Sintra Bus 434, 435 and 1253: Getting Around Sintra

Where the 434 Goes

Parques de Sintra's official how-to-get-there page lists bus 434 (operated by Scotturb) as the link from Sintra station and the Lourel car park to the Moorish Castle and Pena. For the National Palace in the historic centre, both 434 and 435 serve it. The 434 runs as a circuit, so the same bus continues from Pena back down past the castle to the station. CP's fare sheet footnote confirms Scotturb, not Carris Metropolitana, operates routes 434 and 435. Parques de Sintra does not list Regaleira as a 434 stop. For Regaleira use line 1253 or the 435 circuit.

Scotturb's homepage calls itself the official transport for the palaces and castles of Sintra and names Pena, the Moorish Castle, Regaleira and Monserrate. It publishes no route map or fare page: /pt/tarifario on scotturb.com returns a 404 error. The detailed route, stops and prices on this page therefore come from Parques de Sintra, CP and the Viação 434 tariff sheet.

How Often It Runs and the Missing Timetable

Scotturb publishes no timetable on scotturb.com. sintra434.com, the site of the ticketing operator, says buses run on average every 10 minutes and prints that figure with an asterisk it does not explain. Treat it as a marketing average, not a schedule. No first or last departure time is published either, which matters most at the end of the day.

The practical answer is to depend on the bus only once: ride up, visit Pena and the castle, then walk down by a marked trail. Pena Park's last admission is 18:00 and the Moorish Castle's 17:30, on the Parques de Sintra table.

Where to Board

Two official boarding points are named by Parques de Sintra: Sintra train station and the Lourel car park. sintra434.com lists its own points of sale nearby: the Sintra Store at Avenida Miguel Bombarda 59, open 08:30-18:30 daily, and the Ask Me Sintra store at Avenida Miguel Bombarda 45, open 09:00-13:00 and 14:00-17:30.

Parques de Sintra also names 434 and 435 for the National Palace in the historic centre, but no official page publishes the list or position of the 434 stops, so this page does not guess them.

The Ride Down: Why Walking Often Wins

Parques de Sintra marks three signed trails on the hill, the shortest being the Villa Sassetti Trail at 1,850 m and about 45 minutes from Largo Ferreira de Castro, which sits about a 10-15 minute walk from the station. Walking down that trail ends at Largo Ferreira de Castro, the entrance to Villa Sassetti, 10 to 15 minutes on foot from the station.

Our pick: buy the single one-way ticket at $5.42 (€4.70), ride up, walk down. You save $4.56 (€3.95) per person against the round trip and skip the downhill queue.

Ticket Types and Prices

The tariff sheet names six products, five of them bus tickets, and the Train&Bus ticket is covered below. There is no child fare printed on the sheet, so plan on the adult price for everyone.

Where to Buy

sintra434.com lists three official points of sale. The Sintra Store at Avenida Miguel Bombarda 59 opens 08:30-18:30 daily. The Ask Me Sintra store at Sintra train station, Avenida Miguel Bombarda 45, opens 09:00-13:00 and 14:00-17:30.

There is also a Gipsyy kiosk at Lisbon's Oriente station. Neither the sheet nor the website says whether drivers sell tickets on board, so buy at a store or online before you queue.

The Online Hop-On Hop-Off Price Does Not Match the Sheet

sintra434.com sells a 24-hour hop-on hop-off ticket online at $12.64 (€10.96), the price shown on its homepage. Its own tariff sheet lists the Turístico diário day ticket at $21.20 (€18.35). Both figures are official, from the same operator.

The online price is the one on its homepage, so buying online before you arrive saves $8.53 (€7.39) per person against the sheet. At $12.64 (€10.96) it also costs less than a round trip plus a single leg, $15.40 (€13.35) by our sum, which makes it the ticket we would buy for any day with three or more rides.

The Train & Bus Ticket: Two Official Prices That Disagree

CP's price sheet lists a combined Train & Bus 1-day ticket, valid on the CP Sintra Line and Scotturb buses 434 and 435, at $16.15 (€14.00). The Viação 434 tariff sheet lists the same Train&Bus product at $18.46 (€16.00), sold at the Sintra 434 store. The two official documents disagree.

CP's own English tourist-ticket page has also described the combined ticket as temporarily unavailable, so ask at the Sintra station ticket office before counting on it. Scotturb publishes no fare page of its own on scotturb.com, which makes this the best documentation that exists.

The Day-Ticket Maths

The day ticket at $21.20 (€18.35) only beats point fares if you ride a lot. Our sum: two 434 round trips cost $19.96 (€17.30), still under the day ticket. Add anything else and the day ticket starts to pay, but a normal itinerary of one round trip plus a walk down does not come close.

For most visitors it does not pay.

Where It Stops

Parques de Sintra names 1253 as the link from the station to Monserrate and to Cabo da Roca. Carris Metropolitana's line page lists the stops in order from Sintra (Estação):

• Av Dr Miguel Bombarda
• São Pedro de Sintra
• Calçada São Pedro (Queijadas da Sapa)
• Largo Ferreira Castro
• Quinta da Regaleira
• R Barbosa du Bocage (Palácio Seteais)
• Pq Monserrate (Palácio de Monserrate)
• Colares
• Almoçageme
• Azóia
• Estr do Cabo da Roca (X) Ursa
• Cabo da Roca, then returning via Galamares to Sintra station

Departures from Sintra Station

Carris Metropolitana publishes planned departures from Sintra (Estação) on its line page. Early buses run at 06:30, 07:10, 07:50, 08:20 and 08:50, then at :20 and :50 each hour until 11:50. From 12:10 the pattern is :10, :30 and :50 through to 18:50, then 19:10, 19:30 and a last run at 20:00.

It is a circular line, so the same bus continues around the coast back to the station.

Fares: Cash or Navegante

1253 is a Longa line, red on Carris Metropolitana's fare page. Paying on board costs $3.11 (€2.70) in cash to the driver, or contactless bank card at the yellow validator on some vehicles. Prepaid with a loaded Navegante card it drops to $1.79 (€1.55).

By our sum the $0.58 (€0.50) card pays for itself on the first ride, because the prepaid fare is $1.33 (€1.15) cheaper. Our pick: tap a Navegante card, the saving is real and boarding is faster.

The Convent of the Capuchos

There is no bus stop at the Capuchos. Parques de Sintra's official guidance is bus 1253 from the station, then a 40-minute walk.

Calçada da Pena Is Closed to Private Cars

The municipality restricts Calçada da Pena, the road up to Pena, to authorised vehicles only: residents, emergency services, taxis and security forces. The stated reason was the inability to guarantee emergency access on the narrow monument roads. Taxis are explicitly allowed through, which makes a taxi a legal way to reach the Pena area by road if you do not want the bus.

Parques de Sintra also mentions TVDE pick-up points on its how-to-get-there page. No taxi or TVDE fares for this route are published anywhere official.

The Moorish Castle and the Historic Centre

Access to the Moorish Castle is not authorised to private vehicles. Parques de Sintra recommends pedestrian trails, public transport or the peripheral car parks. In the historic centre, private vehicles are limited to residents.

No official page documents a Sintra-wide private-car ban beyond these roads, so the operative constraints elsewhere are the one-way system and scarce parking, not a prohibition.

Estrada dos Capuchos One-Way

Estrada dos Capuchos runs one-way, west to east, from the junction with Estrada da Pena and Calçada da Pena to the Chalet da Condessa d'Edla. Part of the same traffic scheme as the Calçada da Pena closure.

Cavaleira Car Park

Drivers who cannot go up Calçada da Pena are directed to the free peripheral Cavaleira parking area, reported at more than 1,500 spaces when the restriction took effect.

Portela de Sintra Park and Ride

The EMES-run Portela de Sintra car park on Avenida General Mário Firmino Miguel has 250 spaces at $0.35 (€0.30) for the first 15 minutes, then $0.29 (€0.25) per 15 minutes, capped at $2.08 (€1.80) per day. The municipality runs a free shuttle from the peripheral Portela de Sintra and Cavaleira car parks to Sintra train station, guaranteed every 7 minutes between 09:00 and 20:00, on a 24-seat wheelchair-accessible vehicle. The EMES page for the Sintra Edifício car park returned record not found when checked, so its capacity and tariff are not stated.

The 435 to Monserrate

Parques de Sintra names the 435 for two trips: from the Lourel car park to Monserrate, and, with the 434, from the station or Lourel to the National Palace in the historic centre. Scotturb's own homepage names Regaleira and Monserrate among the monuments its buses connect. That is as far as the official record goes. No 435 timetable, stop list or single fare is published on scotturb.com or on the Sintra 434 tariff sheet, and CP's price sheet mentions the 435 only as part of the Train & Bus ticket.

For a visitor starting at the station rather than the Lourel car park, line 1253 is the better documented way west. It stops at Quinta da Regaleira, at the Seteais Palace and at the Monserrate park, its departures are printed by hour, and its fare is on Carris Metropolitana's page. Use the 435 if you parked at Lourel or if a Train & Bus ticket already covers it.

Portela de Sintra to the Beaches

Carris Metropolitana runs the regular bus network in the Sintra municipality, and several of its lines start at Portela de Sintra's north station stop rather than at Sintra station. Line 1248 runs to Praia das Maçãs, line 1250 to Praia Grande, and lines 1249 and 1254 to the beach at Magoito. Line 1624 connects the Cascais terminal with Portela de Sintra through Azóia and Almoçageme, passing the Cabo da Roca side of the coast. All of them are Longa lines, so the fare is $3.11 (€2.70) cash on board or $1.79 (€1.55) from a Navegante balance.

Portela de Sintra is the stop before the Sintra terminus on the CP line, so a beach day can start there without riding to the end of the line. Carris Metropolitana also publishes an official list of the lines that reach the beaches, and the beaches page sets out which of them hold a Blue Flag.

Accessibility on the Buses

Scotturb's homepage states that its fleet is 100% accessible, with ramps and spaces for wheelchairs. The municipal shuttle from the Portela de Sintra and Cavaleira car parks to the station uses a 24-seat vehicle with wheelchair access. Inside Pena Park, Parques de Sintra says the transfer's wheelchair platforms are temporarily out of service, while the electric Hop On Hop Off service carries wheelchair users without leaving their chairs.

The palace interior itself has stairs throughout. The Sintra with kids page covers the same routes with a stroller.

The Three Marked Trails to the Moorish Castle

All three figures come from Parques de Sintra's official how-to-get-there page.

Station to the Old Town

Parques de Sintra times the walk from Sintra station to the National Palace at 10-15 minutes, and station to Villa Sassetti also at 10-15 minutes. It is downhill into town and uphill on the way back. The 45-minute Villa Sassetti Trail then continues to the Moorish Castle, so station to castle on foot is roughly an hour of walking by our sum.

Inside Pena Park

The park gate is not the palace. Parques de Sintra says to allow around 30 minutes between the Park of Pena entrance gate and the palace Meeting Point. The paid internal transfer shuttle runs every 15 minutes and costs $5.19 (€4.50) return for everyone over 6, cash not accepted when paying on board.

An electric Hop On Hop Off service inside the park carries wheelchair users. Note the Chalet of the Countess of Edla entrance gate is closed 12:00-14:00, with ticket sales continuing at the park's other entrances during that window.

Taxis and TVDE

Taxis are on the authorised list for Calçada da Pena, so they can drive you up to the Pena area while private cars cannot. Parques de Sintra mentions TVDE pick-up points on its access page. No fares are published for either on any official page this guide found, so this page prints none.

Tuk-Tuks

The municipality approved a tourist-activity regulation covering tuk-tuks and other small tourist vehicles, as reported in the press, citing congestion and noise. The in-force text was not found on cm-sintra.pt, so this page prints no tuk-tuk rules or prices.

Eléctrico de Sintra

The Sintra tram runs nearly 11 km from Vila Alda in Estefânia to Praia das Maçãs, taking about 45 minutes between the Serra and the Atlantic. Tickets are always bought on board in cash. Press reports of the municipal notice give the adult fare as $5.77 (€5) and a reduced fare of $2.88 (€2.50) for ages 7-18, over-65s and residents.

It operates seasonally in spring and summer only. The municipality's own page links a schedule in force rather than printing it, so check there before planning a ride.