Explore Sintra

Sintra National Palace stands in the centre of Sintra and was a residence of the Portuguese kings from the early 15th to the late 19th century, built on the site of a palace of the Moorish rulers. Its two conical kitchen chimneys mark the skyline; inside are rooms with painted ceilings of swans and magpies and Mudéjar and Manueline tilework.

Quinta da Regaleira is an estate on the edge of Sintra's historic centre, built in 1904–1910 for António Augusto Carvalho Monteiro to designs by the Italian architect Luigi Manini. Visitors walk through the Romantic palace and chapel and a wooded park of grottoes, lakes, towers and tunnels that includes the spiral Initiation Well.

Biester Palace is a Romantic-era mansion on a wooded slope at the edge of Sintra's historic centre, built from the 1880s for the Biester family to designs by José Luís Monteiro, with woodcarving by Leandro Braga and painting by Luigi Manini. Privately owned, the house and its park with two viewpoints opened to visitors in 2022.

Pena Palace is a Romantic palace on a peak of the Sintra hills, built from 1842 to 1854 for King Ferdinand II on the ruins of a 16th-century Hieronymite monastery, to plans by Baron Wilhelm Ludwig von Eschwege. Its yellow and red towers, neo-Manueline and Moorish-style details and the monastery's surviving cloister and chapel stand in a wooded park.

The Chalet of the Countess of Edla stands in the western part of the Park of Pena above Sintra. King Ferdinand II and the opera singer Elise Hensler, Countess of Edla, built it in 1864–1869 in the style of an Alpine chalet, with cork trim and a fern garden; damaged by fire in 1999, it reopened in 2011 after restoration.

Monserrate Palace is a 19th-century villa in the hills west of Sintra, rebuilt from 1858 for the English collector Francis Cook to designs by James Knowles, mixing Gothic, Indian and Moorish motifs under a red dome. The surrounding park holds plants gathered from several continents, laid out around lawns, lakes and a ruined chapel.

The Palace of Queluz is an 18th-century royal palace in Queluz, in the municipality of Sintra. Work began in 1747 under the architect Mateus Vicente de Oliveira as a summer residence for the future King Peter III, in a mix of Baroque, Rococo and Neoclassical styles. Visitors see the state rooms, the tiled canal and the formal gardens with fountains and statues.