Planning a trip to Sintra, Portugal, and not sure which palace to visit? With seven palaces and castles to choose from, the town punches well above its weight in the fancy house department — and it’s impossible to do all of them justice in just a day or two. To help you make your picks and see how they compare, here are all of the Sintra palaces compared: the outstanding features and drawbacks of all seven, listed in rough order of popularity.

Peña Palace (Palácio da Peña): The Most Famous of them All

Outstanding Features:

• Spectacular and wacky architecture
• It’s an actual royal palace!
• Period furnishings
• Lakes with duck houses (yes, that’s a thing)
• Wild, dense, enormous garden — at 500 acres, it’s the largest landscaped acreage in Sintra.

Drawbacks:

• Crowds. Massive crowds. Nearly 2 million visitors a year
• Long and slow-moving lines
• Most restrictive ticketing
• Steep hills create challenging accessibility.
• You’ll need a very long time to explore the whole thing properly.

Want to Learn More? See my full post on Peña Palace in Sintra

Quinta Regaleira: The Most Mysterious

Outstanding Features

• Knights Templar mysteries: think underground passageways, creepy, wet caves, and an initiation well
• Random towers
• Mosaics
• Neo-Manueline architecture
• Packs lot of art and architecture into a dense, atmospheric space (just 10 amazing acres)

Drawbacks:

• Constant streams of tour groups
• Long lines, especially for the initiation well
• Narrow, steep garden paths make accessibility tough in places
• Limited access to the interior

Want to Delve Deeper? See my full post on Quinta Regaleira in Sintra

Moorish Castle (Castelo dos Mouros): The Most Medieval

Outstanding Features:

• It’s a castle!
• Views down over Sintra
• Clambering over ramparts — 450 meters of battlements and five towers
• Constant access to the outdoors — many acres of walkable ruins, plus a trail that leads down to the town center
• Wind in your hair (and more wind, and more wind …)

Drawbacks:

• Very little indoor space
• Not great for people with acrophobia
• The walls require lots of walking — not ideal for anyone with limited mobility.
• Minimal signage to guide the visitor experience

Want to Explore Further? See my post on the Moorish Castle in Sintra

Monserrate Palace (Parque e Palácio de Monserrate): The Most Romantic

Outstanding Features:

• Romantic/Moorish Revival architecture with a Thousand-and-One-Arabian-Nights vibe,
• Information about building history
• Waterfalls
• Flowers
• Eight-one acres of sunny gardens with botanical richness

Drawbacks:

• Entirely unfinished interior
• Best feature is the garden, not the indoor experience.
• Further from the Sintra town center than some other attractions

Want to Find Out More? See my post on Monserrate Palace in Sintra

National Palace (Palácio Nacional de Sintra): The Most Historical

Outstanding Features:

• Medieval grandeur
• Unique kitchen chimneys
• Multiple architectural styles in one place
• Fabulous traditional tiles
• It’s another real royal palace!

Drawbacks:

• No real gardens
• Understated exterior
• Largely unfurnished

Want to Get a Glimpse? See my post on the National Palace in Sintra

Biester Palace (Parque y Palácio Biester): The Most Underrated

Outstanding Features:

• Gilded Age splendor
• Art Nouveau painting
• Quiet seclusion
• Best garden teahouse
• Knights Templar chapel and initiation well

Drawbacks:

• Smaller than most
• This isn’t where the action is (it only opened in 2022).
• Might feel like a large house rather than a palace

Want to Discover More? See my post on Biester Palace in Sintra

Seteais Palace (Tivoli Palacio Seteais Sintra): The Most Difficult to Access

Outstanding Features:

• Now a luxury hotel and restaurant
• Neoclassical architecture
• 18th and 19th-century murals
• Triumphal archways
• Elegant meals

Drawbacks:

• Not budget-friendly
• Full interior access only available to hotel guests
• Mostly renovated; very little remains of the original palace
• Focus is not on the historical experience

Want to Visit Indoors? See my post on Seteais Palace in Sintra

Sintra Palace Tips, Favorites & Helpful Resources

• Wondering about my favorites? I love all of Sintra’s palaces though I have particular soft spots for Monserrate and Biester. Do you a favorite palace — or a reason to visit (or not to visit) one? Let me know.
• If you’re starting your journey in Lisbon, check out my guide to 14 fun things to do and see in Portugal’s capital.
• For ticket information, visit the Parques de Sintra website.