Lisbon to Sintra Day Trip – Visit the Best Castles in Sintra

Welcome to our guide for exploring the Best Castles in Sintra on a Lisbon to Sintra day trip!

Sintra is one of the best day trips from Lisbon and it has to be part of your Lisbon Itinerary, it’s as simple as that. Sintra is a 19th-century charming little town located within a hilly lush forest. It is rich in history and dotted with the most beautiful and unique castles and palaces built in the European Romantic architecture style. This UNESCO World Heritage Site attracts many travelers who seek a perfect escape from the busy city, transporting visitors to a world of fairy tales.

If you are here reading our Lisbon to Sintra Day Trip Itinerary, you are probably planning your Lisbon Itinerary as well. So, do not miss our valuable Lisbon guides to help you plan your visit: Lisbon Transportation Guide, Neighborhoods Guide to the Best Areas to Stay in Lisbon, and Top 10 Lisbon Viewpoints.

We will begin our guide to the best castles in Sintra with brief information on how to get to Sintra from Lisbon for a day trip.

For more Itineraries and travel guides, visit our Destinations page.

Lisbon to Sintra Day Trip: How to get from Lisbon to Sintra?

TRAIN – The cheapest way to get from Lisbon to Sintra for a day trip is by train. You can take the direct Lisbon to Sintra train from the Rossio Train Station, which runs every 15-20 minutes and takes around 40 minutes to get to Sintra. It costs €2.4 and is free with a transportation card like the Lisboa Card (find out more about transportation cards in our Lisbon Transportation Guide). You can buy the ticket at the station, but due to its popularity, there might be queues.

Note that the train station is located in Sintra town, but the castles are not close and you will need a way to get there from the train station. We recommend taking Uber, it will cost a few euros to get from the train station to the Pena Palace for example. For more information on how to get around the Castles of Sintra, continue to our next section.

UBER – The most convenient way to get from Lisbon to Sintra for a day trip and it takes around the same time as the train, about 40 minutes. However, it is the most expensive way to get to Sintra, we used Uber and it cost us around €25.

After trying both options (Lisbon to Sintra by Uber and back by train), we preferred to pay more for the Uber even though we had a free train ride with a Lisboa Card. It was a comfortable way to transport and saved us time since it got us right at the entrance of the first Sintra Castle we chose to begin our Sintra Itinerary with (The Pena Palace).

We do not recommend using a bus (a long ride) or hiring a car to get to Sintra as there are limited parking spaces.

Lisbon to Sintra Day Trip: How to get around the Castles in Sintra?

As stated earlier, the castles in Sintra are scattered on the hills around Sintra and not that close to Sintra town and each other. You can see in the photo below the distances between the 3 castles. I took it from Quinta da Regaleira and you can see from the far, the Pena Palace on the right (1) and the Moorish Castle on the left (2). Although walking the whole itinerary is possible (about 8 km) however, the hilly terrain will make walking strenuous, having a busy itinerary already with a lot of walking on the premises of each Castle, so save your power and don’t waste your time.

UBER – Uber is the easiest way to get around the Castles in Sintra. An Uber ride from the Moorish Castle to Quinta da Regaleira cost us €4.5 and it took about 10 minutes. Note that is it a very popular place and there is only a one-way road with one lane so it might take more time due to traffic. Taxis are usually pricier than Uber and the tuk-tuks as well.

BUS – There is a bus service, the 434 bus, but it is a very busy route with possible queues to board the bus, and for €15 for a day pass, we found it to be pricy and not convenient, so we do not recommend it. Use it only if there is no Uber service, or if the price is high.

WALK – Some castles are close and you can walk, such as the National Palace of Pena and the Moorish Castle, it will take around 5-10 minutes to walk.

We will state how to get from one castle to another along this Sintra itinerary.

Map of Sintra – Itinerary for a Day Trip in Sintra

To help you plan your Sintra day trip itinerary, we’ve included a map of Sintra, which shows our recommended itinerary with the locations of the best castles in Sintra: The National Palace of Pena (Palacio National da Pena), Moorish Castle (Castelo dos Mouros) and Quinta da Regaleira.

Lisbon to Sintra Day Trip: The must-visit Sintra Castles

Now, let’s begin our Sintra day trip itinerary with the best Sintra castles. There are 3 must-visit castles in Sintra: The National Palace of Pena, Moorish Castle, and Quinta da Regaleira. Each castle is unique and has its own charm and history. Note that each castle can be visited leisurely for several hours, but for a day trip we will want to include all 3 castles, so take that in mind while visiting. The most popular and the most unique castle is the National Palace of Pena, hence we recommend starting your itinerary with it at the earliest time.

Note that the dining options are limited on the castles and you will need to hold on until after you finish visiting them all and reaching Sintra town. So bring a snack with you or have one at one of the cafés in Pena Palace or the Moorish Castle, that will hold you until lunch in town. We will recommend the restaurant we had lunch at and loved later on this Sintra itinerary. But first, let’s review the best 3 castles in Sintra:

National Palace of Pena

The National Palace of Pena (Palacio Nacional da Pena) or the Pena Palace is the highlight of Sintra and therefore the most visited castle in Sintra. It is known for its unique architecture and vivid colors, standing high up on a mountain above Sintra Town. Constructed in the Middle Ages as a monastery until it was ruined by the 1755 Lisbon earthquake. Only in 1838 did King Consort Ferdinand II buy the convent and transform it into a palace serving as a summer residence for the Portuguese royal family. The Romantic architecture style of the Pena Palace was the work of Wilhelm Ludwig von Eschwege who completed it in the middle of the 19^th century.

The entrance ticket costs €20 and we highly recommend booking the tickets early online (here) and choosing the earliest slot – 9:30. This will save you time and money, as you will skip buying a ticket and go straight to the entrance, also you will get a discount for an early purchase. An important tip: The time slot you book is when you need to be at the Pena Palace itself and not the park entrance. Note that there is an additional uphill walk to the Pena Palace from the entrance, which will take about 15-20 minutes. There is an internal shuttle service for €3 but we don’t think you need it if you are in good shape.

Once you are at Pena Place, just join the line of your time slot. They are quite strict regarding the time slots, so be on time! If you book the earliest 9:30 slot, you need to be at the entrance at least by 9:10. The entrance ticket includes the surrounding gardens as well. Explore them only if you are planning to visit just 2 castles or if you are staying in Sintra overnight. But, for a single-day trip to Sintra if you want to include all 3 best castles in Sinta we don’t think the gardens are a must-see. Visiting the Pena Palace without the gardens will take about 2 hours.

Moorish Castle (Castelo dos Mouros)

Once you finish visiting the beautiful National Palace of Pena, the next castle on our Lisbon to Sintra Day Trip Itinerary is the Moorish Castle (Castelo dos Mouros) which is located just a few hundred meters from it. The walk between the entrance gates will take about 5-10 minutes.

The Moorish Castle is a medieval castle, built during the 9^th century during the period of the Moors under Islamic rule. Throughout the centuries it changed control between the Christians and the Jews until it was damaged by the 1755 earthquake as did the Pena Palace and most of Lisbon. Only to be refurbished along with the Pena Palace in the 19^th century.

The walls of the Moorish Castle resemble a smaller version of the Chinese Great Wall. Be prepared for a lot of steps and be careful while walking as there are no guard rails. The panoramic views over the Pena Palace, Sintra Town, and the surrounding landscape are simply amazing, so don’t skip this one. It will take around 1-1.5 hours to visit the Moorish Castle.

Just as with the Pena Palace, we recommend buying your tickets in advance online (here) and skipping the queues at the ticket office. For the Moorish Castle, you book just a date without a time slot, so there is no need to worry about calculating your visiting times. The entrance ticket costs €12 and Lisboa Card gives you 15% off, but only if you buy the ticket at the ticket office.

Quinta da Regaleira

The last castle to visit on your Sintra Day Trip is Quinta da Regaleira. Calculate your time before heading there as the visit takes around 2 hours and it closes at 18:30 from October until March and at 19:30 from April till September. If you took a relatively early slot at the Pena Palace, spent 2 hours there, then explored the Moorish Castle for 1.5 hours, you should have plenty of time until 16:30/17:30 (according to the month of visit). This is the last time you should enter Quinta da Regaleira considering the 2 hours for exploring its grounds.

If you are within this time limit, get an Uber from the Moorish Castle, the ride took us 10 minutes and it cost us €4.5. If you can’t get there by that time, skip it and head to the historic center of Sintra as it is a nice little town for exploring.

The land of Quinta da Regaleira was originally owned by the Viscountess of Regaleira and later it was sold to Carvalho Monteiro. At the end of the 19^th century, he and the architect Luigi Manini were behind the structures in Quinta da Regaleira and its luxurious gardens on the 4-hectare estate, reflecting the spirit of romanticism.

Once you enter, we recommend beginning with uphill landmarks, to the right of the entrance, including the famous Initiation Well, then going down along the gardens, visiting the lakes, fountains, tunnels, and hidden pathways, and finishing your visit at the majestic Regaleira Palace. The Initiation Well includes a 27-meter gothic spiral staircase which was used for ceremonial purposes. Be prepared to wait in line to enter both the Initiation Well and Regaleira Palace.

The entrance ticket costs €12 and by purchasing online (here), you can skip the queues at the ticket office. The purchased ticket is valid for 120 days from the purchase. Lisboa Card gives you 20% off, but only if you buy the ticket at the ticket office.

The Historic Center of Sintra Town

Now that we have visited the best castles in Sintra, we will finish our itinerary with a stroll along the tiny cobbled streets in the historic center of Sintra, filled with shops and restaurants. The walk to Sintra from Quinta da Regaleira will take around 10 minutes. Finish this long day filled with walking at one of the many restaurants in Sintra Town.

Our Recommended Restaurant in Sintra Town

We chose the tiny restaurant Tapas da Cris for an authentic Portuguese lunch and loved the food and the atmosphere! We had delicious cod crochets with a chorizo sausage and a refreshing sangria. Note that you can pay only with cash.

Optional 2 day Sintra Itinerary

If you are planning to stay overnight in Sintra and fully immerse yourself in the town’s history and monuments. For a 2 day Sintra Itinerary, on your first day, visit the Pena Palace along with its gardens and the Moorish Castle, finishing the day at the historic center of Sintra Town. On your second day in Sintra, visit Quinta da Regaleira and the following castles:

The Monserrate Palace – A mixture of Gothic, Arabic, and Indian architectural styles created one of the most beautiful castles in Sintra. The Monserrate Palace is located a bit farther from Sintra and therefore it is less crowded, but it is definitely worth visiting it on a 2 day Sintra itinerary. Allow 2 hours to fully visit this hidden gem along with its gardens. An admission ticket for the Park and palace costs 12€.

Sintra National Palace – This medieval royal residence is located right at the historic center of Sintra Town, filled with well-preserved historical exhibits. Allow one hour to visit the Sintra National Palace. An admission ticket costs 13€.