Tourism

Paços do Concelho de Sintra

The Town Hall building is strategically located between the two neighborhoods of Sintra (Vila Velha and Vila Nova da Estefânia). Its construction in this location marked the relocation of the administrative center, housed in an eighteenth-century building near the Royal Palace, to a more modern area. Designed by architect Adães Bermudes, it was built between 1906 and 1908, where the Manueline chapel of St. Sebastian previously stood. The facades are enlivened by Neo-Manueline windows and an imposing tile-covered pyramidal tower decorated with the cross of Christ and the national coat of arms, culminating in the armillary sphere at the top.

Palácio Valenças

The Palace of Valenças, or the Duche’s Palace as it was initially called, was built in the second half of the 19th century by the Lisbon merchant António Ferreira dos Anjos. The Italian architect and set designer Giuseppe Cinatti was chosen for the project. The palace changed its name when Luís Leite Pereira Jardim, 1st Count of Valenças, married Guilhermina Anjos, heiress of António Ferreira dos Anjos, and it became known simply as Valenças. After his death, the property was sold to the Sintra Municipal Council. Today, the Municipal Assembly meets in the building’s "Sala da Nau" (Ship Room).  

Cadeia Comarcã

The District Prison, like the Town Hall building, was designed by the architect Adães Bermudes, as a result of a series of improvements made to public buildings in Sintra at the beginning of the 20th century. The decision to build a new prison was made in 1894 because the previous prison did not offer dignified conditions for the inmates. With the appearance of a medieval fortress, the building, erected on the site of the former São Sebastião cemetery, is developed from a centralized hexagonal plan. It functioned as a prison for sixty years.

Parque da Liberdade

Parque da Liberdade, which was initially part of the Valenças Palace property, is above all a hymn to romanticism. Its biological richness, characterized by essentially natural development, is combined with an aesthetic that allows for a diverse number of ecological niches, increasing biodiversity. There are over 410 plants identified in the park, distributed across 60 different species. It is an enchanted garden of trees and flowers, with stone benches for peaceful strolling and contemplation.

Museu Anjos Teixeira

As you wander through the rooms of the Anjos Teixeira Museum, you will discover models and mock-ups of many of the works that adorn and adorn the squares, streets, buildings, institutions and avenues of Portugal, resulting in added value and greater proximity between the visitor and the various collections on display (sculpture, drawing, medals, painting, correspondence and photography).

Hotel Lawrence

Born in 1764, under the name Estalagem dos Cavaleiros (Knights’ Inn), this building was acquired in the 19th century by Lewis Lawrence, who established the oldest hotel in the Iberian Peninsula there. A charming establishment, it hosted figures of great international renown, including the English poet Lord Byron; William Beckford, a cultured English aristocrat; as well as, more recently, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. The Lawrence was also the setting for part of the book Os Maias, a novel by the Portuguese writer Eça de Queiroz. Today, although expanded, the building maintains the same design and function.

Pisões Waterfall

No one can fail to be fascinated by this delicate and romantic Cascata dos Pisões, which many tend to confuse with the historic Fonte dos Amores. Legend has it that in the past, the waters ran freely down the mountain, being used at the Quinta dos Pisões, where watermills used it to tread flax. The land on which it is built belonged to the Marquis of Pombal and was acquired by his protégé, Daniel de Gildemeester, the Dutch consul in Portugal and a diamond merchant, who decided to erect the waterfall there. That greenery, that stonework imitating steep natural rocks, that moss on the old walls that flank it, and finally that water trickling into the small rocky lake, take us back to the phrase of Eça de Queirós: "Sintra is this: a little water, a bit of moss: this is a paradise."  

Museu de História Natural

Located in a building constructed in 1893, the museum has a permanent exhibition open to the public, which originated with collectors Miguel Barbosa and his wife, Fernanda Barbosa, who, over the course of nearly 50 years, amassed a unique collection comprising thousands of fossils of incalculable cultural and scientific value.

Celeiro da Jugada

In Largo Latino Coelho, we see some remains of the old Celeiro da Jugada, where the tribute paid in grain to the crown was paid and stored. It was also here that the sacred art removed from the churches of Sintra after the abolition of religious orders in 1834 was sold.

Municipal Library of Sintra – Casa Mantero

A public library operating according to the latest trends in library science.It is located in Correnteza, on a property dating back to the 19th century and acquired by the local government in very poor condition in the 1970s.From the house’s balcony, you can enjoy magnificent views of the Castelo dos Mouros and Vale da Raposa.

Palácio Nacional de Sintra

The largest and most significant medieval and Renaissance palace in Portugal, it was built upon an ancient Arab alcazaba and was highly valued by royalty. The first major works on the monument were carried out during the reign of King John I (15th century). A second construction campaign added the Manueline wing (16th century), giving it part of the appearance we know today. Beneath the colossal chimneys that have become an icon of Sintra, we find a unique palace where open and closed spaces alternate in an Arabesque harmony, fascinating us with one of the largest collections of Mudéjar tiles in the world and highlighting the beauty of the Arab rooms, the swans, and the coats of arms, as well as the chapel that announces the cult of the Holy Spirit, introduced to Portugal by Queen Saint Isabel.     BilhetesAdulto (18-64 anos) 13€Jovem (6 a 17 anos) 10€Sénior (maiores de 65) 10€Famílias (2 adultos +2 jovens) 35€

Miradouro da Correnteza

The arrival of the railway in Sintra brought major changes to the town’s urban planning. The street where the cluster of houses that had been built to house the engineers of the Larmanjat monorail was located was widened, and, taking advantage of the view of the Raposa Valley, Captain Mário Alberto Soares Pimentel developed one of the town’s most iconic urban developments. This avenue features a monument dedicated to the Portuguese soldiers who died in the Great War, designed by sculptor José da Fonseca.

Largo do Palácio/ Serra

In front of the Town Hall building stands a fountain, in the same Neo-Manueline style, designed by architect Tertuliano Lacerda Marques and sculpted by José da Fonseca. Inaugurated in 1914, it rests on a plinth that supports the carved basin from which, in the center, a large shaft with vegetal lacework and a bronze spout representing a fish emerges. At the top, the fountain is crowned by the Cross of Christ, which surmounts the armillary sphere surrounded by four shields, where the municipal coat of arms alternates with a pelican bearing the legend "Pola Lei e Pola Grei" engraved in Gothic characters.

Volta do Duche

Built in 1922, with a design by Master José da Fonseca, the Moorish fountain was constructed with the intention of enhancing the entrance to the town and "dignifying the most prized water of Sintra". The widening of the road in 1960 forced the dismantling of the fountain, which was rebuilt 20 years later, not in its original location, but in the heart of Volta do Duche. The revivalist architecture of the fountain features a large arch, in which three other arches are topped by Neo-Moorish tiles, with the municipal coat of arms prominently displayed in the center.