Things to do in Sintra
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Sintra
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Spring gardens peak at Monserrate and Pena Park. May is the sweet spot, Easter spikes crowds.
Warmest and driest in town but palace crowds peak and the coast can be windy or foggy.
Best window overall, warmest sea, harvest in Colares and crowds a full notch below summer.
Quiet, cheap and wet, with moody fog and empty palaces for hardy visitors.
Locals Sintra, misty and green with near zero queues and hotel prices at their floor, but real rain.
What's on
- Periferias - Festival Internacional de Artes Performativas Spring
Performing arts festival centred on Chão de Oliva, bringing theatre to small venues.
- Festival de Sintra June-July
Classical music and dance performed in the palaces themselves, including Seteais gardens.
- Festas de Santo António and Santos Populares June
Village festas with street food and music nights in São Pedro and Colares through summer.
- Sintra Medieval Fair Usually July
Craftspeople, food taverns and period recreation at Praça D. Fernando II in São Pedro.
- Sintra Bodyboard Pro Fest Usually early September
International bodyboard competition at Praia Grande in early September.
Best things to do in Sintra
Palácio Nacional da Pena
Red and yellow Romantic palace above Sintra with furnished rooms, terraces and a vast forest park.
Quinta da Regaleira
Symbolist estate gardens with tunnels, grottoes and the Initiation Well, best decoded with a guide.
Castelo dos Mouros
Moorish ridge fortress ruin where walking the battlements gives the best open views in Sintra.
Palácio de Monserrate
Pink domed palace in lush botanical gardens, far calmer than Pena and best done gardens first.
Palácio Nacional de Sintra
Best preserved medieval royal palace in Portugal, in the old town and ideal in bad weather.
Convento dos Capuchos
Tiny cork lined Franciscan convent built into granite boulders, austere and almost always quiet.
Centro Histórico de Sintra
Cobbled old town lanes below the National Palace, best slowed down for pastries and an evening wander.
Palácio Biester
Late Romantic house with stained glass and a lush park on the Regaleira road, a quiet second day add on.
Where to stay in Sintra
Sintra Old Town / Centro Histórico
first trip, all-round base
Walk to the National Palace, Regaleira and the best restaurants, and own the streets after day trippers leave.
São Pedro de Sintra
value and local life
Cheaper guesthouses, easier parking and a genuinely local feel, a short bus or uphill walk from the old town.
Seteais / western palace road
romance and quiet luxury
Palace hotels, gardens and valley views to the sea, trading walk to dinner convenience for space and calm.
Linhó / Penha Longa area
golf and resort stays
A resort bubble inside the natural park with golf, spa and pools, a 15 minute drive to the palaces.
Colares / Praia das Maçãs / Azenhas do Mar coast
beach and slow stays, car required
Village houses and surf lodges 20 minutes west, wonderful for a beach week but impractical car free.
Cascais
groups wanting sea and nightlife
Bigger, flatter and beachier with deeper restaurants and nightlife, about 30 minutes from Sintra palaces.
Think twice about
- Sintra station / Portela de Sintra (Estefânia)
Safe but charmless and traffic heavy, with a steep uphill walk from everything you came for.
- Car-dependent rural quintas without a car
Beautiful Serra and Colares properties become isolating without wheels, with no walkable dinner and infrequent buses.
- Main through-road addresses in the very centre
Coach and tuk tuk traffic and evening crowds make road facing rooms noisy for light sleepers in summer.
Best restaurants in Sintra
A Raposa
Fine Mediterranean Portuguese cooking in a frescoed 1888 house you ring the bell to enter.
INComum by Luís Santos
Modern fine dining flagship with contemporary Portuguese tasting and a la carte menus in the centre.
LAB by Sergi Arola
Starred tasting menus inside Penha Longa, the top celebration dinner without going to Lisbon.
Midori
Starred Japanese dining inside Penha Longa, long cited as unique in Portugal.
TascAntiga
Petiscos done properly on old town steps, designed for sharing after a palace day.
Cantinho de São Pedro
One of Sintra oldest restaurants, grilled meats and big portions where local people eat.
Romaria de Santo André
Traditional São Pedro kitchen with generous daily dishes in an unpretentious room, best at lunch.
Tasco do Strauss
Petiscos and wine bar in the Vila lanes, ideal for Colares wine and two small plates before dinner.
Best bars in Sintra
INComum Wine Gallery
Wine bar next to INComum pouring Portuguese flights with staff who genuinely teach.
Outdoor things to do in Sintra
Cabo da Roca
Westernmost point of mainland Europe, with 140 metre cliffs, a lighthouse and Atlantic wind.
Penha Longa Atlântico
Robert Trent Jones Jr championship course in the natural park on a 14th century monastery estate.
Pestana Sintra Golf
Flatter, forgiving parkland golf paired with a hotel, cheaper and easier for mixed ability groups.
Cabo da Roca to Azenhas do Mar coastal trail
Cliff top GR11 walk north past Ursa and Adraga beaches, the best walk in the municipality.
Praia da Ursa
Wild beach with sea stacks reached only by a steep scramble, no facilities and no shade.
Praia Grande
Long exposed surf beach hosting international surf and bodyboard events, with schools and hire in season.
Praia da Adraga
Residents favourite beach with cliffs, a rock arch at low tide and one very good beach restaurant.
Praia das Maçãs
Practical family beach with broad sand, a seawater pool complex, playground and cafes.
Best hotels in Sintra
Valverde Sintra Palácio de Seteais
18th century neoclassical palace hotel with frescoed rooms, gardens, pool and an arch framing Pena.
Penha Longa Resort
Ritz-Carlton resort with 27 hole golf, a large spa and starred dining, away from the palaces.
Lawrence's Hotel
Hotel operating since 1764 where Byron stayed, 16 different rooms and walk everywhere location.
Sintra Boutique Hotel
Modern central four star by the town hall and National Palace, the reliable everything works choice.
Hotel Sintra Jardim
19th century villa in gardens with a pool west of the centre, with praised regional breakfasts.
Hotel Nova Sintra
Family run hotel with terrace views over the Vila and hearty breakfasts, the value pick near the centre.
Sintra Marmoris Palace
Marble quarry owner palace turned small hotel on the edge of the centre, strong for romantic occasions.
Casa do Valle
Garden guesthouse with a pool and valley views below the centre, known for breakfasts and local advice.
Is Sintra expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | €90 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | €210 a person |
| Splurge | €450 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Palácio Nacional da Pena: weeks ahead
- Quinta da Regaleira: a few days ahead
- Penha Longa Atlântico: weeks ahead
- Pestana Sintra Golf: a few days ahead
- Sintra-Cascais e-bike tours: a few days ahead
- Sintra jeep safaris: a few days ahead
- Horse riding in the Serra de Sintra: a few days ahead
- Valverde Sintra Palácio de Seteais: weeks ahead
- Pena Palace interior is timed and enforced. Book official online days ahead in season, weeks for summer weekends.
- Regaleira is separate on regaleira.pt and also timed in peak periods. Book it too.
- Book A Raposa, INComum, coast weekend lunches and Penha Longa starred dining ahead in May to October.
Is Sintra safe?
- Sintra is safe by European standards. Watch for pickpockets in 434 queues and on crowded palace terraces.
- Cliff paths at Cabo da Roca are unfenced and eroded. Stay on marked trails and back from edges in gusts.
- Atlantic water is cold with strong currents. Swim only in lifeguarded zones in season. Emergency number 112.
Sintra travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- The one day four monument sprint is the trap. Two majors plus old town done well beats four done badly.
- Main square Vila restaurants with photo menu touts charge palace view prices for ordinary food.
- Skip the line third party tickets are often ordinary timed tickets with a markup. Buy official online.
Getting around Sintra: public transport and more
- Take the train from Lisbon Rossio, about 40 minutes, then bus or taxi 1.3 km up to the Vila centre.
- Do not drive to the palaces. Park at your hotel or town edge lots and use the 434 loop, 435 bus, Bolt or the Sassetti walk.
- The 434 loop gets crushed 10:00 to 13:00. Start before 09:30, walk up, or Bolt up and bus down.
Who Sintra suits
| Solo travellers | Great |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Good |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | OK |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | OK |
Make Sintra your trip
Swearby drafts the days from places people swear by. Swap any stop, then invite the crew by text, even friends without the app. Vote on dates, track costs as you go, and everyone gets one number at the end.
Get Swearby on the App Store