Best way to get to Pena Palace – An honest guide by a local tour guide.
With more than 6 years of experience being a tour guide in Sintra, here are all the ways to reach Pena Palace from the train station of Sintra or the village of Sintra:
Foremost, let me explain that the palace is at the top of the mountain.
There are many ways to reach Pena Palace FROM SINTRA and I’ll try to explain the pros and cons of each of them:
- Uber: The cheapest
If you’re really on a tight budget and want to get there quickly, Uber is the right option.
Cost: 4-6€
- 434 Scotturb Bus: the crowded
Yes, very very very crowded, especially in the high season.
In my opinion, there’s nothing positive about it.
The bus has long lines of people waiting to board.
There are many people inside the bus.
Expect to have a waiting time with big lines to go down as well.
If you like to go regular and follow the crowds this is for you.
The purpose of this post is not to criticize it.
If you go to Google and search for Scotturb, you’ll see they have a 1.3 rating.
Many of the reviews say “DO NOT USE”
It is cheap? Not that much. 11,5€ per person, all day ticket hop-on-hop-off.
- Taxi: Very similar to Uber, but more expensive.
Around 10€
- Private car: DON’T!
It’s forbidden for private cars to drive up. There aren’t always police on the road, so many tourists drive anyway with their cars up, but not every time they find a parking space.
There is a possibility that you will be fined or told by the police to go in the opposite direction of the palace, which would require you to spend 30 minutes returning to Sintra.
An green train that is a truck with the outside looking like a train, is really nice and affordable.
The unique problem is that there is only one train. Therefore, if you miss it at Pena Palace you have to wait more than 1h30 to come again, and it takes a long time to leave the train station.
- Tuk tuk: Can be the best option or can be the biggest adventure
There are many tuk tuks in Sintra, around 150 of them. Crazy right?
One of them is mine 
It really can be the most memorable time of your time in Portugal or the biggest survival experience in your life lol
You can pick the most experienced guide with the most comfortable tuk tuk or the craziest driver with a tuk tuk without breaks lol
It’s funny, but really true.
Doing tours and transfers with my electric tuk tuk in Sintra for more than 4 years, my opinion is that this is the most memorable and unique way of experiencing the mountain of Sintra.
Definitely not the cheapest one.
The transfer costs 10€ per person to go up and 5€ to go down.
It really can be a fun time riding the tuk tuk up the mountain. Specially with all the turns and corners.
But you really must choose the right guide/driver.
It is helpful to share that the drive from Sintra’s train station to Pena Palace takes around 25 minutes, and on the way we get to see the 5 most famous monuments of Sintra, as well as the most spectacular views of the mountains.
On the way up, you can do an hour-long tour that will take you to all of these amazing sights and tell you the story of Sintra.
It will make a huge difference, since you will ultimately understand why Sintra exists and why Pena Palace was built.
(Spoiler alert, it is a beautiful love story 
)
Did I tell you that this is going to be really fun and that you’re going to have breathtaking moments seeing all the amazing views?
Using Uber, a taxi, a bus, and a train-on-wheels, you miss all of that.
They just drive straight to Pena Palace and you miss all the views and the fun 
In conclusion, many times I heard that the tour going up was better than visiting the palace.
So if I was going to give you an advice, it was going to be this one:
Go up in a nice tuk tuk with a trustworthy guide like me, and you won’t forget Sintra.
That’s one of the reasons why I have more than 140 reviews with all being 5-stars saying that doing the tour was the best decision.
Check them out here
I hope that these advices were helpful to you and that they help you make the right decisions.
You can click this link if you’d like to do a tour with me or check my prices.
PS: really, watch this video. You’ll love it 😊
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