Visiting Sintra, Portugal in Bad Weather

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If you’ve seen photos of Pena Palace (Palácio da Pena) in Sintra, Portugal, you’ve no doubt marveled at the rich kaleidoscopic colors that make the buildings pop brightly against a clear blue sky. The nearby Castle of the Moors (Castelo dos Mouros) is also visually arresting. Its ramparts stretch before you over the Portuguese hills like a mini Great Wall of China. That is, if you arrive on a day when Sintra isn’t completely overtaken by a dense, oppressive fog.

In all the photos I’d seen and blog posts I’d read about visiting Sintra on a day trip from Lisbon, not once did I come across a mention that the town is its own microclimate. Humidity blows in from the Atlantic Ocean, hitting Sintra first before it has the chance to settle further afield in sunny Lisbon. The moisture hits the rocks and gets trapped under the forest canopies, thus creating something similar to a cloud forest. Sintra has a rainy season lasting 9.1 months, from September 5th to June 9th. I visited in early August and technically it didn’t rain, but the fog was so thick that I might as well have been swimming underwater.

It’s advised to buy tickets in advance for Pena Palace, Castle of the Moors, and Quinta de Regaleira because of overcrowding and long ticket lines, and for Pena Palace specifically, you must arrive on the exact day and time listed on your ticket for a timed entry (your Quinta de Regaleira ticket can be used within 120 days of purchase, and your Castle of the Moors ticket can be used within 365 days). Even if I had known it would be an intensely foggy day, I still would have been stuck with my time because of the advance ticket.

If you’ve made plans to visit Sintra on a particular date that is now looking less than ideal, you may be considering skipping it. Is Sintra still worth visiting in bad weather? In my opinion, Pena Palace is still worth visiting in the fog because of its ghostly allure, and Quinta de Regaleira is still worth it because panoramic views are not the focus of this site, but you might skip Castle of the Moors because the entire point of walking along the walls is to take in the surrounding landscape.

Being able to look out over the scenery from Pena Palace is definitely one of the benefits of visiting on a clear day. Visiting Pena Palace on a foggy day will render the “wall walk” a bit pointless (see the sixth photo in my gallery above), but there are still plenty of other features to enjoy if you arrive in bad weather!

I was able to capture what I think are quite mystical, dreamlike photos of Pena Palace emerging from the fog. This was a unique perspective that most photographers haven’t shown us before. If you have an eye for photography and want the chance to take interesting pictures that aren’t carbon copies of everyone else’s, then visiting Sintra on a foggy day might actually behoove you. As the mist shifts throughout the day, you might even be able to take multiple photos from the same vantage point that all end up looking different from each other.

You can also fully enjoy the inside of Pena Palace on a foggy day without hindrance. Pena Palace is a UNESCO World Heritage Site for a reason! It’s impossible not to admire the elaborately detailed Manueline ceilings, and if you’re a history buff, you’ll enjoy learning about the original monastery, King Ferdinand, and Queen Amélia.

I did overhear a tour guide telling his group “normally I tell folks to look out this window at the best view from Pena Palace, but today….” and then trailing off in disappointment.

Visiting the Castle of the Moors (sometimes called Moorish Castle) in the fog was painful. This is definitely a site where a big part of the draw is the panoramic views. If you Google image search Castle of the Moors, you’ll understand what I mean by comparing those photos to mine above. While walking along the walls, I found myself thinking that if guards were standing at their posts on a day like this to watch for impending threats, they could be overtaken by the enemy before they knew it.

That said, I still think the haunting atmosphere created by the fog made my experience quite singular and my photos turned out moody and ambient. I enjoyed the winding walk because it felt like walking back in time, but without being able to see my surroundings I wasn’t quite sure where I was and what the point would be of continuing along the entire route. I decided that trying to walk every available section wasn’t really worth it and left after exploring for maybe thirty minutes.

Later in the day the fog did start to lift a little bit, so I could see the silhouette of the wall proudly keeping watch above Sintra.

If you buy entrance tickets to Castle of the Moors direct, they will be valid for 365 days. If you buy them from GetYourGuide, it is usually only valid for one day, but you can get extra perks like Skip-the-Line access (there was no line the day I went, though) or an audioguide.

If you buy entrance tickets to Quinta da Regaleira direct, they will be valid for 120 days. If you buy them from GetYourGuide, it is usually only valid for one day, but you can get extra perks like an audioguide.

Tips for Visiting Sintra in Bad Weather

The Town of Sintra

The sites above are the three main tourist attractions in Sintra, and if you have extra time you might also consider visiting the National Palace of Sintra or the Palace of Montserrate. Besides these must-visit sites, remember that Sintra is also a fun town in and of itself! There are many restaurants and shops, and you can’t leave without trying desserts like the travesseiro de Sintra and queijada de Sintra. If it does start to rain or you just need a break from breathing in the fog, take a seat at a local cafe and get some sugar in your veins.

I actually liked the queijada even more than the famous pastel de nata. Pastel de nata is a Portuguese egg custard tart where the filling is like a pudding, but the queijada de Sintra filling has more of a cake or brownie consistency and is made with cheese, egg, milk, cinnamon, and powdered sugar. I liked it so much that I bought a batch of mini queijadas from Café Saudade for the train ride back to Lisbon.

Walking in Sintra

All of the advice I read about visiting Sintra on a day trip from Lisbon said that you absolutely should not plan on walking to Pena Palace. They said it’s a thirty minute walk straight up a steep incline, and you should get an Uber or take bus 434 from the Sintra train station to the Pena Palace park entry gates.

I got confused because when you buy a timed entry ticket in advance for Pena Palace, the website also lets you buy a 3 euro shuttle bus ride to the palace. I opted into this, but I didn’t understand where exactly the shuttle was supposed to pick up or how long the ride was. It said that it would take you from the park entry to the palace, but where exactly is the park entry? What are the outer bounds of the park? Is this a replacement option instead of taking bus 434, or are you supposed to buy both? I don’t mind walking a bit and didn’t want to buy both, and I figured eventually I’d find the shuttle maybe halfway through the walk. I ended up walking up the whole hill.

It turns out the park entry gates are really not that far from the Pena Palace at all. Entry to the park is at the very end of the 30 minute walk or the drop-off point for bus 434.

Then there are two queues. After getting in the queue to show my timed entry ticket, the shuttle I was looking for was waiting on the other side of the gate. It will drive you up another short hill for maybe three minutes and drop you at the next queue, which is where you wait to actually go inside the palace.

Having accidentally had the experience of doing the walk, I can attest that it’s not as bad as everyone says. Granted, I am a hiker, but I didn’t find the walk to be all that steep. It’s a gradual incline and didn’t feel long since you get to admire the local streets along the way. There are two possible walking routes, and I took the “suggested” one in the included map photo.

Since I had walked all that way, it felt a little silly to then take the short shuttle but I was still grateful that I bought it. That last little bit was steeper than the rest, and I was drenched and sticky from the humidity. But, you might consider doing the opposite – pay for bus 434 but don’t pay for the short shuttle.

What to Wear in Sintra

Like Lisbon, the streets in Sintra can be slippery, especially where they’re lined with calçada (small square stones in a mosaic pattern). The Castle of the Moors walk also has interlocking stones. Be sure to wear shoes with good traction on the bottom so you don’t slip!

I discovered very quickly that jeans were a bad clothing choice in Portugal, and Sintra especially. I’ve always worn jeans pretty much everywhere, and in Portugal I started questioning how I’ve made it this far in life. Because of the humidity, jeans stick to you and become very uncomfortable. Because Sintra (and Lisbon) is a walking city with hills, I was reminded of the fact that I would never wear jeans for hiking due to the movement restriction and lack of breathability, so why would I wear them in a town like this? When I got back to Lisbon from Sintra, I went shopping and bought myself a few new clothing items that are looser and lighter so that I can be comfortable during the rest of my stay in Portugal. I always thought people in Mediterranean (or Mediterranean-adjacent) countries wore easy breezy flowy clothing just to be fancy, but now I get it.

When I first arrived in Sintra and felt the mist, I was kicking myself for not bringing a rain coat along, but later I realized a rain coat probably would have just trapped heat in and made me even sweatier. If it’s really pouring down rain then you may want one, or at least an umbrella, but for a foggy day it’s not worth it.

Getting to Sintra from Lisbon

Weather really shouldn’t affect your ability to take public transportation to and from Sintra. As a day trip from Lisbon, it’s very simple to take the CP train (Comboios de Portugal) and be dropped off right at Sintra station. When I boarded at the Sete Rios stop, I couldn’t find anywhere to swipe my Via Viagem metro card. When deboarding in Sintra, that’s where I tapped the card to exit. The trains to and from are regular throughout the day.

Sintra station is centrally located. From there you can walk to the sites discussed above, hop on bus 434 which stops directly next to the station, or pop into a cafe for breakfast.

You might consider taking a guided tour to make everything all-inclusive. There are many options through GetYourGuide or TripAdvisor, including day trips from Lisbon. Tours do always take some stress off, and having rides from stop to stop means you don’t have to consult maps or get lost, but personally I think being in a tour group inside the monuments would annoy me. The large groups were really clogging up the rooms inside Pena Palace.

Looking back, I am so glad I was able to visit Sintra on a day trip from Lisbon. Even though it was foggy, I’d much rather have the adventure as opposed to not getting to see Sintra at all. If your choice is between going on a foggy day and not going ever, definitely go for it! Sintra has so much to offer besides expansive views, and seeing it in the fog might even give you a more true-to-form perspective of what locals experience for much of the year.

🏨 Find budget hostels in Sintra and standard hotel options in Sintra.
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