Castles · Tour

Sintra, Cabo da Roca and Cascais for Eight, with Pickup in Your Quarter

Eight people at most, and a pickup list that covers seven points across Lisbon: Alfama, the Castle quarter, Bairro Alto, Praça da Figueira, Saldanha, Marquês de Pombal and Restauradores. Which one you use depends on where you are staying, and it removes the usual half hour of crossing the city before a day trip has started. The day covers monuments, hills and coast. Sintra first, with the old centre and its narrow streets, where the Piriquita pastry shop sells the travesseiros and queijadas the town is known for. Then the Pena Palace on the ridge above, with the view back to Lisbon and out to the sea. The road out of Sintra passes the Quinta da Regaleira, and it is one of the best drives in the country: the whole hillside is planted with imported trees that were part of the same 19th-century romantic project as the palaces. Cabo da Roca is the western end of continental Europe, a cliff and a lighthouse with nothing beyond it. Cascais closes the day, still a fishing town under the seafront restaurants, with a stop in the centre. A guide travels with the group throughout.