***Please note that this Guide To Plan The Perfect Lisbon To Sintra Day Trip Without A Car will be updated and recirculated periodically to reflect the most up-to-date dining scene. This travel guide was most recently updated as of December 2025.***

When my bestie Shivani and I went on our two-week long trip through Spain and Portugal, the final leg of it was in Lisbon, Portugal. We spent 2 days in Lisbon (which I share more about here!) and knew that we wanted to live out our fairytale dreams by visiting Pena Palace in the nearby town of Sintra, Portugal. That all being said, we found ourselves planning a Lisbon to Sintra day trip without a car, as we navigated our trip via planes and trains and *a few* Ubers!

In this blog post, I will outline how to plan a day trip from Lisbon to Sintra, given the options you have as a visitor without a rental car and which option we chose!

*Disclaimer: Please note that this post contains affiliate links, which means that if you purchase through one of my links, then I will receive a small commission. This commission is at no extra cost to you. Additionally, this post is not sponsored, and all opinions are my own.*

For more travel abroad inspiration, check out my exploring 50 Countries Expedition page.

Your Guide To Planning The Perfect Lisbon To Sintra Day Trip Without A Car

This guide to planning a Lisbon to Sintra Day Trip Without A Car is split up into the following sections: About Sintra, Portugal, Options for a Lisbon to Sintra Day Trip, and My Personal Verdict.

About Sintra, Portugal:

Sintra is a fairytale-like town home to castles, including the well-known Pena Palace, located on the foothills of the Sintra Mountains within close proximity to Lisbon, Portugal. Sintra has been a long-time sanctuary and retreat for the Portuguese Royals and Nobles, hence the multiple castles – including Pena Palace, The Castle of the Moors, and the National Palace of Sintra – that call it home. Alongside its Lucious terrain and palaces to visit, downtown Sintra is known for its beautiful pastel-colored homes that look as if they’ve been taken out of a painting and brought to life. When in Sintra, not only are the multiple palaces and terrain worthwhile taking all in, but the town is also a wonderful place to enjoy a picturesque stroll, a coffee/glass of wine, and perhaps grab a souvenir for the road home.

For more information on visiting Sintra, Portugal and all that it has to offer, look no further than here.

 

How To Get From Lisbon To Sintra (Car-Free Options):

***It is worth noting that this blog post will focus on car-free options for your Sintra day trip! If renting a car though, Sintra is an excellent stop to add to your Portugal road trip experience. 

I will note that for Shivani and I’s Lisbon to Sintra day trip, we opted to use a tour group as we didn’t want to have to worry about navigating the public transportation system in Portugal. Full transparency: we were pretty tired on our final leg of our Spanish and Portuguese adventure and wanted to simply show up someplace hassle-free and have them show us around (I realized that I enjoy tour groups on occasion when abroad during my solo trip to Ireland!). I will share more on our tour group experience alongside other outlined options that are at your disposal for your Sintra day trip: 

Option 1: Taking the Train from Rossio or Oriente Stations

About: Starting at 3 Euros one-way, there are direct train options for your Lisbon to Sintra day trip via public transportation. The train ride lasts approximately 40 minutes and departs from either Rossio Station or Oriente Station in downtown Lisbon. This resource from the Portugal Tourism Guide outlines the timetables, schedule, and train ride experience from Lisbon to Sintra in more depth.

Keep in Mind: Like when using public transit in any other city, you will be getting your steps in when you take the train to Sintra. I say this as someone who lives in the Washington, DC area and finds myself navigating the public transportation system back at home on a regular basis! At the same time, the train tickets to/from Sintra are extremely cost-effective and will save you a lot of money. Just be sure to book all tickets to any palaces, including Pena Palace, with a reserved time slot that you want to visit before going or upon arrival and prepare to do LOTS of uphill walking all around Sintra. If you do decide to take the train to Sintra, then be sure to use the 434 Tourist Bus to get from Sintra’s train station to all of the palaces.

Option 2: Taking an Uber or Bolt

About: When I got in my Uber from the Lisbon airport, I had the friendliest Uber driver who shared with me his words of wisdom on Ubering to/from Sintra from Lisbon. He said that he had enjoyed taking visitors around Sintra from Lisbon on many occasions and said it was a wonderful option, too. He also mentioned that visitors can request that their Uber drivers wait X amount of time as they sightsee around Sintra and some of the palaces there. 

Keep in Mind: The drive from Lisbon to Sintra is approximately 30 minutes. Ubers are extremely cheap compared to the United States in both Porto and Lisbon in Portugal. Ubers cost approximately 20-25 Euros one-way from Lisbon to Sintra. Like with taking the train, be sure to book all tickets to any palaces, including Pena Palace, with a reserved time slot that you want to visit before going or upon arrival and prepare to do LOTS of uphill walking all around Sintra. 

Option 3: Joining a Small-Group Tour

About: Several tour groups offer Sintra small group tour day trips from Lisbon. The best part?!?! These small group tours will typically take care of the purchasing of admission tickets to palaces such as Pena Palace and will chauffeur you with a guide throughout the day. We opted to go with a tour through Modern Tours small group tour that offered admission to tour the interiors of Pena Palace, visit downtown Sintra, the coast of Portugal, and have a brief amount of time in Cascais, Portugal. Many tour groups from Lisbon to Sintra offer the option of seeing the coastline of Portugal a bit, including the well-known coastal town of Cascais. 

Keep in Mind: While tour groups will typically take care of the purchasing of admission tickets to palaces such as Pena Palace and other points of interest around Sintra, each tour offered by a tour group will have their own unique itinerary so be sure to look at the different options available to you before making your decision. Unlike taking a train or an Uber, a tour group will run on a schedule and will not be self-paced which if you prefer that, then a train or uber is probably the better option for your Sintra day trip. 

My Personal Verdict:

If I were to take another day trip to Sintra from Lisbon, I would opt to take the train and Uber if needed from downtown Sintra to some of the many palaces that call it home. While I did enjoy the opportunity to show up to Pena Palace and stroll around Sintra briefly before visiting Cascais and some scenic views alongside the Portuguese coastline without any hassle, I’d rather spend my time more self-paced in Sintra and explore more of what the town has to offer. While my first time to Sintra was via a wonderful tour group, I found it to be the perfect first time of hopefully many to Sintra. I definitely got a taste of what Portugal has to offer beyond Lisbon hassle-free. 

At the same time, every person is different. All of us have unique travel preferences that factor into which option we’d choose for our day trip to Sintra from Lisbon. Luckily for all of us, there are multiple options to choose from that can suit us. 

Wrap-Up:

Above all else, I truly adored my brief time in Sintra, Portugal. I LOVED getting to live out my fairytale dreams at Pena Palace and take in the beautiful views of the Sintra mountains alongside admire the gorgeous town of Sintra. What I LOVE about Sintra is that there’s so many great ways to get there from Lisbon without needing to rent a car, which can be so daunting. Would I go again?!?! Most definitely!! 

XOXO – Katie <3