Castles · Tour

Sintra with the Detour to Penedo, the Village Off the Circuit

A full day from Lisbon covering the Pena Palace, the historic centre of Sintra, Cabo da Roca and the coast at Cascais and Estoril. The part that separates it from the rest is a village. After Pena, the road carries on towards Penedo, a small place high in the Serra de Sintra that the coaches do not stop at. The drive runs through the Sintra-Cascais national park with the Moorish Castle and the Pena Palace visible from almost every bend, which is a view you cannot get from either building itself. Ten minutes off the standard route, and it is the ten minutes people remember. Pena is the anchor. A 19th-century Romantic palace painted in reds and yellows, on the top of a hill, looking out over the whole coast. The rest of the day comes down to the Atlantic: Cabo da Roca, the western end of Europe, then Cascais, a fishing town that turned into a resort without losing its harbour, and Estoril next door. There are two pickup points in Lisbon: the top of the Parque Eduardo VII and the Praça dos Restauradores at 8am. The guide carries a yellow flag or a yellow hat.