If you’re visiting Lisbon for anything more than a couple of days then planning to spend at least a day in Sintra is a must. Just under an hour outside of Lisbon is a beautiful little old town nestled in the mountains with some of the most picturesque spots I’ve seen. It’s quick to get there, relatively easy to get around and there’s plenty to see. 

When people think of Sintra often the first thing that comes to mind is Pena Palace, a brightly coloured fairytale-esque palace at the top of one of the steepest hills. It’s vibrant red and yellow walls have made it one of the most Instagramable spots in recent years, but even if you aren’t in it for the pictures, there’s still plenty to see.

There’s a lot more to the area though than just the palace but like any popular tourist spot it can get seriously busy and you could easily spend the day wandering around, getting a little lost and spending hours in queues. We managed to fit a fair amount into the day, avoid most of the queues and made sure that we didn’t feel as though we were rushing around the Pena Palace and the rest of the town without really having any time to take everything in and enjoy ourselves. If you’re planning a day trip to Sintra then these are my top recommendations.

Get there early

We took the 8.30 train from Rossio to Sintra (the end station, not the other one) and whilst the rest of the city was quiet the train wasn’t. It took a little under an hour and by time we arrived the town was already busy with tourists. It’s easy to see how the queues for the busses alone can easily reach an hour during the height of summer. If you’re visiting much after May I’d recommend getting there as early as you can. Busses start running on their one-way loop from 9.15 so get there a bit before to avoid the queues.

Make the most of the bus service

Whilst the walk into the historic town is only about 15 minutes and pretty easy I would not recommend a walk up to Pena Palace. The roads are very narrow and steep plus I really don’t think the views would even be that amazing. From what we read it seemed like it would take the best part of an hour to walk up there plus you would be exhausted at the end of it. Save your legs, save some time and jump on the bus either at the train station or in the town centre. 

Dress appropriately

Yes, a flowing white dress probably would have looked prettier in the pictures than the practical outfit that I ended up wearing but you really do need to be dressed approrpatily for your day trip. There were plenty of women changing or walking around in dresses and heels for the photos and if that’s your thing than no judgment, seriously, but with long and very steep hills, and uneven paving flat shoes and comfortable clothes are best. It’s also quite a lot cooler in Sintra than in Lisbon due to it being higher up and windy so make sure you pack a sweater even in the warmer weather. I pretty much lived in my hoodie the whole time and it made the whole experience more enjoyable.

Get your Pena Palace tickets in advance

We heard that queues for the tickets alone can reach well over an hour in peak season so we picked ours up from the tourist information office in the town first thing and then headed for the bus. The ticket queues weren’t too bad at the palace when we arrive shortly after 10.30 but the queues to get into the palace had already built up. Don’t put yourself through it twice, buy them in advance, especially if you want to visit a couple of places in one day. The tourist office in the town offered some discounts if you were buying tickets to multiple places but plan out your day in advance to make sure you’ll actually be able to fit it all in.

Visit Pena first and the town second

Reading up before the trip it looked like most people did the town and Palacio Nacional de Sintra in the morning and went to Pena in the afternoon but we took the advice to do this the other way around. It meant the queues for Pena (apparently) weren’t so bad and we had the energy to explore the stunning gardens for a good couple of hours. By time we got back to the town for lunch we didn’t struggle to get a table, everything was a little quieter and we walked around the Palacio Nacional de Sintra with no queues what so ever, it was perfect.

Work out what you actually want to see

There are two tickets for Pena Palace, one gives you access to the gardens and some of the terrace, the other access to all of the terraces and all of the state rooms. Possibly controversially, we weren’t all that bothered about seeing the state rooms and seeing as that is what the worst of the queues are for we decided to go for the terrace and garden ticket. We ended up only waiting about 40 minutes to get in as the queue splits a little way after the main entrance gate if you aren’t going to the state rooms but the queue to the state rooms was well over an hour even in the morning. We saw the terrace, were able to get some amazing pictures and also enjoy the gardens, which really are a must and didn’t feel like we had missed by not seeing more of the interiors. It seemed like families with very young children were allowed to bypass the main queues so if you are heading there with little ones it’s worth looking into this as an option.

Eat in the town or take your own lunch

There are plenty of places in the town for food and great picnic spots in the garden of Pena but other than that you’re limited when you get up there. There is a single cafe and the food and drink selection is very limited. There really isn’t a lot of seating but there is a little terrace that actually allows for some of the best photos of the palace. If you’re looking for food though I’d give it a miss and wait until you get back down, or pick up some pastries from one of the bakeries in town before you go up and have a mid-walk snack stop in the gardens. 

There’s a lot more than just Pena Palace

It’s the most iconic sight of all of them but there’s a lot more in the area than just the palace. We had wanted to visit the Quinta da Regaleira and Palacio de Monserrate too but just didn’t have the time in one day. Maybe we would have been able to if we had opted for a pre-organised tour but these just didn’t seem very ‘us’ and were more than we wanted to spend. If we head back to Lisbon I think we’d take another trip to Sintra to see the areas we didn’t get to this time. 

Sintra was a brilliant day trip from Lisbon and really makes you feel like you’re away from some of the chaos of the city. Yes, it’s full of tourists, of course it is, but if you time it right and plan your day you don’t have to feel like you’re being herded around key sights all daylong. Switching the order we did things, walking into the centre for the bus and buying tickets in advance definitely helped us to avoid the feeling of queueing all day long. There’s loads to see and if you have the time to make a trip from the centre then it’s well worth it.

The total cost for the day (excluding food) for the two of us was around £50.