In this episode we take a day trip to Sintra, a magical town where colorful palaces rise above misty hills and cobblestone streets lead to hidden gardens and ancient castles. We cover how to get to Sintra from Lisbon, views you have to see to believe, historic attractions you can’t miss, and how to use Sintra’s 24 Hour Bus Pass to make getting around the city easier.

Our top recommended hotels in Sintra: 

• Pestana Cidadela Cascais 
• Westlight Cascais Chalet 
• Chalet Saudade
• Or check out these hotels in Sintra

Check out our Sintra Activities & Tours for all activities we recommend and even some that we wanted to do but couldn’t get to. 

Continue your Portugal travels in Madeira and Lisbon, we have episodes on these too!

Find a great flight deal to Portugal by signing up for Thrifty Traveler Premium and get flight deals sent straight to your inbox. Use our promo code TSP to get $20 off your first year subscription.

Sintra Day Trip – Episode Transcript

0:35

And get ready to embark on a new adventure with us around the globe.

Hey, Squatty’s Travel Squad Podcast is back with Just the Tip, our Friday mini episode series where we give you quick travel stories, hacks and recommendations to set you off into the weekend.

0:51

Right.

Today you have me, Brittany and Jamal to share our day trip itinerary to Sentra, Portugal with you.

So Sentra was a continuation of our trip to Portugal.

We talked about Lisbon earlier in the week and we did a day trip to Sentra from Lisbon.

1:06

So this episode is talking all about that.

And what drew next to Sentra is Sentra is a fairy tale town tucked into the forested hills of the Serra de Sentra, just about 50 minutes away by train from Lisbon.

So it’s a really easy day trip.

Sentra was once a summer retreat for Portuguese Royals.

1:23

It’s filled with palaces, medieval castles and a state surrounded by really lush gardens and dramatic landscapes.

And Sentra is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site because it’s a blend of Moorish, Gothic and Romantic architecture.

Yeah, and believe it or not, it’s also filled with hiking trails and charming Old Town streets lined with cafes and artisan shops.

1:43

So Sentra is a really special place.

I know we said that it’s I know we said that it’s filled with hiking trails.

When we came and did our time in Sentra, believe it or not, we did not do any hiking, although you can do that while you are here.

But if you happen to be in Lisbon and you have a day, we highly recommend that you come to Sentra to check out all the palaces, gardens, castles and things that they have here because it’s really close, really unique and of course a UNESCO Heritage World site for a reason, so.

2:12

We’re going to dive into some tips that we have for you and we have talked about Sentra as a day trip, but realistically, you can’t see all of the sites in one day.

So if you only have one day to go, you can probably hit three sites.

But if you want to see more, you’re going to need to spend 2, possibly three days to see everything that Sentra has to offer.

2:31

Yeah, and if you do go, you should also buy your bus pass online in advance because it is cheaper if you get it online.

So we took the train from Lisbon here to Sentra if you have your Lisboa card.

And again harken back to our episode on Lisbon, we talked about it.

2:47

It gives you free train access to Sentra and from Sentra and back.

But other than that, then your Lisboa card stops working here.

So you do want to buy that 24 hour bus pass again cheaper online.

And you want that bus pass for a particular reason.

3:02

It takes you to all of the sites and palaces that are worth seeing in the area.

More particularly, the pass is good for bus number 434 and bus 435, which are the ones of course, like I said, that gets you to the main sites that you want to see.

3:19

Another tip that we have for you is pain.

A palace requires an entry time and make sure to book it in advance.

When we were looking at this, we were looking at probably 2 weeks in advance or so and the morning slots were starting to really fill up and diminish in the amount of tickets that they had available.

3:36

And they’re very strict about the entry time, so be sure you pick a time that you can make it too.

So we ended up going to Centra on a Friday.

So our plan was to visit at least three of the sites that are managed by the Parquets de Centra, which means this Parks of Centra translated from Portuguese to English.

3:55

There are 11 in total though, right?

So again, as you were saying, Brittany, people could spend a lot more time if you want.

Of course, if you’re just spending the day, you’re really doing the highlights.

And I feel like the three things that we did here were some of the highlights.

The Parks of Sentra is a publicly funded company that was established in 2000 once Sentra became a World Heritage site in 1995.

4:17

So they are really responsible for safeguarding and enhancing and restoring and keeping the heritage sites maintained so.

Like I said, we took the train in the morning from Lisbon to Sentra.

It took around 50 minutes.

So we arrived around 9:00 AM because buses start running up to Paina Palace and the Moorish Castle around 9915.

4:40

So we were very lucky that when we arrived we were able to just get on the first bus that went up.

Because believe me, if you’re not on some of those first buses, it’s going to get very, very crowded later in the day.

Not only at the palace but the road to the palace and other sites because it is a one way road and it becomes very, very congested later in the day.

5:01

Yeah, So it took about 2530 minutes to make our way up to Paina Palace.

And and it is a very windy bus ride.

So you actually do have the option, like Jamal mentioned earlier, to hike.

To hike.

It would probably take you about an hour to get up there.

But just for the sake of time, we took the bus.

5:17

But the history of this palace dates back to the 12th century.

It was a Chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Painting here and then the King Manuel the 1st Order, the construction of a monastery, the Royal Monastery of Our Lady of Penna.

But in the earthquake that we talked about in the Lisbon episode in 1755, there was an earthquake that left the monastery in ruins.

5:39

Yeah.

So even though the original site and monastery was left in ruins, what was left of it still was beautiful enough to inspire some of the royal family of Portugal that saw it later to say, hey, you know what, let’s restore this.

Let’s build a summer palace in this area.

5:56

It’s really beautiful.

So almost a century later, here in 1836 is when they really started rebuilding this site to make it a palace for the Royals.

Hang Up Palace is probably the most popular attraction in Sentra, and for a good reason.

6:11

It’s very beautiful.

When you walk up to it, you’re going to see these beautiful red and yellow towers, and it’s an example of the 19th century Romanticism.

Architecture also blends Gothic, Manueline, Moorish, and Renaissance architectural styles, so it’s really colorful.

6:28

It has a lot of ornate details on the outside.

If you want, you can just visit the outside in the lush gardens and the winding paths, but we also recommend visiting the interior to see what it looked like inside as well.

Yeah.

You definitely need to go inside, and inside is really cool because of course it used to be a royal palace, so you get to see the history there too.

6:50

But really the outside, as you mentioned, Brittany, is just so striking because it has all of those different architectural styles.

But you also didn’t mention, I mean, a lot of medieval architectural style here too.

Some of the towers have that kind of medieval look.

Then of course, Portugal being very influenced by the Moors that came in Islamic culture, you need to see some of that design and the tile work, the mosaics, the archways, etcetera.

7:14

So this castle really has so many different architectural designs and you would think that that would make it actually clash, but it makes it really unique, really beautiful and stand out.

And it’s just an incorporation of all of Portuguese history in one castle, really.

So like we mentioned, we took the bus up here, but the bus only drops you off at the base of the the property.

7:35

So then from there you either need to take a shuttle, which you do have to pay for, or you have to walk uphill to the Palace.

We decided that we were going to walk uphill to the Palace because we were on a time crunch to meet our 10 AM entry.

So if you were going from Lisbon, I probably wouldn’t recommend booking anything earlier than 10:00 AM because we were right on time at that point.

7:57

And so again, we did tour the inside.

It was very interesting to see.

You could see the courtyards, the architecture.

You still have some of the the beds that the king and queen slept on, the Chinaware.

So you really do get an amazing tour when you’re in here.

The one thing that I will say that was kind of a drawback, if I’m going to be completely honest, is that because this is so popular and of course they really restrict the flow of traffic, so to speak, of how you are able to tour the castle, It creates a lot of congestion with people around you.

8:30

So you can’t really bang it out.

Not that you would really want to, but if you think you have have a little bit faster pace, want to move along, you’re really hindered in doing that because you’re going through narrow corridors of the castle and there’s just so many people.

So I would say that’s the one drawback.

8:46

But if you know that going in and expect it, it’s not really the end of the world.

Wouldn’t be too bad if it was just like one or two people in front of you.

But you are going to be grouped in with tour groups.

So then you’re trying to pass, you know, groups of 1015 people while their tour guide is trying to explain something to them.

9:03

So just keep that in mind.

Yeah, I I’d agree with Jamal that was 1 drawback, but otherwise we really did love our visit here to paint a palace.

The next stop that we went to was the Moorish castle.

And this castle here of course was built in the 8th and 9th centuries, so really, really old.

9:22

And it’s an old medieval fortress of the Moors when they had actually conquered this part of Europe.

And so this spot here, the Moorish castle is actually a stop before Pina Palace.

Some people on our bus ended up getting off here.

9:38

And then from here you can just walk a very short way uphill to get to Pina Palace.

But I wouldn’t recommend doing that first, even though this castle is first along the way because by the time you’re done with this, Pina Palace is going to get really busy.

So just reiterating that tip, I would advise doing the palace as early as possible.

9:58

So what we did when we were done with the palace is we walked downhill a little bit to get to the castle before exploring.

The castle was really cool because this was a medieval fortress and so you can really walk still along its ancient stone walls.

10:13

You can see the battlements, the watchtowers, you get these beautiful panoramic views of Sentra.

You can see the surrounding forest, You can even see the coastline and you can also see back up to pain a palace as well.

So it is just a really beautiful castle or what’s left of it.

10:31

And what I really liked about this was you’re not on a tour.

And so it’s much more spread out and so it feels less crowded here.

There are a lot of steps here, and what I mean by that is, of course, this is built on a hill, but really what is left of the castle and the fortress are the walls that are at the cliff’s edge.

10:49

So you get to hike the walls that are around the Cliff, and so you’re at a low point, then you climb to a high point, then there’s the center of the castle and the fortress.

So lots of steps.

It’s really cool.

I enjoyed this a lot.

It would be nice if they did offer tours here.

11:05

They do.

But if we actually partook in one, because the history that you would get from this would be very, very interesting, even what little that we knew and were able to read.

I mean, it’s just so intriguing.

Again, the history of the Islamic conquering of Europe, or at least this part of it.

11:20

And then again, the pushback from the Christian kings and Catholic Church who overtook it.

And then the story of them having a mosque here.

Then when the Christians retook it over, now they built a church and spotted the mosque and you just see artifacts, two of where people used to live, some grave sites, etcetera.

11:40

So lots of really cool stuff happening here.

But one of the coolest places that I think we experienced in Sentra, just because it is so old and what’s left is really the fortification walls, which I thought was really awesome.

Yeah, it was really nice to walk the walls and it’s just one of those days where it’s going to be a leg day because you’re walking up to Pain a palace, and you’re walking down to the Moorish castle and you’re walking up the steps along the fortified walls.

12:05

And then it’s just a big leg day, but a good one because you’re learning so much and Central is just so beautiful.

The castle has been undergoing archaeological excavation ever since 1976 and it has returned countless discoveries in regards to the history of the site and its inhabitants.

12:23

So there is still learning things about the site.

So from here, after doing the two activities, it took a bit of time.

We were getting here into the afternoon.

We knew we wanted to have lunch, so there is the bus stop right outside the Moorish Castle.

12:39

But like I said, as the day progresses, more and more people are coming.

You have to take the bus because to get to the next spot, which would be Peanut Palace, of course we already did.

But further along is the Old Town of Centra where you’re going to have some other palaces, cafes, etcetera.

12:56

But you do need to take a bus to get here.

It’s too far to walk.

So by the time we got to the bus station outside the Moorish Castle, several buses had gone by because nobody is getting off of it.

Everyone’s going to Pina.

And so the since nobody’s getting off and it’s full, it’s hard.

13:13

So we actually had to take one of the little tuk tuks to the next bus stop up, which was Pina Palace.

We could have probably walked it.

I was feeling lazy that day just from all the hiking and other stuff that we had been doing all along on this trip before we made it to Sentra to want to kind of walk back uphill to catch the bus.

13:30

So we just paid €5 to do that.

And that was a unique experience.

But it will be crowded when you’re trying to catch the bus there, so keep that in mind.

Either walk it up, taxi, or take yourself one of the little tuk tuks to the next bus station.

That way you can get it at Pana where everybody is getting off and can get on with ease.

13:47

Or if you’re having a hiking day, you can hike down from the castle to the historic center as well.

There was actually like a marked path that we saw.

We just weren’t going to do that that day just for time constraints.

But that is an option if you’re staying in Centro or if you have a more leisurely day or more time.

14:03

So we made it to lunch in Old Sentra and again we took the bus down.

I knew this whole time that we were in Portugal.

I really wanted to have some Portuguese tapas.

So we found a Portuguese tapas place in Old Town Sentra called Taskantiga and I, I absolutely loved it.

14:22

It was delicious.

We had some shrimp, some beef cheek, chorizo, potato wedges, octopus and a few other things.

So this was a really nice casual lunch that we had and I really did enjoy it.

And you really get the nice ambiance being in the Old Town too in these classic European Portuguese style buildings and cities.

14:42

It’s just really special in here.

And we’ve mentioned in our Lisbon and Madeira episodes how hilly Portugal is, and we would say the same for Sentra as well.

We did walk uphill from the bus stop to get up here, but we were seated outside on the deck.

14:58

It was a beautiful day and the food was great.

So we do recommend going to lunch here.

And one thing that was also on my list was to try a Travis sierro, which is an almond puff pastry.

So we did go ahead and pick up two.

15:14

We had found one in a shop and we tried it just because we came across it and we didn’t know if we’d come across it again.

And then we found it again at the place that’s like super popular for it.

But ironically, we liked the first one we tried more.

Yeah, and the Travis Sierras are almost like the pastel de Natas that are really popular in Lisbon, here in Sentra.

15:33

These are their popular they’re sweet treats, so you do have to give it a try.

Our last step of the day was the National Palace of Sentra.

So from the historic center of Sentra we were just able to walk here.

It is only about a 5 minute walk away, and to get there we were just winding down through the cobblestone streets of old Sentra, and then we crossed the street and here it was.

15:59

This was our last step of the day, like I said, and it’s in the heart of Sentra’s Old Town.

Yeah.

And so the National Palace of Sentra has a blend again of medieval, Gothic, Manwellian architectural styles.

So it’s easily recognized by its iconic twin conical chimneys that you will actually see.

16:16

And it was once a royal palace residence, just like Pena was.

Through on your own pace, and I felt like this wasn’t as crowded, of course, as Painted Palace.

And you’re going to see these very beautiful, abruptly decorated rooms, stunning tile work, chandeliers, and a rich collection of historical artifacts.

16:36

And just to give you a little bit of Portuguese history, without going too much into it, the revolution of 1910 bought brought an abrupt end realistically to the time of the Palace of Sentra and even the monarchy of Portugal.

And so after it was abandoned in 1910, very soon after in the early 1900s, it did start finally actually becoming a palace that was open to the public for tours to see as a museum.

17:05

So it’s carrying on to this day that way.

What’s really unique about the National Palace of Sentra is the palace was shaped by different styles influenced by the different artistical trends in each period.

Because practically every single king and queen of Portugal spent some time in residence here.

17:25

So you can actually see areas that they added on later that weren’t part of the original and see how the architectural styles and design styles changed over time.

I.

Like that, it’s like each individual king and queen put their own personal style on it and added something.

So it’s really cool.

17:41

But within these walls, I would say that the outside of this palace doesn’t look like anything special, especially when you’re comparing it to paint a palace.

But ironically, I felt like the inside of this palace was a lot better than the inside of Pina Palace.

17:56

So you get that little bit of contrast too.

I just want to note that you can take pictures of the outside of the palace, but no pictures are allowed inside this palace.

But All in all, I would say that we had a really great time in Centra.

Like Brittany mentioned and described it earlier, it really is like stepping into a fairy tale because you have these lush, beautiful green hillsides, these beautiful castles and so many of, I mean, we only just talked about 3 here, but there are so many more.

18:25

So you could spend a lot of time and it’s within a close concentration of one another.

So I thought that was actually pretty unique because I’ve never really experienced anything like that.

Seen so many castles and palaces in close proximity.

Yeah, if we had an extra day or the next time in Portugal, I would love to come back and explore some of the other sites like the Montserrat Palace or the Quinta de Regularia, and also the chalet and gardens of the Countess Edla.

18:53

And that was our time in Central before heading back to Lisbon and finishing off our trip there.

And I just want to thank you guys so much for tuning in to Just the Tip.