Portugal is a popular holiday destination, with stunning cities and enchanting towns, including one that’s been labelled a ‘real-life fairytale.’
Located near Lisbon and along the Portuguese Riviera is the beautiful town of Sintra, which was once used as a summer retreat for the country’s nobility and royal family.
This history is clear in the villas, castles, and palaces, which have become popular tourist attractions due to their Romanticist architecture and enchanting gardens.
Sintra is less than four hours from the UK, with flights to Lisbon taking around two hours and 50 minutes. From Lisbon, you can take the train to Sintra, which takes 40-50 minutes.
With this in mind, visitors can either stay in Sintra itself or book a hotel in Lisbon and take a day trip out to this historic UNESCO World Heritage Site.
One of Sintra’s top highlights is the Palácio Nacional da Pena, which is considered one of the seven wonders of Portugal. This colourful castle started life as a chapel before being transformed into a monastery and then a Royal retreat when it was acquired by King Consort Ferdinand II in 1838.
The castle then remained in the hands of the royal family until 1910 when royal family and much of the country’s nobility fled to Brazil to escape the revolution. Pena Palace has since been restored to look just as it did when the royals fled the country.
Another must-see landmark is the ruins of the Castle of the Moors, a hilltop medieval castle that was captured by Christian Crusaders in 1147 and subsequently left to fall into ruins. These ruins were also later acquired King Consort Ferdinand II, who transformed it into the ‘showpiece’ that still stands today.
Sintra is also home to the Quinta da Regaleira, a unique neo-gothic manor house full of mythological and Knights Templar symbols, including an ‘initiation well.’
And it doesn’t just stop there; visitors may also want to pay a trip to the Monserrate Palace, an Arabian-inspired villa and tranquil gardens that, while still busy, are likely to be a lot less touristy than the town’s other landmarks.
Then there’s yet another castle to visit, the stunning Sintra National Palace, which dates back to the medieval period, and is thought to be the only castle whose existence spans the entire history of Portugal.
The palace’s first building is believed to have been constructed around the 10th or 11th century, when Sintra was under Moorish control, however, nothing still standing exists from this time.
The earliest part of the castle is the chapel, which dates back to the 14th century, with much of the current structure dating from the 15th century.