Pena Palace Portugal – Complete Travel Guide
Pena Palace is an incredible castle located in the heart of Sintra and one of the most famous landmarks in Portugal.
Come explore this place with me, and find out everything you need to know for your travels.
In this article, the Pena Palace Complete Travel Guide, we’ll learn more about the Palace, discover some interesting facts, then explore the castle, and finally, I’ll give you all the tips you need to plan your next travel there.
You can find below the summary of this guide. Just click on any part to go straight to it:
Pena Palace, Sintra, Portugal
Palacio da Pena, or Pena Palace, is probably the most famous place in Sintra. Located in the heart of the Sintra mountains, the castle sits on top of a hill, watching over the city below. The red and yellow castle contrasts vividly with the greens of the forest around, and you definitely wouldn’t expect to find such a beautiful palace in there.
Pena Palace is very close to Lisbon, on the west coast of Portugal, as you can see on the Pena Palace map below:
The Palace is absolutely beautiful, so you must include it in your Lisbon itinerary if you’re visiting. The park itself is nice to stroll in, and both the outside and inside of the building are a feast for the eyes.
5 Pena Palace Facts
Are you a fan of facts? I just love them! Here are 5 Pena Palace facts to know more about the place, and to learn about Pena Palace history in a quick way. Perfect to become the tour guide when you’ll be there with your travel buddies?
- The palace was built in 1503, and was originally a monastery under King Manuel I
- In 1755, the monastery was destroyed by an earthquake, and abandoned in 1834
- The German King Ferdinand bought the remains of the monastery and renovated it in 1840 (red buildings)
- The yellow buildings were added in 1854 by German architect Baron von Eschwege, under order of the king
- Pena Palace is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1995
Exploring the Castle
When road-tripping around Portugal with Nesrine, we adventured around Sintra for a day. Our first stop in Sintra was Palacio da Pena, and we went there first thing in the morning, to be the first to enter.
As we were waiting in line to buy our tickets (we should have bought them online, see tips below for more), it started to rain heavily. What could have been a bad situation turned into a blessing for us: we were fully equipped for rain, with raincoats and rain covers for our bags. As the gates of Pena Palace opened, all of the tourists stayed at the entrance, sheltering from the rain.
We took the opportunity and went in, the first to enter. As a result, we had the place for ourselves for the first 5 minutes, and it was totally awesome!
As soon as we entered the palace, from one of the main gate, we were blown away by how impressive this place was. So massive! If you take the time to look closely, you’ll find that the details everywhere are breathtaking.
We kept going, and moved up to the castle after crossing the gate.
The colors of Pena Palace are so unusual; they contrast sharply with the surroundings, the green forest all around, and the brown stones on the ground. It’s such a pleasing sight for the eyes, and the whole time we were at the castle I was amazed by the place.
Below is probably one of my favorite moment from the exploration: me high up on one of the towers, with Nesrine below on a lookout, watching over the Pena gardens. The mist and the mood were just incredible with the rain, and we got to experience Palacio da Pena in a totally different way from what we expected.
You know me, I had to climb and jump around in a place like this! I had so much fun climbing on the towers and walls (Nesrine doesn’t like it but I can’t help myself). Here are a few photos of me doing my thing:
After climbing up the big yellow buildings (or going up the stairs as everyone would), you get this amazing view of the palace:
One other thing that I enjoyed about Pena Palace is that you can see the Castle of the Moors from the fortifications.
We visited the castle from the outside, but the inside of Pena Palace is amazing too! We didn’t have enough time to see everything, but I highly recommend you enter the room to check out what’s inside.
Needless to say that we had a blast exploring Pena Palace!
Pena Palace Travel Tips
Did I convince you to visit with the photos? Great!
To help you plan your trip to Sintra and to Palacio da Pena, you can find below a handful of tips that I wish I knew before going there:
How to get to Pena Palace?
To get to Pena Palace, there is only a one-way road, as you can see on the map below:
Once you get to Sintra, which is a 30 minutes drive from Lisbon, you’ll need an additional 20 minutes to get to Palacio da Pena, driving up the mountain road that leads to the castle.
Alternatively, you can also reach the palace by bus, with the bus line 434
Pena Palace opening hours
You’ll find below the opening hours for Pena Palace. Be careful as the hours are different depending on the season.
April 1st to October 27th
Park: 9:30am to 8pm. Last admission 7pm
Palace: 9:45am to 7pm. Last admission 6:30pm
October 28th to March 31st
Palace: 10am to 6pm. Last admission 5:30pm
Pena Palace entrance fee
The Pena Palace tickets have various prices: you can buy access to the park and palace, or to the park only.
Palace and Park
18-64 years old: 14€
6-17 years old: 12.5€
65+ years old: 12.5€
Family (2 adults and 2 kids): 49€
Park only
18-64 years old: 7.5€
6-17 years old: 6.5€
65+ years old: 6.5€
Family (2 adults and 2 kids): 26€
Note: you get a 5% discount if you buy tickets for 2 sites (I recommend Pena Palace and Castle of the Moors)
Where to buy my Pena Palace tickets?
When it comes to actually buying your Pena Palace tickets, you have 2 options:
You can buy them on the spot, at the ticket booth in front of the entrance. This means you will have to queue up, and the queue is usually pretty long.
Or you can buy your ticket in advance online, which will save you the queue time and will allow you to enter the palace directly. Highly recommended!
Click here to buy your tickets online
When should I visit?
The best time to visit Pena Palace is off-season. Because it’s one of the most visited monuments in Portugal, it’s very often crowded. We were there in April, and 10 minutes after opening time it was already crowded. When we left, security was blocking the entry and regulating people entering based on people exiting. Not the best experience.
In any case, if you choose to visit off-season or during peak season, you absolutely need to be there first thing in the morning if you want to enjoy your time in Pena Palace.
Buy your ticket online, get there at 9:30am, and enjoy the first 10 minutes with no crowd.
Can I park in Pena Palace?
Pena Palace parking is a pain. As I mentioned above, there is a one-way road that goes to Pena Palace: all along the road, there are parking spots.
The road is usually full, and the parking spots all taken. The problem is that if you decide to keep pushing closer to the palace to have a better spot, you run the risk to not find any parking spot, and having to go all the way around on the road to go back, because you cannot reverse.
If you go early, around 9am, you’ll be there before the buses, and you should have no issue finding a parking spot. There is a huge parking right after the main entrance of Pena Palace, where you can park your car.
If you plan to visit Castle of the Moors after (check out the best itinerary here), I recommend leaving your car in the parking spot and going by foot.
Parking in Pena Palace is free.
So there you have it, the complete travel guide to Pena Palace! Did you already know about this place? I’ve discovered it when planning my Portugal travels, but I had never seen it before! So crazy!
I hope you enjoy your Portugal travels, and if you go to Pena Palace, tag your Instagram photos with #kevmrctravel so we can all see them ?
If you need help planning your next trip to Portugal, or want inspiration, check out these articles below:
6 best things to see in Sintra
Sintra photo series for inspiration
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