Tell us about Sintra and Peña Palace in Portugal

[mauimary]

??? For someone who does not have good climbing of stair knees… Can you take a shuttle up to Peña Palace and then back down again.  We would like to get photos from the exterior as we have been in many palaces and cannot do all the stairs 

 

Can the Palace be seen in the distance from Sintra?   Would it be valuable to view the palace just from the outside.  
 

… do you need a ticket to ride shuttle and view palace from the outside. 
thank you 
 

 

Edited May 25, 2023 by mauimary

[bennybear]

My memory is a bit hazy. But I’m sure the shuttle that we booked on arrival took us up and we were able to visit without issue.  We really enjoyed the visit and highly recommend visiting inside as well.

[lynncarol]

Just at Sintra last month. The big issue is you must make reservations online in advance for entrance to the complex.  Fortunately, we had done so as the line to purchase tickets onsite stretched out almost half a block long and didn't seem to be moving much.  Once inside, there is a shuttle available to take you up to the castle.  No charge, but first come/first served. At the castle itself, you encounter another line to use your timed admission tickets.  Those were pretty long too as they seem to try hard to limit the number of folks inside at any one time. There is a cafe/cafeteria onsite but we had packed a picnic lunch so not sure how expensive those meals were. 

[lynncarol]

oh yes...as to your other questions: No the castle is not visible from the town.  Also, If you don't have admission tickets, there is no way you can see it from the road outside the complex either. This was a royal palace and they valued their privacy apparently.

[mauimary]

Actually we have answered our own questions as we were just there on Sunday (2days ago). We did purchase just the Peña Park tickets which allowed us to enter only the Park. We could take some photos of the outside of the Palace and did get some good ones at that.  We were able to get as far as the first Terrace and the gift shop.  You have to have a pre scheduled Palace ticket in which there are several lines for that to enter the Palace.  The shuttle from the Park Entrance is 3£ and there is a line for that too. Apparently you can get tickets for that online but we could not figure where to buy the shuttle tickets. Our guide purchased those for us and we reimbursed her for them. 
 

We had trouble getting up to the first Terrace where the gift shop was. The employee guarding the line told us we could not go any further than where the timed line began before you walked up a short hill to the Palace Entrance. Our guide came back down to get us and told us we can most certainly get passed that point. We also saw others later do it. 

[lynncarol]

Thanks for your feedback.  As you mentioned, there was a guard outside the castle itself where the timed admission ticket holders lined up and he was stopping all others from further advancement, so it is lucky that somehow you managed to  bypass that issue. Our admission tickets included the park and the palace.  I don't understand why you were charged for the shuttle. However, we walked up ourselves and then took the shuttle down for free, so maybe the charge is only for those going up.

[mauimary]

13 hours ago, lynncarol said:

  I don't understand why you were charged for the shuttle. However, we walked up ourselves and then took the shuttle down for free, so maybe the charge is only for those going up.

 

This is as far as you can get and where the entrance to the Palace begins. They tried to stop us below this point. 
The shuttle was 3£ and it included both directions. We saw folks attempt to ride it back down but they were turned away.  For those like us who do not want to climb a lot of stairs and want a closer view of the Palace the Park ticket is a nice alternative. 

Edited June 1, 2023 by mauimary

[cfkm1]

We did an inside tour of Pena Palace during off peak season and it was already crowded. Ticket need to be bought in advance as queue can be long. Even with a ticket, we have to wait for > 30 minutes to get into the palace. They are very strict with crowd control.  Anyway, it was worth the visit.

 

[mauimary]

Just want to let others know that you have the option to get park only tickets like we did.  This allows you to get close to the palace.  We did not want to go in side.  I do not like crowds or to be in crowded places.