If you’re in Lisbon for more than a few days you absolutely must take a day trip to Sintra. Someone had told me about Sintra before I went so this was definitely on my ‘to do’ list. I thought it would be an excellent way to get a taste of the Portuguese countryside and also to see more of Portugal through the journey there.
The only mistake of that glorious day was planning the trip from Rossio train station. Unfortunately we arrived at the station to find it closed. I managed to ask a passer-by how to get to Sintra and was told that we needed to go down to Cais do Sodré train station instead. Luckily although it was a bit of a walk, this wasn’t too hard to find (head down towards the river). Once there I was told that there were no trains to Sintra but could travel to Cascais instead and get a train from there. We were in it for the adventure so purchased tickets from the machine. If memory serves me correct it cost €1.50. The trains run around every 25 minutes and it takes about half an hour. Timetables and prices can be found at here (click the little symbol on the top right hand side to get the English version) then choose Lisbon under ‘Urban Lines’. On the next page click the Cascais line on the left hand menu.
The journey is a pretty one as it runs along the Estoril coast. On arrival at Cascais we had a look around (an article on Cascais will be posted at a later date) then started to make our way back to the train station. On the way however, we spotted the bus station and this seemed like an interesting option so I caught one of the drivers and asked him if any buses went to Sintra. It turned out he was the bus driver for Sintra and the next bus was due to run any minute so we were lucky.
Taking the bus was another good move as we wound our way up from the coast towards the mountains. The scenery was stunning and we passed through many villages along the way. It was a very good way of getting a taste of true Portuguese life as this wasn’t a tourist bus but a local connection for local people.