Parque e Palácio da Pena: Visitar

Do alto da serra de Sintra, olha-nos o colorido e imponente Palácio da Pena (de nome completo Palácio Nacional da Pena). As suas cores vivida e o seu estilo revivalista convidam-nos ao longe a visitá-lo. E assim fomos!

In the place we now know as Pena Palace, a chapel began to exist in the 12th century. Later, by order of the king, the Royal Monastery of Nossa Senhora da Pena was built, which later came to be very destroyed in the Lisbon Earthquake of 1755.

Terminou as suas funções como mosteiro apenas cerca de cem anos depois, quando as ordens religiosas foram extintas. É a D. Fernando II que se deve a criação do atual Parque e Palácio Nacional da Pena, havendo diversas referências à sua vivência no interior do palácio.

Subsequently, a second phase of construction takes place, under the command of King D. Carlos I. It has been classified as a National Monument since 1910 and, since 1995, UNESCO Heritage.

Whether for the imposing Palace, or for its 85 hectares of surrounding land, the Park and Palace of Pena is considered a mandatory stop for anyone visiting Sintra.

The entrace cost is €14 / adult (€13.3 if purchased online), and currently it is necessary to reserve an entrance time.

So, on our last day in Sintra, we decided to venture out to discover one of the most well-known monuments in Portugal. However, this process was not as easy as we expected.

The first aspect noted was the difficult access. It is no longer possible to drive our car to the entrance to the Park and this is not explicit in advance. Unless we surrender to the typical Tuk Tuk’s in the city, or other authorized vehicles, we are required to climb uphill, which we consider difficult. This can be done either by the main mountain road (Pena Road - Estrada da Pena), or by access to Moorish Castle (Castelo dos Mouros), where the direction and distance of the route is indicated. We chose the latter and it was about 3km with a lot of uphill and many stairs.

O Palácio da Pena tem o custo de 14€ (adulto), sendo possível comprar o bilhete apenas para o parque

When passing the entrance, we are presented with several signs indicating the best points of attraction of the Park. We were immediately aware of the immensity of the area that surrounds it, for the distances indicated and we quickly understood that it would not be possible to visit the entire park on foot.

There is an internal bus that allows you to visit the different points of the park, but we did not inquire about the prices because it was not in our interest.

A verdade é que dada a hora tardia a que chegámos, e culpando aqui o não contemplado difícil acesso, optamos por visitar apenas o Palácio.

We started the climb on foot, already inside the Park. The palace is hiding among trees, but at the end of 300m, behold, it immediately appears and impresses.

We started to be led through the grotesque walls and immersed in the small streets of that fairy tale. The exterior of the palace is free to explore, even though it only has the “Park” ticket. It is the ideal place to take your photos!

It is also here that, almost hidden by the immense doors of the palace, we find an old chapel, with a magnificent stained glass window.

After getting to know the entire exterior of the Palace, we decided to visit the interior. It is necessary to keep in mind that the closing time of the Palace is different from that of the Park, and from what we were told, different from what we had seen online, so we recommend asking at the ticket office.

The visit to the Palace is extremely well organized, operating on a circuit.

During the visit, the existence of an Old Palace and a New Palace is mentioned, the latter ordered to be built by D. Fernando II, with a clear architectural difference between the two parts of the palace.

In the interior of the Pena National Palace, several rooms stand out, either for the luxury found there, or for the diversity. Some more notable examples are the Deer Room (Sala dos Veados), surrounded by deer heads all around its swirling ceiling, the Noble Hall (Salão Nobre), where there is a great mix of styles and the Manueline Cloister, an open area in the center of the palace and reminiscent of fairy tales.

In Park, which unfortunately we had no chance to visit, there are buildings such as the Chalet of the Countess of Edla (more than one km away from the Palace), the Stables, the Statue of the Warrior, the High Cross (both of which are possible to see in the distance among the trees) and many other seemingly incredible buildings.

However, it is really necessary to visit the Park and the Palace for a whole day, and be ready to walk a lot since everything is spread out and many things are more than a kilometer away from the palace, and in different directions. Or use the internal bus circuits, which we had no chance to do because of the time we went. To get a better sense of the size of the park you can consult the map here.

A final highlight has to be the landscape. From the Palace, in addition to seeing Sintra and all its surroundings to the sea, it is also possible to see the Moorish Castle (Castelo dos Mouros), a defense construction really close.

The visit to the Pena Park and Palace, despite being more expensive than the other monuments in Sintra, is completely worth it, but access and circulation inside is a problem, so keep that in mind when visiting the mythical and fanciful Sintra Mountain's.