Whether at home or far away, I love a good day trip because it's the perfect way to explore. While doing a long layover in Lisbon, we decided to take a day trip out to Sintra-the city of fairytale castles. You could easily spend a week in Sintra and not have enough time to tour all the palaces.
It definitely took a bit of effort to make it to Sintra using public transport. We walked from our hostel to the train station, did an hour long train ride, and then shared a 30 minute taxi before finally arriving at the famed colorful Instagram worthy Pena Palace.
The best part of a castle on a hilltop....the sweeping views
While Pena Palace was every bit as beautiful and impressive as we had hoped for, the experience was marred by the hoards of people. We tend to arrive at destinations like this one right at opening in order to enjoy without the crowds, but this is such a popular spot that there is almost no one to visit without tons of people, so after just an hour, we headed to the smaller Monserrate Palace.
Even though it was a smaller palace, it was no less impressive and right up our alley with having this place pretty much to ourselves.
We actually ended up spending several hours here...touring the palace, sunning ourselves on the lawn with a picnic lunch, and hiking through the extensive palace grounds and gardens.
If you ever find yourself in Lisbon, I definitely recommend at least taking a day trip out to Sintra. We chose Pena Palace and Monsserrate Palace to tour, but there are so many others with varying architecture. And who wouldn't want a day to live in a real life fairytale?
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