Is going to Sintra from Lisbon without a group tour worth it?

If you're researching your upcoming Portugal trip you'll no doubt be amazed by the views and beauty of Sintra, Portugal. Close enough to Lisbon for a day trip, Sintra has antique castles, serene nature, historical wonders and more! Sintra online seems too good to be true, a wonderful quaint fairy-tale town with old-fashioned charm - but is it worth the trip from Lisbon? Is the cost-effective local train worth it over getting an expensive tour? Watch the video above to get a glimpse of how lovely this place can be, but keep reading below for my real, unfiltered account of our chaotic day trip from Lisbon to Sintra!

Pena Palace, enchanted or too crowded? Keep reading to hear my true opinions!

Taking the train

You'll have to be an early riser for this adventure. The first train from Lisbon to Sintra leaves around 8am. We were advised through other blogs that if you don't get on this first train then you'll be inundated by hordes of tourists and unpredictable train times, which could cause your day trip to be cut short. Thankfully Cedric and I are naturally early birds so we set our alarms, drank our coffee and made it to the station with enough time to catch the first train...so we thought!

When we arrived we were confused. The ticket kiosk was only in Portuguese with no English options. It was too early for staff to be around to help. We thought we were going to miss the train because we couldn't figure out how to get tickets.

Thankfully, there were Portuguese locals hanging around the kiosks that offered to help for a tip (not official workers), and thankfully we had cash in our wallets! We never want to get scammed and are usually resistant to random people asking us for money in foreign countries, but the time was ticking closer to 8am and we had no choice.

The stranger was kind and it all worked out. We were two happy customers with tickets in our hands - but where was the correct train stop? The kind stranger couldn't come through the station doors to help us further because he had to man his post so he wouldn't lose any future customers, so we were on our own. Now we were keeping the pace of a brisk jog as we fluttered around asking everyone where the Lisbon to Sintra pickup was. Again, the locals were very nice and we finally got to the right spot. Phew! We made the first train, which did end up being a little late.

Steps on what busses and trains to take from Lisbon city to Sintra.

Arriving to Sintra and getting to Pena Palace

The train ride is about an hour and a half. It wasn't too bad - we were still pumped for our epic day ahead. We landed at the Sintra stop and excitedly got off the train to an adorable quaint neighborhood with cobblestones and brick buildings.

Now we questioned how to get from here to the most famous landmark in Sintra: Pena Palace. We did a little bit of research on this but hadn't yet ironed out all the kinks. We were once again confused tourists stumbling around, so at this point we were very popular with the drivers of various vehicles that weren't the local bus. Drivers of tuk-tuks, antique cars, motorcycles and more were all giving us their best transport quotes.

I got a tip from a local in the girl's bathroom that the regular bus was the cheapest way to get to Pena Palace, but that it's unreliable and the stop is about a half hour walk. I wanted to save my feet for the rest of the day, so we settled on an open-air Jeep. The driver said that if she wrangled more passengers for the ride then we would receive a lower rate for the trip (it ended up being 10 euros per person). Also, the jeep looked fun and non-nauseating because it was open air.

This open-air jeep took us from the Sintra train stop to Pena Palace.

A couple and their friend squeezed in the back with us. I warned them I'd be filming a bit and they said it was fine as long as they weren't in the shot...deal! The ride was all uphill for about forty-five minutes. Wow, good thing we didn't walk to Pena Palace! Our co-riders were nice and we got a great view of this fairy-tale town, which was precious! We were happy with our choice.

Pena Palace Entrance

Finally, we were at Pena Palace. Surely we'd be able to visit the famous castle now...but not so fast! First, there is a line to get a trolley ticket or a walk up a very vertical hill. Our young Jeep co-riders said their goodbyes to us after they bought their Pena Palace entrance tickets (10 euros per person) and started hiking up the grand hill. I, however, have arthritis, so this hike wasn't an option for me. The line to get our trolley tickets wasn't too long but after getting those tickets we had to wait in another line for this trolley to appear. We made friends with a lovely middle-aged couple who also had arthritis and bad knees...classic! Time went by fast talking to these two and before we knew it, we were in the front of the line and got to sit right up front in the trolley! Yay! This ride was very steep but very short and we were let off in front of a grand red and yellow palace that, of course, matched my dress perfectly! (See more yellow and red dresses here that would be so cute to wear in Sintra, Portugal)

This view of the Pena Palace is from the castle's cafe! With reasonably priced food options, keep reading to learn more!

We chose not to get the tickets for the tour inside because they were pricey and time constraining. You had to wait for your turn to get in and that could take all day if you didn't buy tickets online. Most of the beauty is outside the grounds anyways. I was prepared for this moment! With our tripod in hand we explored the exterior and took many photos, videos and exchanged smooches along the way. It was truly stunning and I'll cherish the pictures forever! I felt like a princess with Cedric as my prince. Our photoshoot and self-guided walking tour took longer than we thought and of course we were starving because it was already around 2pm. Surprisingly, the Pena Palace cafe had grab-and-go options that weren't too expensive and happened to include vegan options! Wow! Plus, they offered outdoor eating with a lovely view. It was the perfect day so far...

Pena Palace is so beautiful and romantic!

It's All Downhill From Here (Literally!)

Pena Palace is at the tippy-top of Sintra, so the rest of our day was supposed to be gradually proceeding downwards towards the main train stop back to Lisbon while stopping at other sites along the way. This is when our day went awry. Our jeep ride was only for one way up to Pena Palace, so we had to find a way back downwards to the other sites. I messaged our jeep driver on WhatsApp to see if she was in the area and could drive us again, but unfortunately she had moved on. So we found a seemingly friendly tuk-tuk driver instead. We split the fee with another couple who was headed to what we thought was a location close to the Quinta da Regaleira, which is a beautiful castle that's covered in moss and has a very cool spiral staircase in its famous Initiation well.

Our driver dropped everyone off at the same stop. The first couple was happy because that was their stop. The driver assured us that we were "only a 5 minute walk" away from the Quinta da Regaleira. We happily paid him and started our "little" walk. Five minutes passed, then ten, then fifteen and there was nothing but uneven winding uphill roads, which is bad for my arthritis. 20 minutes later we started to see other tourists who assured us that we were almost there.

After about half an hour of walking we made it. I was mad! The driver definitely dropped us off way too early so he could get more money by picking up another group. We felt scammed! Grumpy, tired and scammed, we needed nutrients, so we sat at the cafe overlooking Quinta da Regaleira, Coisas do Vinho. I had a true non-vegan pastel de nata to cheer me up. It seemed to work and was a nice break. But then I got up again and boy my feet were throbbing! I really wanted to see this castle because Instagram told me it was gorgeous. We sat a little bit longer so I could regain my strength.

Enjoying a pastel de nata at the Coisas do Vinho Cafe at the Quinta da Regaleira

To my dismay, after this cafe experience above, while we were sitting on a cobblestone ledge overlooking the most gorgeous moss-covered, wilderness fortress I've ever seen, one of my contacts popped out of my eye and got lost in a bush. I was blind, foot throbbing and exhausted! By this point it was around 4pm and Cedric had just bought our entry tickets. However, now that I was blind and now that my feet were throbbing too much for the additional hiking, I decided it wasn't going to be worth it to stay any longer knowing that we still had a long way home. How could I not bring my just-in-case extra pair of glasses! Travel faux pas 101! I held back tears as I broke the news to Cedric that we would have to start heading home. I felt so bad because he was really excited to trek through the forest in this stunning storybook structure.

He was disappointed too but agreed it was time to pack it up. Since I was blind, he had to hail down another driver to make it back to the original train station. Guess who we saw in the line up of drivers? Our not-so-friendly tuk-tuk driver who left us abandoned very far from our destination. He noticed us and seemed nervous that we would say something. Instead I put on my most sinister smile and waved an "f-you" and "don't even try picking us up again" wave at him. Cedric ended up ordering an Uber and helped me make it to the car. We drove back for about 25 minutes while I tried not to feel nauseous with one contact and tried not to cry about my epic fail. Finally, we begrudgingly hopped back onto the train to Lisbon after only making it to one of the many gorgeous attractions that Sintra has to offer! We thought this would be the end of our misfortune...but alas no!

Sketchy train ride encounter

While on the train ride back to Lisbon from Sintra with my one blurry eye, I noticed two nice young girls sitting near us. Suddenly, an older women appeared and notified them that they were going the wrong direction and said that they should get off with her. My ears perked up because this seemed odd. Then the young girls asked Cedric and I if the lady was right and they asked us to get off with them. This all happened so fast that my brain wasn't quite processing what was going on, but as soon as we agreed to step off the train with them my stomach sank and I knew something was wrong. When we were off the train and on the platform, the older woman told Cedric and I to stay at the train stop because our next train would be correct, but that the two young girls would have leave the station with her.

All of this happened in a matter of minutes, but when I saw the girls leave the train station with the older woman everything clicked in my mind. I immediately told Cedric that I thought those two young girls were getting abducted and that they were clinging on to us as their last hope that they would be fine. But we had stayed in the train station! I panicked and started looking around to see if they were still nearby. I finally saw them with my one-eyed vision over the ledge in the parking lot with the older woman. Biting my nails I asked Cedric if we should call the cops. But as we watched we saw the young girls decline a ride with this woman and refuse to get in a car with her. The woman left and I watched the two girls order a new ride on their phones, check the license plate and get into an Uber. PHEW!!!

I was shook! I had almost aided in a human trafficking scam or some other form of abduction. My heart was pounding and once I saw the girls were safe I explained everything to Cedric. He felt bad for agreeing to get off the train but was glad we did because it seemed to spook the older woman a bit and clearly the young girls wanted our help.

Overall everyone was safe so now but we had to wait for ANOTHER train to come pick us up to bring us to our main base in Lisbon. I believe we finally got home around 8pm. We were hungry, tired and shaky from the day. So we went back to our hostel, I put on my glasses and we ate at a local cafe. Cedric had a big glass of wine and I ordered chocolate cake.

Is it worth going to Sintra alone?

Let's answer the main question: is a self-guided train visit to Sintra worth it? Let's compare our self-guided costs with a group tour option:

Lowest Priced Group Tour: $68 per person

GetYourGuide Group Tour $67 per person

(This group tour includes transportation and entrance fees but not food or drinks.)

As you can see, our method may cost slightly less per person but it only included one site, whereas this group tour above includes three sites. However, my estimate includes all of our food throughout the day whereas the tour does not. You can also see that I've included our mistakes and mishaps into the costs, such as the tuk-tuk that ripped us off and the Uber from the last site to our train home because of my eye issues.

Overall, it is cheaper to explore Sintra by yourself rather than take a group tour. But I would say to save the most money you need to really plan out every detail of the day better than we did and also be willing to walk uphill A LOT! If you are a traveler who wants to take in the sites but not the mileage on their feet then I would recommend biting the bullet and booking a group tour of Sintra.

However, I would not recommend either of these one-day trip options. If you have time, I would actually try to stay in the Sintra town for a few days. This way you can embrace the quaintness of the area, trek all the hills with rests in between and be close to your hotel (to grab more contacts haha!). Staying in Sintra is probably the best way to experience all the beauty and sites it has to offer.

These window openings at Pena Palace are the perfect photo opp!

The Lesson

Sometimes your fun adventurous days don't go according to plan and even though you'll probably only be at a location once in your life, you have to let go of your trip failures. Also, always bring extra glasses!

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