Hidden Gems of Sintra Portugal – Penha Longa Monastery & Quinta da Regaleira
We woke up to another amazing morning at the Penha Longa Ritz Carlton Resort. After a fantastic breakfast buffet with tons of amazing options, we want to give a shout out to Alexandra from Russia, who was a fantastic host at our table.
The resort is more than just a hotel. The property has lots of things to explore, including a golf course, a very nice spa, and a playground with in-ground trampolines, a rock climbing wall, slides, mini golf, and more. Even as adults we had so much fun on the playground equipment.
But the most amazing part of this property is it has an actual monastery on site. It’s not a working monastery any longer, but they offer free tours at noon every day. We decided to do our own self-guided tour since we wanted to get out before noon to see other sites.
The Historic Monastery
This monastery was built in the 1500s and is now owned by the hotel. The inside of the monastery is gorgeous even to this day, not just from a historic standpoint but from a current architectural standpoint. Much of it is used for conferences and event spaces, but it’s still a beautiful place to see and experience. You really should plan to do a self guided tour or take the one from the hotel, it is worth every minute.
Another cool older structure on the property is Nuno’s Garden, which was essentially a huge water tank that had flowers, seating areas, and places to relax. It doesn’t look very pretty now, but we’re sure it did back in the day.
The last stop on our resort tour was the Saint Goncalo Fountain. It looks like it was immaculate in its heyday, and it’s still pretty today.
You could spend hours exploring the grounds of this resort. It’s absolutely beautiful with lots of places to just wander and get lost.
Quinta da Regaleira: The Most Unique Attraction
Our next stop was our last while staying in Sintra, and it’s one of the most unique things you’ll ever get to see anywhere.
It’s quite a journey to the main entrance, so be prepared to walk or take an Uber.
The land was secured in 1892 by Carvalho Monteiro for 25,000 reis. We’re not exactly sure how much money that would be today, but probably not a lot. The house was designed by Italian architect Luigi Manini and created a four-hectare estate. The family owned it until the 1980s, and then it was sold to a Japanese corporation. They kept it closed for quite some time before renovating it and opening it to the public.
The property features something truly incredible! It’s called the Initiation well. There’s a lot of mystery around it’s use and oragin, but it is basically an inverted stare care leading down a well, in to some underground passages and a beautiful waterfall.
This property is pretty extensive, like most of the properties in Sintra. From the grounds, you can see the Moorish Castle fortress that we explored the day before. All of these spots are right in the middle of old town Sintra.
Even in the low season, Sintra is very busy. We can only imagine what the traffic jams look like during high season. In fact, we saw a couple signs that said Sintra is a traffic jam in paradise. Some locals would probably like a more sustainable tourist system here because the town is definitely not built for as many tourists as it gets. This place isn’t even as well known as some other destinations in the world.
The Palace Museum
The palace on the property was built in the early 1900s, around 1910. It’s really pretty on the inside, so you can imagine what it looked like back in the day. They turned it into a museum, which kind of ruins the experience a bit, in our opinion. There are lots of plaques and pictures, really pretty windows, and lots of ornate tile work on the walls. It just needs more furniture to bring it to life.
The tour of the palace is very short. You get to see maybe three rooms on the first part of the main floor. That was really surprising.
Don’t take our slight negativity as a sign not to come here because it really is still beautiful, especially the property and grounds. The estate itself is our favorite thing we saw in Sintra. It’s absolutely beautiful and you should not miss it under any circumstances. You need at least two to three hours to see everything, maybe more.
Sunset in Cascais
After an exhilarating Jeep ride down the hill from the Palace, we drove about 10 miles south of Sintra to the city of Cascais to watch the incredible sunset over the Atlantic Ocean. We didn’t get to spend as much time in Cascais as we should have, but it was a great town to do a little tourist shopping and find some good food.
Wrapping Up Day Two in Sintra
Sintra continues to amaze us with its blend of historic estates, mysterious underground passages, and stunning natural beauty. From the luxury of Penha Longa to the mystical atmosphere of Quinta da Regaleira, this town packs an incredible amount of experiences into a small area.
The contrast between the manicured resort grounds and the wild, mysterious estate gardens shows just how diverse Sintra’s attractions can be. Each property tells a different story of Portugal’s rich history and culture.
Want to see the incredible initiation well and our underground tunnel exploration at Quinta da Regaleira? Watch our full Sintra day two adventure on YouTube:
