Palaces

Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links. If you make a booking through these links, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Sintra, Without the Coach-Crowd Crush We rolled into Sintra at noon on a July Saturday and made every mistake in the book. The Pena Palace queue snaked back through the gardens, the hill bus was packed solid, and by the time we reached the terraces the famous colours were swimming in heat haze and hundreds of selfie sticks. A guesthouse owner later put it plainly: “You came at the worst hour of the worst month. Come back in May and arrive at nine — it’s a different mountain.” ...