If you are visiting Lisbon, I would highly recommend spending a day in Sintra, Portugal. The Sintra-Cascais Natural Park is filled with beautiful palaces and castles. It is only an hour train ride or a thirty minute drive from Lisbon so it makes a perfect day trip!
Some popular sites are Pena Palace, Castle of the Moors, Quinta Da Regaleira, and Cabo da Roca. We weren’t able to stay all day, so we chose to visit Pena Palace. It is absolutely beautiful! I love all the colors and it literally feels like you are in a fairytale. In this post, I’ll be sharing all the details on spending a day exploring Pena Palace in Portugal.
Check out the best things to do in Lisbon in my Lisbon Travel Guide!
Tickets
The entrance fee to enter the National Palace and Gardens is €10. You can buy your ticket here!
The park opens at 9am and I recommend getting there as early as possible to avoid the crowds, especially if you don’t buy tickets in advanced since the line gets really long.
History of Pena Palace
Pena Palace goes back to the 12th century where it used to be a chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Pena. Then, King Manuel I ordered to build a monastery on this location and it was handed over to the Hieronymite Order. In 1755, it was majorly damaged by an earthquake. Surprisingly, the chapel managed to survive so King Ferdinand II decided to acquire the monastery and its surrounding to build what we see today as Pena Palace.
You can read more about the history of Pena Palace here.
Tour
If you are interested in taking a small group tour and avoiding the stress of planning a day to Sintra, Portugal on your own – check out this full day tour that includes hotel pick-up from Lisbon and stops at Pena Palace, Sintra National Palace, Cabo da Roca, Boca do Inferno, and Centro Historico de Cascais. Please note that entrance fees are not included in this tour.
Exploring more of Portugal? Check out my Porto Travel Guide and Algarve Travel Guide!
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