Sintra Mountain Tour

Historic Centre

In the historic center of the romantic village of Sintra, Portugal, there remain many buildings and vestiges of various eras and cultural movements. It circumscribes a comprehensive area of diverse heritage, including palaces, castles, farms, and parks with different classifications. From municipal heritage to world heritage, duly classified by UNESCO.

Sintra Town Hall

Sabuga Fountain

These springs still provide drinking water and you can often see some people filling bottles from them.

Sintra Nacional Palace

The National Palace of Sintra, also known as Palácio da Vila, was one of the palaces used by the Portuguese Royal Family practically until the end of the Monarchy in 1910.

Of urban implantation, its construction began in the fifteenth century, with an unknown author's trait. It features features medieval, Gothic, Manueline, Renaissance and romantic architecture. It is considered an example of organic architecture, of apparently separate body set, but which are part of a whole articulated with each other, through courtyards, stairs, corridors and galleries. It has the largest set of Mudejar tiles in the country.

It is dominated by two large semi-sized chimneys that crown the kitchen and constitute the "ex-libris" of Sintra.

The Biester Palace

Located in the heart of Sintra, Biester Palace opened to the public in 2022, after some restoration works.

The different spaces of this palace offer a privileged view of Moorish Castle and a privileged location, in few minutes from the lower entrance where you can find the mystical Quinta da Regaleira.

More than a historical monument, the Biester Palace is a mysterious adventure in a fascinating and (yet) underexplored cultural labyrinth.

Forest

The Sintra hill, also known as Monte da Lua, is a hill in the municipalities of Sintra in Portugal. It is located at the western end of the European continent. It is measured about 10 kilometers from east to west and approximately 5 kilometers wide, with its highest peak at an altitude of 529 meters in Cruz Alta, reaching topographic prominence of 336 meters and isolation of 51.37 kilometers. It is integrated into the Natural Park of Sintra-Cascais. It has a very rich fauna, an example of it, is the fox, the genet, the mole, the salamander, the peregrine falcon, the viper, and several species of stoeted reptiles. Its climate is temperate with many oceanic influences, thus presenting a higher rainfall compared to the rest of the greater Lisbon area. This also results in unique vegetation. About nine hundred species of flora are autochthonous and 10% are endemic.

Moorish Castle

The Moorish Castle is a privileged viewpoint to admire the view extending from Sintra to the ocean. Winding across two ridges on the Sintra Mountains, the castle dates back to the early days of Moorish occupation in the Iberian peninsula, in the 8th century.

After the conquest of Santarém, King Afonso Henriques sieged Lisbon for three months.

Although Sintra’s Castle was surrendered voluntarily after the fall of Lisbon, legend has it that the sovereign entrusted Don Gil, a Knight Templar, with assembling twenty trusted men to secretly observe the enemy's movements in Sintra, in fear of a surprise attack on his forces by the Sintra Moors, and simultaneously preventing the Lisbon Moors from heading up the River Tagus into Sintra, via Cascais.

The crusaders set out in secret, under the cover of night and hiding out during the day, to avoid being sighted along the road from Torres Vedras to Santa Cruz, and along the coast to Colares, avoiding Albernoz, a feared Moorish chief from Colares who was infamous for killings Christians. Somewhere between Colares and Penedo, the Virgin Mary appeared to the fearful knights and said to them: "Não tenhais medo porque ides vinte, mas mil ides” ["Do not be afraid, there are twenty of you, but you are worth one thousand"].

Full of courage with the Virgin Mary on their side, at the end of a five day journey, they took on the enemy, defeating them and conquering the Moorish Castle. In honor of this victory, the Chapel of Our Lady of Milides ("mil ides") [“worth one thousand”] was erected in Colares.

Pena Palace

The National Palace of Pena is one of the best expressions of 19th century Romanticism in the world, standing on a craggy outcrop, the second highest point on the Sintra Mountains (exceeded only by Cruz Alta [High Cross] at 528 m above sea level).

The Palace is located in the eastern side of Pena Park, and the steep access ramp built by the Baron of Eschwege can be reached by crossing the Park. The Palace itself has two wings: the former Manueline convent of the Order of St. Jerome, and the wing built in the nineteenth century by King Fernando II. These wings are surrounded by a third architectural structure, which conjures up imaginary patrol paths, merlons and battlements, watch-towers and an access tunnel to a draw bridge.

On 7 July 2007, it was elected one of the seven wonders de Portugal, and is the first romantic palace in Europe, predating the charismatic Schloss Neuschwanstein in Bavaria by approximately 30 years.

The Palace and Park were conceived and implemented as a whole. From the Palace, the visitor can look out over the forest cover spanning the over 200 hectares that make up Pena Park.

This park has beautiful routes and walks, and countless garden constructions. Bridges and caves, garden benches, pergolas and fountains. Small dwellings that housed guards and other servants. Greenhouses and nurseries with camellias, rhododendra and very rare and unusual roses. Sculptures, such as the warrior that can be seen from the Palace, as if on guard.

The lakes near the exit to the Moorish Castle are equally picturesque and pleasant, surrounded by a great corridor of arboreal ferns.

Today, Pena Park is the European park with the richest and most unusual collection of tree species, many of which no longer exist in many of their countries and continents of origin.

Moorish Fountain

This beautiful fountain is located on the main road between the train station and the Sintra National Palace, only five minutes walk away from the palace. It was built in 1922 by the master sculptor of Sintra, José da Fonseca.

The Moorish Fountain is built on the Islamic architecture (Arabic inspiration). Due to the Islamic influence and style, this mountain was named ‘the Moorish Fountain’. Azulejos (comes from Arabic word zellige) are famous to decorate the historical monuments in Portugal and this fountain was no exception.

Historic Centre

In the historic center of the romantic village of Sintra, Portugal, there remain many buildings and vestiges of various eras and cultural movements. It circumscribes a comprehensive area of diverse heritage, including palaces, castles, farms and parks with different classifications. From municipal heritage to world heritage, duly classified by UNESCO.