bolt in Portugal on my other post. 

You can take Uber or Bolt (will be cheaper, around €6-10) or Tuk-Tuk (can be expensive, €30). Taxi will be around €12 in low season, but because there are traffic jams all the time and the road is narrow, taxi can become quite expensive.

In conclusion, all of these palaces are well worth a visit and will make your trip to Sintra an unforgettable experience! Follow my tips to choose which ones (or all) to visit during Sintra one day trip.

See all the available ways to get between the palaces in Sintra and where to walk. 

Check out my other posts about Sintra town in Portugal. Also, to understand how to get there, read my post about Getting around Portugal, the best ways.

Here are the links to other great European destinations to check out if you would like to visit similar interesting places.

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