Pena Palace: Is Portugal’s most famous palace worth the hype?

Hello, web readers!

I hope you are all doing well and ready to enjoy some summer days!

Today I wanted to talk about one of the most famous attractions and definitely the most Instagrammable spot in Portugal: Pena Palace (or, true to its nation, Palácio da Pena: pronounced Pah - lah - cee - oo).

If you’ve searched for Portuguese attractions on social media, you have probably come across this incredible castle in the clouds. But the question I would like to ask is, is it really worth the hype?

In this post I will be sharing my thoughts about it.

I wanted to start by saying that this is not in the center of the city of Lisbon. If you are planning a weekend trip to the city, this is a bit out of the way. This is about a 30 minute drive from downtown Lisbon, on a day with no traffic, and considering as destination somewhere you can park your car. Because I’ve learned recently (and also TOO LATE) that you can no longer take your car all the way up to the palace. The streets that lead to the top of the mountain are very narrow and they were limiting emergency vehicles from coming through to the top, so now the traffic in there is limited to authorized vehicles. So what you can do now is to drive to São Pedro de Penaferrim and either take a bus (3.90 EUR each way), a transfer (we paid 5 euros per person) or walk - I wouldn’t recommend walking unless this is something you really enjoy doing (by enjoy, I mean absolutely love), the weather is fresh and you have really comfortable shoes.

Once you get to the main entrance of the palace area, you have the option to get a ticket for the gardens that costs 7.5 EUR per person and allows you go walk around the palace patios as well, or a ticket that allows you to go not only there but also inside the palace (this is 14 euros). The inside of the Palace is actually interesting, they have a ton of furniture and appliances that were used when the palace was habited by royal families, but since we have visited in the past we decided that this time we would only go for the garden ticket.

The territory of the palace is quite massive: it is over 207 acres and has tons of points of interest throughout the whole area. Of course, the most quested one is the palace that lays right on the top of the hill.

This is a true Disney palace. The structure is divided in two sections - the old monastery, which is the red building, and the palace, which is the yellow one. This palace has a breathtaking view to the Sintra mountains and the palace itself is an amazing sight. It will definitely make you feel like you are visiting a true fairytale palace and you will not rest until you explore all the corners, viewpoints, stairwells and towers.

However, I would also recommend taking the time and getting the energy to wander around the gardens. You will end up walking in narrow walkways in the middle of a very dense forest that feels like magic to your eyes, and you will come across many of the other attractions that are hidden in the middle of the huge gardens.

My personal favourite is the Valley of the Lakes: there are a few lakes at the bottom of the palace area that are full of nature smells, sounds and life. You will be able to enjoy some swans and fish enjoying their time in this beautiful place.

The hard part is to leave: not only because the place is amazing, but also because you will need to go all the way up to the palace and then all the way back down! There is supposed to be a hop on hop off bus that moves around the main points in the area, but I honestly never saw it when I was there, but my legs were fine and, really, what’s 10 thousand steps after this visit? Peanuts!

No, honestly, my legs killed that day. But if you’re in the mood for this kind of stuff, I think this is one of the best places you can go to!

So, is it worth the hype? If you are not someone who enjoys walking through steep roads and this is not on your bucket list, watching it from the bottom of the mountains and on social media might be enough for you. But, if you do enjoy doing this and want to go to a place that will forever live on your dreamiest memories, you should definitely go!