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Lisbon & Sintra Highlights


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Just a heads up about Sintra. While many go there on tours it is very easy to do on your own for less than 5 Euros round trip :). Just head over to the Rossio Train Station (located right at the popular Rossio Square, and take the train. They run once an hour, take about 40 minutes, and cost approximately 4 Euros (round trip). Once at Sintra (the last stop) you can easily walk into the center of town from the station where there is an excellent tourist office for any information. Just a caution that the ticket lines (they have both vending machines and ticket windows) at Rossio can be a bit slow so allow yourself a little extra time to purchase tickets. There are no reserved seats on this train line as it is essentially a local commuter route.

 

I have also driven to Sintra (many times) and parking can be a major hassle on busy days.

 

Hank

Edited by Hlitner
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Just a heads up about Sintra. While many go there on tours it is very easy to do on your own for less than 5 Euros round trip :). Just head over to the Rossio Train Station (located right at the popular Rossio Square, and take the train. They run once an hour, take about 40 minutes, and cost approximately 4 Euros (round trip). Once at Sintra (the last stop) you can easily walk into the center of town from the station where there is an excellent tourist office for any information. Just a caution that the ticket lines (they have both vending machines and ticket windows) at Rossio can be a bit slow so allow yourself a little extra time to purchase tickets. There are no reserved seats on this train line as it is essentially a local commuter route.

 

I have also driven to Sintra (many times) and parking can be a major hassle on busy days.

 

Hank

 

Hank,

 

Thanks for posting the information on the train to Sintra. I have found that private tours in Lisbon are much cheaper than other parts of Europe, so this allows an opportunity to see all of the sights of Lisbon and Sintra on a one day shore excursion without having to worry about the ticket machines and parking problems.

 

Happy Travels,

Ron

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Sailing on Costa in October. We have done a whole city tour in Lisbon before. This time would like to spend more time in Sintra and Cascais, we passed by them last time and didn't have enough time to stop and visit these towns. Just wondering once you get off the ship, are there any local tour vendors/taxi drivers there who would take you to these places? How much would it cost per person or per taxi? Would it be possible to take a bus or train from the port to them? I also wonder since we are going in October, would it be feasible to visit Cascais since it is on the seaside, and although we don't plan on swimming, it might be cold? We did visit the Sintra Palace, which is really beautiful. But we didn't have time to visit the village below. It looked interesting when we drove by it, does it warrant going out of our way back there to see it? (Since we just drove by it last time, it was hard to judge how big the town was, and how interesting it really is). Thank you in advance.

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All is possible. Both Cascais/Estoril (next door to each other) and Sintra are reachable by train...but unfortunately they are on different lines. We once did both places on the same day, but it was a loong day. We took the train from the Rossio Train station to Sintra, later took a regional bus from Sintra to Estoril (and walked to Cascais) and finally took the train from Estoril down the coast and hopped off near our ship (this would depend on your docking location). On other trips we have found doing this kind of thing much easier with our own rental car :). Personally, if one has never been to Sintra we recommend making that your entire day. If you get back early you can explore some of Lisbon since the Rossio train station is very centrally located. Sintra is a real gem...and if you browse the shops, do the Palace, etc. it is a full day.

 

Hank

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It's very easy to get to Cascais/Estoril from Lisbon. The station you need is Cais do Sodre and from there you can buy a return ticket to Cascais . The journey takes about half an hour and hugs the coastline for the most part making it very pretty. Trains are frequent and modern and they stop just by the sea so very convenient.

As Hank says, the journey to Sintra is in a different direction and line so it would be tricky to do both in a day, especially with time constraints of the ship' departure.

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Thank you Hlitner and Morgans for your replies. The ship is docked from 9-6. So if we don't want to rush like mad and could only choose one place to visit, I am guessing Cascais is easier to get to than Sintra? When we get off the ship, (Costa), how do we get to the train station for the train to Cascais? Do we need to take a taxi or bus? Would the town be interesting enough to spend a couple of hours exploring, if it's too cold to spend time on the beach, since we are going to be there in late October?

 

We visited the Sintra Palace last time, but didn't have a chance to see the town itself. If you were to choose either Sintra or Cascais to visit, which one is more charming? We prefer medieval or old towns with quaint shops and cafes, cobble stones streets to explore ..etc.

 

Would there be local vendors at the cruise dock selling taxi tours when we get off?

Thanks.

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There are numerous berths in Lisbon so will depend on where your ship docks - they vary. However Cais do Sodre is easily walkable from where the shuttle buses drop passengers off in Black Horse Square. Facing the sea here, turn right along the main road and it is in that direction, about 10 mins walk. Sorry don't have a map in front of me at the moment but I am sure you can pull one up on Google etc. The walk is easy.

 

Regarding the weather in October, you could get some lovely sunshine which would make a trip to the seaside very enjoyable even if you don't go swimming. Estoril is also a gorgeous place so you could also combine thus with a trip to Cascais too.

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Just saw the last bit of your post - yes there are taxi drivers easily available - they tend to want the longer journeys but you should be ok for either Sintra or Cascais. No idea how much they charge.

The train trip is very very reasonable - only a few euros return. Meant also to mention that Black Horse Sq is also known as Praca do Comercio which is usually written on maps if this is any help -( you probably know this.) Most of the shuttle buses drop off here.

Cascais is a very pretty town and has some lovely cafes/ restaurants. It's a very nice place to visit and the trip along the coast is very scenic.

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I have one day in Lisbon in November as a port stop. Is it possible to walk from the ship to st George's castle? If so, how far is it? If not, can I take public transport to the castle and walk back to the ship? I am assuming we dock near the Bridge. Thanks, Dena

 

 

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I have one day in Lisbon in November as a port stop. Is it possible to walk from the ship to st George's castle? If so, how far is it? If not, can I take public transport to the castle and walk back to the ship? I am assuming we dock near the Bridge. Thanks, Dena

 

 

Forums

 

Hi Dena

 

I would be guessing on distances but we took a train from where we docked (Alcantara) to near the Rua Augusta Arch and walked to the castle easily enough, but of course it is uphill all the way :) All the best, Tony

 

[YOUTUBE]zxEg6kwlF6Y[/YOUTUBE]

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I have one day in Lisbon in November as a port stop. Is it possible to walk from the ship to st George's castle? If so, how far is it? If not, can I take public transport to the castle and walk back to the ship? I am assuming we dock near the Bridge. Thanks, Dena

 

 

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Of course it's possible to walk from the ship to the castle. It's up to your walking (or running) abilities. :D

From Alcântara, is about 5kms, 4kms ~sea level, last km from 0 to near 100 mt high. :D

 

The map that htko provided is touristic and only provides the touristic tram\buses lines, they don't have the public transport regular schedules.

 

With public transport if you end up in Alcântara you have a direct train service to downtown, take the train to Cais to Sodré, the last station, it's about 4-5 minutes travel (there's 3 to 10 trains each hour every working day, so the waiting time can be between l 4 to 30 minutes, depends if time is morning/afternoon rush hours or daily regular/weekend/holiday schedule).

 

Cais do Sodré is near but not THAT close the Arch in the center of downtown, which is a little ~700 mt. something to the east side.

Directly to the castle you have the 737 Bus, and quite close there's the regular trams 12 and 28 - you can take them at Largo da Madalena, in the stop just two blocks away of the Arch, to the north and to the right side.

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Just a couple of things:

 

There's no Square in Lisbon named "Black Horse Square" at all. That's completely made up.

 

The reason why "Praça do Comércio" is written on maps it's because that's the Square's name.

 

Of course if you question for "a square with a horse in downtown" everybody will understand that. :rolleyes:

 

You DON'T need to go to Cais do Sodré train station (west of the Square) if you end up in Alcântara's docking station, since the train station there its the same line of Cais do Sodré. Only if you end up in Santa Apolónia's docking station you'll need to go to Cais do Sodré.

 

From Lisbon (starting in Cais do Sodré train station) to Cascais or from Lisbon (Starting in Rossio train station) to Sintra it's easy at the same time since they are two of the main suburban railway lines, with direct connections every 4 minutes at rush hours. Both train stations are near the downtown, Cais do Sodré near the southwestern side, Rossio in the northern side.

 

Comparing Sintra to Cascais is rather pointless. There's no comparison between them. If you want "charm" there's no other place like Sintra.

Edited by Dom Peres
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Thank you Dom Peres for your clarification re journeys to Cascais/Sintra - there is nothing like help from a local to aid questions etc.

Regarding the term Black Horse Square - it has been known to the British cruising community under that name for many years. We fully appreciate that it is not shown as that when marked on maps etc and indeed its proper name is as you say. I hope you are not inferring that I made that up - just that it is known to many tourists as Black Horse Square. Apologies if that offended you.

It can indeed affect your choice of station depending on where the ships dock. As we found it easiest to go from Cais do Dodre from where we were berthed, that is the one to which I referred. Indeed it is a choice between seaside or culture when deciding which trip to make and both have their merits. Thank you for your clarification

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Click on http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=49923009&postcount=369 for a video showing the highlights of Lisbon & Sintra during our shore excursion of this beautiful and interesting city.

 

Wow, Ron, what a beautiful, well done video! So nice, I had to watch it more than once!

We're looking for a shore excursion like yours for our cruise next year. Were all your photos taken on the one shore excursion, in one day? And did you go into Pena Palace?

Thanks!

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Wow, Ron, what a beautiful, well done video! So nice, I had to watch it more than once!

We're looking for a shore excursion like yours for our cruise next year. Were all your photos taken on the one shore excursion, in one day? And did you go into Pena Palace?

Thanks!

 

Hi Sam,

 

I sent you a private email. Thanks for the comments on the video. Everything on the video was seen in a one-day tour. We did not go into Pena Palace, but Carla can customize your tour as you desire.

 

Enjoy,

Ron

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