Hotels in Sintra

Sintra sits in a wooded microclimate 30 kilometres northwest of Lisbon, where Portuguese royalty and wealthy Romantics spent centuries building increasingly extravagant palaces into the hillsides. The result is a UNESCO World Heritage landscape of turrets, follies and gardens wrapped in near-permanent Atlantic mist.

The yellow-and-red Pena Palace crowns the ridge, the Moorish Castle's ramparts run along the crest beside it, and Quinta da Regaleira hides an initiation well spiralling nine levels underground. In the town itself, the twin chimneys of the National Palace mark the historic centre and its pastry shops selling travesseiros and queijadas.

Most people visit Sintra as a day trip from Lisbon, which is easy by train but means arriving alongside the crowds. Staying overnight lets you reach Pena at opening time and continue to Cabo da Roca, mainland Europe's westernmost point, and the beaches at Praia Grande and Guincho.