On my last day in Lisbon, my friend encouraged me to take a day trip to visit Sintra, a historic and beautiful town that claims to be a must-see in Portugal. I had done some research before, but a lot of what I read said making your way around the sites of Sintra would be pretty easy to navigate once you’re there.
I did end up having a good visit to Sintra but oof it was a hard fought journey to get there. So with all my mistakes in mind, I’m writing this post to help others avoid the misfortunes and missteps I did when visiting the medieval city on a hill that is Sintra. And include some of the (few) things I did right.
DON’T: have a late night at fado the night before
Or really any late night or any moderate drinking the night before.
If we really had any control over our schedule, we would have avoided this at all costs. But unfortunately the only night my friend had available to see fado was the night before I would visit Sintra.
The fado itself was fantastic and I would highly recommend it. But waking up the next morning after a late night, acid reflux in full force from all the vinho verde (Portuguese green wine), and having to pack all our belongings to leave our Airbnb is not the best way to start your adventure to Sintra. Or, if we’re being fair, to anywhere at all really.
So, I had bouts of acid reflux and the desperate desire to take a nap fighting me throughout the day.
DON’T: change accommodations day of
Again, if we really had any control, this is a problem I could have easily avoided. But alas, my friend had booked our Airbnb before we knew we’d be visiting Lisbon together and our stay ended the day I planned to visit Sintra.
I was able to find a hostel near the city center, and near Rossio (more on that later) easily enough. But now I had to pack up and move between accommodations before I could leave for Sintra. Theoretically, I could have gone on my merry way as soon as the hostel’s reception opened to store my luggage. But…
I am not an early riser.
And did I mention the fado night?
DON’T: barely glance at the train times a few days before
As I mentioned, I did some research ahead of time and transportation was one of those things. Apparently, however, I did not do my research well enough. When traveling from Lisbon, there are two train stations you can depart from to get to Sintra: Rossio and Oriente. Oriente only takes 7 minutes longer and, to my knowledge, the price at both locations are the same per ticket (E2.25). So ultimately the choice is up to your location.
I chose Rossio because I could get from the new hostel to the train station relatively easily. From the initial research I did, it seemed like trains left for Sintra twice an hour from Rossio, so I wasn’t concerned about getting there at a specific time.
Apparently, trains left Rossio for Sintra once an hour on that Saturday. So I arrived to the station, already running later than I planned, to find I had 50 minutes until the next train would leave.
Fantastic.
DON’T: leave late in the day
A lot of the guides I looked at for Sintra mentioned leaving first thing in the morning and getting to Sintra early. But in talking to my friend and looking up time estimates, it didn’t seem to me like it really mattered that much whether you arrived early morning or late morning.
After my experience, I actually do stand by that. Unless you’re going in peak season, there really isn’t a big difference or reason to arrive at 9am versus 11am. However, what I did was leave Rossio at 12pm and arrive a little before 1pm. Do not follow my lead.
You could easily see everything you want to see in Sintra in about 6 hours, depending on how much or little you want to explore. However, many sites close at 5pm. So while you may technically have plenty of daylight to see everything if you arrive in the early afternoon, you’re actually limited by what you can see before 5.
DON’T: get to your train only a few minutes before departure
Even leaving as late as I was, the train to Sintra was absolutely packed. The train is an urban train, which is great because you can use your via viagem card as your ticket, but also means that there are regular commuters and locals using the line. At least, this is the case with the train from Rossio, I’m not sure about Oriente.
If you get to the train while cutting it close to departure, you’ll notice the train cars near the front may already be full. You need to leave yourself enough time to walk towards the end of the train where there are fewer people and more available seating. Even if you do arrive early, sitting near the entrance gates means that car will likely fill up before departure.
At least towards the back, you have periods of quiet cars as non-tourist passengers enter and leave. At the front, you’ll be packed with tourists and locals the whole ride.
DON’T: try to buy the bus tickets on your phone day of
This was oddly enough my biggest stressor of that day. And, even more annoyingly, could have been avoided so easily.
I had done research on the official Sintra website which mentions an easy 20 minute walk from the train station to Sintra city center where you can catch the bus to the main sites. So, with hopes high, I left the train station, walked through the crowd of eager taxi drivers, and followed what I hoped were the right signs for the city center.
The walk was actually beautiful and very easy and I wouldn’t discourage anyone from taking it. But if your first stop of the day isn’t the city center, it doesn’t make sense to do first thing. I spotted the bus stop for the 434 bus that I could catch to get to the Moorish Castle and Pena Palace (and, ironically, watched said bus arrive and leave a minute after I arrived at the city center and did nothing to get on).
This is where preparation becomes important…
There were flyers on the stop walls advertising buying your bus ticket online with a QR code, so I did just that. But I never received the email with the ticket confirmation that I could scan to use on the bus! So the next bus comes and a crowd of people line up to get on and I’m standing there sweating and refreshing my email nonstop. When it’s my turn to board, I show the driver the webpage with my order info and try to explain that I paid for the ticket but didn’t get the email yet. He didn’t understand what I was trying to explain and shook his head and shrugged.
I stepped back and let the last few people get on before me and decided I would just buy the ticket again from the driver. But when I scurried back on the bus, the driver was already closing the door and driving away! So I stood there awkwardly holding my wallet and unsure of what to do before just…sitting down on the bus. If he wasn’t going to acknowledge I may be there without paying, I would also just pretend that wasn’t something I was aware of.
That’s also when I found out there was a bus stop and ticket office right next to the train station. I had been in Sintra less than 30 minutes and I was already done with it and myself.
DO: bring cash and actually buy the bus tickets
Our first bit of positive advice here, but not because I did it. As I learned, bus tickets can be bought on the bus with the driver but with cash only. It is theoretically possible to buy your bus tickets online ahead of time, but I never received that ticket confirmation and the purchase was actually refunded to me so I was never charged.
If you don’t bring cash (though in Portugal, I’d highly recommend having cash on you), you can buy the bus tickets with cash or card either at the tourism office across the street from the train station or in the News Museum in the city center (which I, unfortunately, just did not see).
I ended up only paying for one one-way ticket because of my little…whoopsie, but I wouldn’t count on that. In my opinion, you have two choices. Either pay for a return ticket (or two rides) for about 7-8 euro or pay the 11.50 euro for the all day pass. If you only plan to stop at the castle and palace outside of the city center, I would recommend going with the two ride route to get from the train station/city center to the Moorish Castle then the Pena Palace back to the city center/train station. If you plan on making more stops either along those paths or along one of the other available bus routes, then I would recommend paying a little more for the all day pass.
You really don’t need to take the bus between the castle and the palace. There’s a bit of an incline from one gate to the other, but the distance is only about 300m and when you take the official path through the woods, it’s really quite peaceful.
DON’T: buy your site tickets separately
(unless you really don’t know what you’re going to see even after you arrive)
I walked up to the entrance gate for the Moorish Castle to find a nice long line waiting at a kiosk. I got in line before looking to see what we were even waiting for. Turns out, they were the ticket kiosks.
When it was my turn, I discovered the kiosks were for all the sites and museum available to visit around Sintra – not just the one that you’re physically at. I started to add the Pena Palace to my order along with the castle but – for some unknown reason – panicked and removed it before buying.
When I got to the Pena Palace, I discovered an even longer line for the ticket kiosks. And a sign saying you could receive a discount by bundling tickets at several sites and buying them together. Pena Palace tickets did have timed entry, but it didn’t seem like they were very particular about keeping strict entry times.
So by buying multiple site tickets at the same time, you can save some time and money. Unless you love waiting in lines.
DON’T: plan your day without knowing what sites you want to see
I really did not realize just how much is on offer for visiting in Sintra. I had the two big sites in mind (Moorish Castle and Pena Palace) in addition to the city center itself, but hadn’t really planned visiting anywhere else besides those. Unfortunately, due to my poor planning and late arrival, I finished my visit to the palace and went on the bus down the hill to the city center only to realize…it was 5pm.
I remembered the third main attraction is the museum/national palace right in the city and wanted to go visit. But of course, they close at 5. No national palace for me.
If I were to do it again (in addition to everything else I’d change), I would restructure my day to finish seeing the three main sites (Moorish Castle, Pena Palace, National Palace) by 5pm and then explore the little city center and get some food and treats.
Don’t be like me; actually look at all the available places to go and see and decide your plan of action before you’re physically in Sintra on a time crunch.
DON’T: go without backup chargers for your phone/camera
This is…obvious if you’re traveling, but for those like me who keep putting off things that haven’t become critical yet…don’t put this one off. A day trip to Sintra consists almost entirely of climbing hills and taking photos. And like I said, there’s at least a 6 hour day ahead of visitors which you’ll spend clicking away on your camera.
Because I did not plan ahead, my phone died at the end of my visit to the Pena Palace.
Typical.
At least I did search for when the last train back to Lisbon was before it died! These also came once per hour and I did not know what time each hour, so I did end up waiting (again) for 50 minutes in the station for the train when I finally went back.
DO: take a number at Piritique and take a chocolate shot of ginja
At least I did something right this day! By happy accident, I stumbled upon a little window store selling chocolate shots of ginja (Portuguese liqueur made with sour cherries) for 1 euro. Obviously, I needed one after the frantic day I just had. It was my first time seeing white chocolate cups too. Was it the best idea when still dealing with the aftereffects of vinho verde from the night before?
Maybe not. But I needed it for my soul.
And even more impressive? I also stumbled upon what was apparently Sintra’s most famous bakery: Piritique. Trevesseira are a type of pastry from Sintra that I knew I needed to eat while there, but I couldn’t seem to find them anywhere. Until I found Piritique! There was a small crowd outside and I entered to find a bigger crowd around the counter.
Fortunately, this place is used to dealing with large crowds because they used a grab a number system. I got ticket 22 and laughed when they announced they were helping number 8. Some people were buying large boxes of pastries (apparently there’s a discount if you buy more than 5) and then there were ones like me just grabbing a few for the road.
I ended up with a trevesseira and pastel de sintra and went on my way. (I have no photos of these treats due to the aforementioned phone dying, please forgive my past self.)
But it’s me, so even this positive has a negative. Don’t wait to eat these pastries until the next day. From personal experience, they hold up well and are still delicious, but these pastries deserve to be eaten fresh. Give them the respect they deserve. Don’t be me.
Ready to explore Sintra?
Have you made any of these mistakes before? Are you planning on visiting Sintra? Let me know in the comments! Want to know where else to go in Portugal? Read my Portugal Travel Guide for everything you need to know!
I like having tips of what “not to do!” Sounds like a fun trip!
Thank you! It’s always nice to know you aren’t the only one making mistakes while traveling haha
It sounds like you are being a bit hard on yourself! At least next time you go back, you’ll breeze through all of this. Thank you for sharing so we all get to learn from your stresses. And at least you managed to find the chocolate shot of ginja! 😉
If you went back, do you think you’d stay the night in Sintra so you could do all of this a bit more slowly!?
Oh absolutely! There’s so much that you just can’t see in a day – there’s a lot of gardens and parks that you glimpse from the bus, for example. The city itself also felt like it started to come alive as the sun set and the attractions closed and it would be nice to enjoy that without worrying about catching a train!
Quite amusing all the pitfalls you had. I avoided most of them by not daytripping from Lisbon (that was my pitfall, I didn’t even go to Lisbon). Sintra really is magical.
As long as you can laugh about it later, a trip can’t be all that bad! Missing Lisbon? Sounds like you’ll need to go back 😉