Sintra Travel Forum

Recently I posted about my family's trip to Portugal and how I would like to show them Pena Palace but that they cannot walk too much and thus climbing the hills to the palace was not an option. Here is the thread:
http://forum.virtualtourist.com/discussion-419019-1-1-Travel-1-279605-Sintra-discussion.html

I got some great suggestions regarding the bus and such. However after thinking a bit, paying for entrance as well as the bus for 5 people to just look at the palace a bit from the outside seems a bit excessive. Thus I think the best would be to find a good spot in the city where you can get a good view of the palace (from some other big hill or something?)

From outside the entrance and from the town itself, you can't see much of it. Are there any great outlook spots that you all can recommend me?

Thanks!

I think that because of the location right on top of a hill surrounded by trees it's almost impossible to see it from outside the grounds. Even inside the grounds there are only a couple of vantage spots that I could find where you get a good view and unfortunately they involve walking, mostly up hill. You do of course get to see it close up and even though the detail is enchanting you need to be a distance away to get a good overview such as the one on my Sintra page.

So there are no nearby hills that you can use? :( I've seen a perfect picture of it from a bed and breakfast type of place, but of course it is private so we can't go there.

The photo that I shot (on my Sintra page) was from a hill within the grounds of the castle. I did search all around for a suitable vantage point as it was getting late in the day and I didn't really want to pay the entrance fee to visit for a short time, and anyway I'm not too big a fan of the interiors of fancy houses, seeing how the other half use to live. However as we were there, and had climbed the never ending hill, we thought it silly not to at least get some sort of shot so we paid to go in and by a process of deduction found the place where I shot from and one other that gave a good view. Both involved a walk up a hilly path. From that high point there was an almost 360 degree view so there can't have been any other higher hill outside from which you could get a view. Shots from this point or ones taken from the sky (plane or helicopter) seem to be on publicity and postcards. We did actually have time to go inside and I must say that the quirky architecture was worth it, though I could have done without the guided tour of the interior.

:( Oh well, I guess pictures will have to suffice this time.

Hi.
Take a nice secret: come in Sunday morning (from 9:30 until 1 p.m.) and you will not pay at all if you tell them your are a country resident. Doesn't matter if you don't speach portuguese, there are a lot of foreigns residents in Sintra area (tell them you live in Colares for 2 mounths now: "vivo em Colares á dois meses".
Have some nice shots!