Day Trip to Sintra and Cascais

During our stay in Lisbon, we did a day trip to Sintra and Cascais. Sintra is a town known for its beautiful villas and palaces while Cascais is popular for its beaches and surf spots. There are various tours you can choose from to make this day trip but do make sure you have looked up the itinerary before booking. I booked a tour with We hate Tourism and didn’t know they don’t visit Pena Palace until we were halfway across Sintra in their van. Pena Palace was the reason I included Sintra in my Portugal itinerary. Well, gives me a reason to come back to Sintra! Alternately, you can also take the train from Lisbon and then use one of public buses to go to the palaces. the journey takes about 30-40 minutes via road as well as train. Sintra is a hilly town so exploring on foot will be very tiring. After exploring Sintra, we had lunch at the local market and then drove to Cabo da Roca i.e. the western most point of continental Europe. The cape offers panoramic cliff side views of the Atlantic. Unfortunately, it was raining that day and the mist blocked some of the view! We then drove to Cascais (a very scenic drive) and wandered around in the town centre before going back to Lisbon.

I loved both towns- Sintra was magical and Cascais was hip and charming. Sharing my favourite pictures from the day trip!