When in Lisbon, there are two things you cannot miss - breakfast at Zenith, and a day trip to Sintra. After all, the royalty of old definitely loved it enough to build their summer residences (better known as "castles" to us plebians) here.
So, how do you get to a city so beautiful?
If you have a rental car, feel free to drive the short 30 minute span from Lisbon to Sintra. However, with Uber and local taxi services being as good (and cheap) as they are in Sintra, we recommend you take the train from Lisbon! It is a 35 minute ride to the center of the city and maybe a bit more depending on where you start from in Lisbon. Kick back, relax, and get ready for the excitement-filled day.
Places you should not miss
Once you get to Sintra train station (even if you drove here, I would suggest parking your car in the parking lot next to the train station), you should get an uber (or a shared/private taxi) and head on to one of the following places. Make sure you have some cash on hand for the local taxis.
Pena palace
If there is one romanticist castle in the world you could visit, you should pick Pena palace. It is just amazeballs! You might think that the vibrant colors are what it is about, but once we got there, we realized that's so not it. The experience of getting there itself is like you have stepped into another world. After the metropolitan feel of Lisbon, we found ourselves staring wide eyed at the greenery of Sintra as we drove up the hillside.
On your way to Pena Palace, you'll pass Castelo dos Mouros. We advice you not to stop here yet. There is going to be enough time later, if you decide you need the exercise.
Once you get to Pena palace, get your tickets at one of the kiosks, and start the short trek up to the palace. The grounds are beautiful, and you'll get many vantage points to take some great pictures with Pena in the background. While that might be enticing, don't spend too much time down here, as the views at the top are going to leave your mouths wide open.
The indoors of the palace is great, and we don't want to take anything from it, but the focus should be all the outdoor areas of the castle. Seeing the palace from different perspectives gives you a great appreciation for romanticist architecture. And the views from the terraces of Pena palace will leave you awestruck.
Castelo dos Mouros
If after walking through the Pena palace, you have enough strength left, you can head over to Castelo dos Mouros, or the Moorish Castle. It looked bewitching to us from the outside, and we would have loved to go there, but we were a bit short on time. In our opinion, remember to prioritize Quinta da Regaleira over the Moorish castle. Even though we are sure Moorish castle gives unparalleled view of Pena Palace and the surroundings, it might be difficult to fit in a day trip, unless you are a quintessential overachiever of sorts.. ahem.
Quinta da Regaleira
If you have ever felt like gardens are boring, this one will fulfill your wildest fantasies. Hidden caves, passageways and staircases leading down wells, this is one Quinta that you've got to visit when in Sintra, second to none but the Pena palace. It also plays host to the Initiation Well with a spiral staircase leading to a Knights Templar cross at the bottom, that you might've seen countless images of online.
Unfortunately, this is a place I've added to the list of places I regret not being able to visit. Owing to the extreme winds at Pena palace, we did not feel too well by this point, and decided to cut our day trip short.
Montserrat Palace
While we were again not able to pay this attraction a well-deserved visit, we do want to call out Montserrat Palace, as it is fairly regularly overlooked by visitors, but is a very unique palace to visit. With vast gardens and gorgeous interiors, this would've made a fine spot for a few photo-ops!
As a final word of advice, we would recommend stopping by the town center in order to get a bite to eat at one of the many restaurants in the plaza, where you'll see a few tourists milling around, or enjoying a ride on a horse-driven carriage.
If you have one day to spend outside of Lisbon, we highly recommend visiting Sintra, and not to miss out on Pena Palace or Quinta da Regaleira.
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