Sintra - A Perfect Day Trip Out of Lisbon, Sintra, Portugal

Whenever I travel somewhere for a few days, I try to squeeze in one day to venture out of the main destination. It wasn’t any different during my visit in Lisbon ( here). As much as I was loving every minute there, I wanted to get out of the city and explore. I was looking for a place close enough to do in one day, and with a little different vibe than Lisbon. I decided on one of, if not THE most popular daytrips out of Portugal’s capital : Sintra. An easy 40 minute train ride promised to get me near mountains, a castle and a fairy tale like Palace. Sintra day trip seemed like a good idea.

I took an early train out of Rossio train station and arrived in Sintra after 8 am. The town was still pretty sleepy and covered in fog. Quite a change from sun-drenched Lisbon I experienced for 3 days. It gave the town quite a mysterious vibe, that remained for the entire day. Even though the fog cleared as the day went on, and the sun came out, I could tell Sintra was noticeably cooler than Lisbon.

Like most popular destinations in Europe in the summer, Sintra gets crowded. The key, as always, is to get there before most people show up. If you are anything like me, meaning : don’t like crowds, waiting in long lines, having WAY too many people around, and don’t like other people in your pictures : start your day early! My goal was to catch the first 434 tourist bus leaving after 9 am and get to my first stop shortly after it opens. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).