Private Day Trip to Sintra and Cascais with Pena Palace entrances

Pena Palace built in the XIV century in the highest place of the Sintra mountain range in the ruins of a 16th century monastery, represents one of the best expressions of the architectural Romanticism in the world. Lovely paths and beautiful walks, small bridges and caves, garden benches, pergolas and fountains. Small houses where guards and other servants were housed. Greenhouses and nurseries with camellias, rhododendrons and roses of unusual and very rare strains. Sculptures, like the warrior who is seen from the Palace, as if to say that he is there to protect and guard it.

The enchanted village of… Sintra (world heritage by the UNESCO since 1915), strategically located on the mountain that borders the Atlantic ocean, blessed by a unique microclimate, this is a fairytale land with its innumerable one of a kind palaces, encircled by lush vegetation, and stunning panoramic views. Sintra is so unique. And, since our company’s philosophy is that tourism, is more than visiting beautiful monuments, we think that showing you the local customs of the portuguese natives is also important. We will take you during our Tour to the typical pastry shop “Piriquita”, a must place for the locals, to taste the famous“Queijadas” and “Travesseiros”. Sintra a place with a great concentration of historical monuments and interesting tourist attractions, here we will find more than 10 national monuments, including opulent palaces, ancient ruins and decorative palatial houses dispersed by the different hills of the region in very challenging pedestrian paths. Free time for Lunch.

Departing from Sintra will drive you across the mountain range, towards the Atlantic ocean.We stop at “Cabo da Roca”, the westernmost point in Continental Europe, “where the Earth ends and the sea begins “words of Luís de Camões written in Os Lusíadas, (Canto VIII). The imposing Lighthouse with a height of 165 meters built in 1772, the “power” of the Atlantic Ocean, revealing one of the most emblematic places in Portugal, a place of great importance in the period of Maritime expansion, with its breathtaking landscapes and ocean views. Driving along the coast we’ll arrive at Guincho, a spectacular white sandy beach, with its countless sand dunes and the innumerable shellfish seafront restaurants.

Just before Cascais this is a must stop. Here you will witness the beauty of this incredibly naturally caved crater by the ocean, an interesting cliff formation which someone had given an overly dramatic name of Hell’s Mouth. Here we can easily see the magnificence of this place, with the erosion exerted by the strong action of the rain that, containing dissolved carbon dioxide, causes the carbonate to dissolve and through this process, cavities and caves are formed inside the limestones, with a fall of the upper layers of the cave was destroyed, leaving a large cavity in the open. On days of more agitated sea you can observe the waves crashing through the rocks inside, a cave that combines its natural beauty with the rough sea, a very beautiful place, where you can enjoy a divine landscape and perhaps one of the best sunsets, being only overshadowed by infrequent suicides committed on its dangerous and unprotected cliff.

Free time to explore Cascais, with its lovely harbor full of small fishing boats. Free time to enjoy this once small fisherman’s village, now lisboners (inhabitants from Lisbon) favorite resort area. Cobblestone sidewalks, local typical shops, good “eat and drink” with the sound of the ocean in the background, you will have a great time visiting Cascais. Between the bay of Cascais and the Sintra mountain range, Cascais was during the nineteenth century, the site chosen by the Portuguese royal family for holidays that eventually dragged the nobility, in Largo de Camoes, in the historic center, will find many shops and bars.

In a matter of minutes we enter Estoril, famous for its casino (largest gambling room in Europe) and the “nest” of spies during the 2nd world war, where Yan Fleming got his inspiration to write the first James Bond book, Casino Royale. Return to Lisbon along the coast.