It’s hard to throw a rock without hitting a palace in the tiny town of Sintra. And while most of those palaces are crawling with tourists, the fabulous Biester Palace and Park is nearly empty. That’s a shame, because it deserves attention.

Sure, other palaces here are bigger, older, more famous. But where else in Sintra are you going to find a room like this?

Biester is a romantic extravaganza: part Queen Anne, part Arts & Crafts, and all sorts of Art Nouveau. It was built in the late 1800s by Ernesto Biester — merchant, playwright, and dedicated member of the Knights Templar — who hired some of Portugal’s finest architects and artisans to bring it into being. It was designed both as a private residence and as a place for Biester’s fellow Knight Templars to hang out, hence the addition of a private chapel to what is otherwise a large and luxurious home.

When you visit, you are asked to put plastic booties over your shoes, and then you see rooms that are just as large and grand as you might expect.

This is the kind of place where you want to pay attention to the artistic details. The paintings here, most of which were done by Luigi Mancini, are exquisite. In nearly every room, you find them both on the walls …

… and on the ceilings:

Mr. and Mrs. Biester slept under this scene in their master bedroom:

Biester house also boasts amazing examples of wood carving …

… stained glass …

… plasterwork …

… furniture …

… tiles …

… and metalwork (which makes me wish that all of my doorknobs were fish-dogs):

It’s well worth reading the signage, which is as flowing and florid as some of the paintings. Here’s a example: “the generous boiseries are the work of Leonardo de Souza Braga, from which the painted arches on the doors stand out, while Luigi Manini’s paintings cover the walls in an exuberantly naturalist way, of floral circumferences finishing in vegetalist pendulums, swallowed only by the sublime organic medallions painted on the ceiling.” Phew!

Not everything at Biester is incredibly fancy. By comparison, the guest bedrooms were modest …

… and the scary-looking underground initiation chamber for new Knights Templar was downright primitive:

But this was a house designed with all modern conveniences, from top-of-the-line bathrooms (including bidets) …

… to a hand-cranked elevator.

Biester is perfectly sited, giving it commanding views of Sintra’s Moorish Castle, Town Palace, and Quinta de Regaleira. It also has spectacular gardens., which the brochure describes as “oscillating between sobriety, elegance, and exuberance.”

These gardens were crafted by French landscapist Francois Nogré in the heyday of romantic garden design. The paths are windy and bring you to surprise nooks …

… water features …

… and greenhouses.

Nogré also brought in exotic species, like Australian tree ferns and American magnolias, to draw visitors’ attention. Today, you can sit by the greenhouses and have lunch and a cup of tea as you look up at the house.

There are, of course, flowers of all sorts — even in February.

And if that’s not enough, you can go to the greenhouses to see ferns, bromeliads, and orchids.

Some of the trees in the park are signed, which is good for those people interested in tree ID. But these aren’t just scientific analyses — the signage also makes reference to history and mythology, and every single one ends in a quote (for the linden, they offer this bit from Oscar Wilde: “and sweet the fretful swarms of grumbling bees / that round and round the linden blossoms play”).

I had Biester entirely to myself when I visited. That was lovely for me — I peacefully enjoyed the surroundings without interruption — but I do wonder why it isn’t attracting more visitors. My first guess is that most people only come to Sintra for a single day, and there are far more prominent palaces nearby that command attention. Biester is also very new on the tourist scene; it’s only been open to the public since 2022. Also, while they call it “Biester Palace and Park,” there’s no way that this is really a palace — it’s more of a large house. So if you’re palace hunting, this barely makes the cut. Still, Biester should be on more Sintra visitors’ lists.

To Know Before You Go

• The entry fee is 11 Euros for adults.
• The garden paths at Biester wind up, up, up and down, down, down. The park covers six hectares, so prepare for some good walking.
• I spent over two and a half hours here, but I took a very leisurely pace and stopped for lunch. Unless you’re a garden nut, you can probably see the whole place in an hour and a half.
• If you continue palace hopping, Quinta de Regaleira (also home to Knights Templar lore) is right next door.