Visiting Sintra Portugal: Tickets, Hours and Access
What every monument in Sintra costs, when it opens, and the one booking rule that decides whether your day works.
Sintra keeps six major monuments inside a few square kilometres of hillside, and each one sells its own ticket at its own gate. If you would rather have the tickets and the timing handled for you, every sintra guided tour is compared in one place. The prices below are the ones Parques de Sintra and Quinta da Regaleira published in August 2026. Everything here is what you pay at the monument — tour fares are a separate thing, and most of them leave the entry ticket to you.
What a day in Sintra costs
Two monuments and a train from Lisbon comes to roughly €40 a head. Add a third and you are near €55 before lunch. That arithmetic is the single most useful thing to know before you plan a day here.
| Monument | Adult ticket | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Pena Palace — Essential Visit | €20 | Palace interior and the park |
| Pena Park only | €12 | The park, terraces and the Chalet of the Countess of Edla |
| Quinta da Regaleira | €15 | Gardens, tunnels, the Initiation Well and the palace |
| Castle of the Moors | €12 | The ramparts and the ridge walk |
| National Palace of Sintra | €13 | The state rooms and the kitchens |
| Monserrate | €12 | Park and palace, one ticket |
| Sintra town centre | Free | The streets, the squares and the National Palace gardens |
Children aged 6 to 17 and visitors over 65 pay less at every Parques de Sintra site — usually €10 where an adult pays €12. Parques de Sintra also sells combined tickets across its own monuments, which cover Pena, the Castle of the Moors, the National Palace and Monserrate. Quinta da Regaleira is privately run and sells separately.
Opening hours, and the two that catch people out
Two details do most of the damage. The ticket offices at the Parques de Sintra monuments close between 12:00 and 13:00, and the automatic machines are the fallback. Quinta da Regaleira stops issuing entry slots at 16:30, well before it closes.
| Monument | Open | Last ticket | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pena Park | 09:00–19:00 | 18:00 | The park opens half an hour before the palace |
| Pena Palace | 09:30–18:30 | 17:30 | Timed entry — the slot is on your ticket |
| Quinta da Regaleira | 09:00–19:30 (Apr–Sep) | 17:30 | Closes 18:30 Oct–Mar; last entry slot 16:30 |
| Castle of the Moors | 09:30–18:00 | 17:30 | Ticket office shuts 12:00–13:00 |
| National Palace | 09:30–18:30 | 17:30 | Ticket office shuts 12:00–13:00 |
| Monserrate palace | 09:30–18:00 | 17:00 | Roof restoration runs into early 2027 |
Quinta da Regaleira is shut on 1 January and on 24, 25 and 31 December. The Parques de Sintra monuments keep shorter winter hours; check the day before you travel if you are visiting between November and February. Our guide to when to visit Sintra covers the seasonal shifts in detail.
Timed slots — the one booking rule that matters
Pena Palace runs on timed entry. Your ticket carries a half-hour window, and in summer the mid-morning windows sell out days ahead. This is the thing independent visitors get wrong most often, and it is easy to get right.
There are three honest ways to handle it:
- Buy direct, in advance. Parques de Sintra sells Pena tickets on its own site and Quinta da Regaleira sells through its own ticketing platform. Cheapest route, and you own the slot.
- Buy a skip-the-line ticket through a booking platform. Same entry, delivered to your phone, useful when you want one transaction and a clear cancellation policy.
- Book a tour that bundles the ticket. The slot is chosen for you and the guide gets you there to match it. This is what a guided day actually buys you in Sintra — not access, but timing.
Not sure which ticket you need?
Every tour is listed with what its fare covers and what the palace ticket costs on top, so you can compare the real total rather than the headline price.
Getting up the hill to Pena Palace
Private cars cannot make the final approach from the historic centre. That surprises people who have driven from Lisbon and parked in town. Your options from the park gate:
- Walk. About 30 minutes uphill through the park, on made paths. Pleasant in spring, hard work in August.
- The park shuttle. Runs from the gate to the palace forecourt for a small fee, and saves the climb.
- Bus 434. The Pena Circuit stops at the palace itself. See getting to Sintra for fares and frequency.
- Tuk-tuk or taxi. Plentiful outside the station and in the square, and the usual choice for anyone short on time.
How long you need at each monument
Two monuments in a day is comfortable. Three is a march. Four is a mistake most people only make once.
| Monument | Allow | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Pena Palace and park | 2 hours | Thirty minutes of it is the walk up from the gate |
| Quinta da Regaleira | 90 minutes | The tunnels and the well take longer than the palace |
| Castle of the Moors | 1 hour | A ridge walk with steps, not a building to tour |
| National Palace | 45 minutes | Compact, and right on the main square |
| Monserrate | 90 minutes | The gardens are the reason to come |
| Historic centre | 1 hour | Long enough for the streets and a travesseiro |
Access, mobility and what the walk is really like
Sintra is a hill town and it does not pretend otherwise. The historic centre is cobbled and steep in places, and the monuments sit above it. Most of the tour operators listed on Sintra Portugal Tours describe their vehicles as not wheelchair accessible, and several state that strollers will not fit.
What works: Pena's park has made paths and a shuttle, and the palace has a stroller store. Quinta da Regaleira's main garden paths are walkable, though the well and the tunnels are steps only. The Castle of the Moors is a rampart walk with uneven stone throughout, and it is the one to skip if steps are a problem.
If mobility is a factor, a private tour that drives between monuments removes the bus queues and the standing. The Sintra FAQs covers the specific access questions people ask most.
What to bring, and what you cannot take in
- Shoes you can walk hills in. This matters more here than the guidebooks say.
- A layer more than Lisbon needs. The Serra sits higher and holds cloud.
- Water. There is nothing to buy between the Pena park gate and the palace.
- Cash. Some tours settle monument tickets in cash with the guide on the day.
- Not: large bags or luggage. Several operators refuse them in the vehicle, and the monuments have limited storage.
Planning the rest of the day? Things to do in Sintra covers the town, the coast and what fits alongside the palaces, and Sintra Portugal Tours lists every guided option with its fare and its inclusions.