Portugal
Sintra Municipality

Discover travel destinations of travelers writing a travel journal on FindPenguins.
Top 10 Travel Destinations Sintra Municipality
Show all
Travelers at this place
    • Day 3

      Pena Palace

      April 6 in Portugal ⋅ ☁️ 59 °F

      Today we tried something different and joined a bus tour that took us out of Lisbon to Pena Palace, then to the town of Sintra, on to Cabo da Roca, and finished up in Cascais. Turned out to be a very full day.

      The Pena Palace started off as a monastery and then in 1755 an earthquake practically turned it into a ruin. In 1836, Queen Maria II married Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, a prince from Belgium. Ferdinand began renovating the monastery and expanded it to the palace of today to hold his family of 11 children.
      Read more

    • Day 44

      Gardens of Monserrate

      May 5 in Portugal ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

      Applying the same approach to Sintra I use on charcuterie boards, I started at the edge of what I wanted to see (Monserrate) and worked my way in. After a small tiff with the guard about the queue directional signage (which didn't matter to begin with seeing as there wasn't one, but I'd argue if both me and the person in front made the same error the issue is the sign) I was into the palace grounds, which I explored over the next two and a half hours, saying wow a lot, and learning what a 'folly' is! You probably already know.Read more

    • Day 5

      Wo alles beginnt

      December 5, 2023 in Portugal

      Der Klim Helm ist zurückgebracht, leider gabs kein Ersatz fürs erste also schlägt João mir vor einen von seinen Helmen zu benutzten da er sie diesen Monat überhaupt nicht braucht.

      Das nehme ich sehr dankend an und heute Abend bauen wir noch schnell meine Kommunikation ein und dann kann es los gehen.Read more

    • Day 19

      TAG 19

      May 25, 2022 in Portugal ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

      Unsere gestrige Reise begann am Bahnhof. Ziel war die Stadt "Sintra", die bekannt für ihre historischen Paläste und Burgen ist.
      Angekommen standen wir vor einem Fahrplan, worauf die verschiedenen Sehenswürdigkeiten zu finden waren. Die Entscheidung war schwierig, da wir wussten, dass wir nicht alles besuchen können.
      Beschlossen haben wir uns für das Schloss "Quinta da Regaleira". Das Besondere an ihm war ein Abstieg in die Tiefe. Der Ausgang führte uns dann unterirdisch durch einen in den Fels geschlagenen Weg, der in die Nähe zum Palast führte.
      Dieser ist wie alle anderen Paläste ein paar Hunderte Jahre alt, jedoch wurde es nach dem starken Erdbeben 1755 restauriert. Viele Dinge wie Tische und Verzierungen blieben erhalten.
      Weiter ging es dann einen der der 7 Hügeln hinauf, die Lissabon umkreisen. Oben angekommen befand sich der bekannteste Palast, namens "Palazio Pena". Wenn man Sintra in Google eingibt, ist es eins der ersten Bilder die man dazu findet. Dementsprechend war auch der touristische Andrang riesig, weshalb wir uns gegen eine Besichtigung entschlossen. Stattdessen wichen wir auf die Burgruine aus, die ein paar geh Minuten entfernt war. Von dort aus hatte man eine gigantische Aussicht auf das Umland und auch auf den Palast. Nach dem Besuch sind wir dann wieder in die Altstadt herabstiegen und von dort aus mit dem Zug zurück nach Lissabon gefahren :)
      Read more

    • Day 18

      Rock'n roll!! Sintra - Palais de Pena

      September 27, 2022 in Portugal ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

      Journée ensoleillée et venteuse au programme. On visite un peu la ville de Peniche où nous nous étions installés la veille. Malheureusement, le temps étant trop venteux, nous n'avons pas pu prendre un bateau pour aller sur l'île de Berlenga. Quel dommage! Nous sommes privés d'une magnifique vue sur des vestiges d'un ancien fort.

      On se revire de bord et nous faisons à la place le tour de la presqu'île de Peniche. Nous longeons le littoral et c'est magnifique! Samuel est très content de découvrir et d'explorer chaque fois plein de choses différentes !!

      Nous prenons notre temps... Mais finalement un peu trop. Nous avions prévu d'aller en après-midi à Sintra, en périphérie de Lisbonne, au palais de Pena. J'avais lu qu'il était mieux de visiter le palais en fin de journée due au trop grand achalandage et pour ne pas avoir un line up de 1 à 2 heures. Il faut compter environ 1h30 de Peniche pour s'y rendre. On quitte vers les environs de 15h00.

      En route, on réserve les billets pour le palais à 17h00. Parfait, ça nous laissera un petit jeu. Bon là, tout commence! Arrivé à Sintra, c'est comme à Douro, mais finalement en pire. Les voies sont extrêmement étroites, y'a du monde pas à peu près, des pancartes à suivre et être alertent à tout ce qui peut arriver sur la route. On doit monter la falaise pour se rendre au palais. La rue simple est étroite et bien trop sinueuse. Je fais attention... Oufff!!! C'est fatigant même en voiture, car la concentration est de mise! Arrivé près de l'entrée, on commence à capoter un peu parce que 1, il commence à être proche 17h et 2, bien où est-ce qu'on va se stationner avec notre gros campervan parce que 3, on n’a pas le temps de rebrousser chemin, de se stationner plus bas, de prendre l'autobus et d'arriver à temps pour la visite. Le site ferme à 18h30... Il faut quand même que ça vaille la peine !!

      On trouve finalement un éventuel stationnement, mais ce n’est vraiment pas évident. Faut s'y rendre. Je casse un bout du pare-chocs arrière du camper, car je recule dans un criss de poteau bien trop résistant. Camper 0 poteau 1. On réussit à se parquer... Ce n’est vraiment pas évident. Ya sérieusement aucun camper qui va là excepté nous bande d'inconscients. C'est ce que ça fait quand on a aucun temps pour regarder où on se campe pour la nuit en avance et regarder les commentaires de ce qu'il faudrait faire! Ensuite, on se stationne, il est 17h. Yheaaa. Mais on a 30 minutes à marcher parce que c'est encore plus haut qu'on pensait!

      Demande à un tuktuk de nous y rendre, mais il nous indique qu'il n'a pas le droit ça doit être un véhicule, car il n'y a pas de siège pour les enfants. On voit une voiture yheaaa il nous amène. Arrivé là, on entre, mais il y a encore un 15-20 minutes de marche.... Tsé. Ça peut-tu finir!!!!

      Enfin là. On capote !!! Bien trop beau. Ça pas de sens! On l'appelle le château multicolore pour Sam. Il adore. Mais c'est le palais national de Pena. Il est de couleur rouge et jaune surtout, mais avec quelques endroits avec de la céramique, de grosses poutres massives de béton. Wow !!!!! C'est vraiment beau !!! On visite aussi les pièces dans le palais. Mais quelle grandeur. Le décor est magnifique et majestueux !! Voilà pourquoi on a fait ça !! Ouiii c'est dur et nous vivons des péripéties, mais mausus que ça vaut la peine!

      En revenant, nous n'avons pas établi notre campement ni où manger. Aucun camping dans les environs... mais on trouve un spot pas pire et nous mangeons dans le campervan. Espérons que ça reste calme pendant la nuit !! :) Demain... Il faudra être plus prévoyant. On est maintenant dans la zone touristique et grande ville! Ça signifie qu'il y a moins d'espace possible avec le campervan!!!
      Read more

    • Day 59

      Day trip to Sintra

      May 19, 2022 in Portugal ⋅ ☁️ 68 °F

      Miles: 8.8 Steps: 22671
      Flights stairs: 64

      We took a 40 min train ride out to Sintra, a small city north west of lisbon. It was another fantastic day - but not for the reasons I expected. We were heading out to see palaces and buildings, but the beauty of the day came from the nature around us.

      We started with the Palace of Peña. Its literally a palace VERY high up on a hill - took an uber from the train station. We’ve been in a few palaces now, and the one in Madrid takes the cake (so far). To be honest, we found this one was somewhat underwhelming inside after seeing such ornate ones elsewhere.

      After touring it, we took a walk thru the National park to the “Castle of the moors”. THIS was incredible - the walk was beautiful and the ruins were amazing. Oldest thing we’ve seen yet. The moors built it in the mid 8th century. I’m not afraid of heights, but at times I was pretty fearful on the ledges.

      After walking all thru the castle and fortress walls, we took another 45 minute walk straight down thru the National park again. There was practically no one else there so it felt so peaceful and serene. That walk was the highlight of our day.

      We ended up at a second palace - the Palace of Sintra. Again, inside was somewhat underwhelming, but interesting.

      The last thing we saw was “Quinta de regaleira”. This was like a garden, but with old towers and a beautiful well we walked down into that led to an underground tunnel system. Really unique.

      Overall the day in Sintra was fantastic. The outside portions stole the show for me. I wish we would have set up a pedometer when we began this trip - may start one as of tomorrow. No idea how far we walked today, but it had to be MANY miles.
      Read more

    • Day 12

      Day Twelve: Sintra

      March 27 in Portugal ⋅ 🌬 14 °C

      Today, I managed to get a pretty good sleep. But these hostel beds get so hot I was sweating all morning. And to top it off, I woke up with a sore throat. A pretty bad one, too. It felt like knives when I swallowed. But that's OK. We power through. Decided to take public transportation to get to Sintra. It was quite the experience. It was so confusing to actually buy the ticket. Luckily, someone helped us buy it. When we finally got to Sintra, it was pouring rain and super windy. And too made it better our ticket wasn't working and we couldn't leave the train station. We walked around trying to get help and ended up having to jump a fence to get out. But when we finally made it, it was amazing walking into the garden, field, or whatever you would call it, and the rain really did make everything greener. This "castle" was on a hillside with a whole bunch of random ruins, buildings, and paths. We got to walk around in the forest around random walls and get a great view of the valley. There was even this well that went down into the ground. A lot of the descriptions they had around didn't make a lot of sense to me, but this well seemed to be made as an analogy for something. It was about the decent to hell and the light of heaven or something. But there were also some underground paths that were completely dark. You needed a flashlight to get around. It was so spooky and so fun to joke around with ethan in it. There was also the main mansion when the owners lived. It was extravagant and completely over the top, someone who really needed to flex his wealth. It was beautiful, though, for sure. Someplace I couldn't imagine living in. They had a separate pool room and a separate smoking/games room. There were some many different places nestled here that gave us a taste of different architectural styles and so much more. On the way back, we found yet another rooftop bar over looking an even crazier view! But we were both so tired. We crawled our way back home and went to bed early!Read more

    • Day 13

      Sintra 2

      April 29 in Portugal ⋅ ☀️ 11 °C

      Heute ist nur Besichtigung angesagt. Aber auch hier muss man sich rechtzeitig um Buskarten, Eintrittskarten,...kümmern.
      Ab 8 Uhr gibt es Frühstück und dann gleich Karten f.Bus 434 und 435 kaufen, damit kommt man zu allen Sehenswürdigkeiten.
      Zuerst fahr ich gleich zum Palacio Nacional da Pena,
      wie ein Märchenschloss am Berg gelegen, von König Ferdinand II auf den Ruinen einen Klosters errichtet , das der Nossa Senhora da Pena gewidmet war, nur bekomme ich die Karte f. Innenbesichtigung erst f.den Abend, das ist mir zu lang, aber man kann es gut draussen und in verschiedenen Etagen begehen und besichtigen und auch den Park.
      Erst am frühen Nachmittag komme ich dann zur Quinta da Regaleira. Es zählt zum Weltkulturerbe der UNESCO und wurde nach Entwürfen des Besitzers António Augusto Carvalho Monteiro erbaut und 1910 fertiggestellt . Ein Traum, bin Stunden durch den Park gegangen und hab immer wieder etwas Neues entdeckt.
      Read more

    • Day 6

      Sintra

      March 27 in Portugal ⋅ 🌧 14 °C

      We finally made it to Sintra today after a few days of thinking about it. I knew Sintra was going to be beautiful, and it still blew my expectations out of the water. To get there we had to take a bus to a train station then buy a pass for the train. The pass worked great at the first station, and then we got to Sintra. we tried scanning our pass to get through the gates and it denied both of us. Even a local couldn't figure it out. He then tried to run behind someone who scanned their card, but the gates slammed in his face and completely bodied him. I laughed so hard in his face, true comedy. We couldn't figure it out either, so we just jumped over a wall to get out lol. We had to hop on another bus, which took us up to Quinta Da Regaleria, where a mansion is built on the side of a mountain on 4 hectares of space. There's so much to see there's no way we didn't miss something even though we spent 5 hours there. We explored caves and tunnels as well as just walking through the garden. Pearse and I made a few "skits" we think are funny. It's so hard to only pick 2 videos for the posts, though. We're off to Porto tomorrow now, so I'd say it was the perfect way to spend the last day in Lisbon.Read more

    • Day 282

      Sintra, Portugal

      February 14, 2023 in Portugal

      We're back at it! After returning back to the USA for the holidays and to wait out the winter, we've returned to Europe. We're starting off this leg back where we left off, in the Iberian Peninsula. We flew into Lisbon and traveled to our first stop in Sintra, about 40 minutes west. This time we also have Emily's father John with us for a few weeks.

      Sintra is said by many both past and present to be the most beautiful place in Portugal. It's very easy to see why. Romantic elegance of the old town cobbled streets that meet and disappear into the natural beauty of the forrests,, national parks, and mountains. Sintra is a magical place that boasts grand palaces and castles within walking distance. We were fortunate enough to visit Quinta de Regaleira, Castelo dos Muros, and the palace of Monserrate. They were all outstanding with the later being perhaps our favorite due to its elaborate gardens with plants from across the globe. Just 30km from Lisbon Sintra swept us back in time and had such a storybook feel it was hard not to adore this town. Just beware of the hills and bring good walking shoes!

      While Sintra has evidence of early human settlement from the Paleolithic era and has been occupied by the Romans, it's the Moorish occupation that feels most prominent. As already stated, we visited Castelo dos Muros which was built between the 8th and 9th centuries. While a fortress, it's primary function was that of a lookout point for the surrounding area and the bay leading to Lisbon. The Moors remained in this area until driven out by the first king of Portugal, Alfonzo V, drove them out in 1147.

      Quinta da Regaleira was a private residence. The construction as it is seen today began in 1904. It is rumored to have connections to the Knights Templar and their initiation well.
      Read more

    You might also know this place by the following names:

    Sintra, Sintra Municipality

    Join us:

    FindPenguins for iOSFindPenguins for Android