We had a great day! Our guide managed our tour very well and gave us a lot of interesting informations. Thank you very much again
About Activity
What's Included
Includes
- Private transportation
- Pick up and drop off in the accommodation
- WiFi on board
- Compulsory insurance
- Private guide and accompaniment to all monuments
- Air-conditioned vehicle
Excludes
- Lunch
- Tickets for Museum
Departure & Return
Departure Point
- Traveler pick up offered
Itinerary
We start at your hotel heading towards an unforgettable day. Sintra is 30 km from Lisbon. Its micro-climate guarantees permanent freshness to the town and the growth of fantastic vegetation, making this a mysterious and deeply romantic place. The Pena National Palace, Quinta da Regaleira and Monserrate Palace stand out as the main monuments. Arriving in the town, we drive to the top of the Serra de Sintra and the Palácio da Pena, built on a rock 500m above sea level, dominating the entire coast as far as Lisbon. It represents one of the best expressions of 19th century architectural Romanticism in the world, and is, in fact, the Europe's first romantic palace, built around 30 years before the charismatic Schloss Neuschwanstein, in Bavaria, Germany
Quinta da Regaleira, located in the heart of Sintra, is a monument full of mysteries and symbolism. Thw Owner Carvalho Monteiro, also known as Monteiro dos Mírios, was fascinated by alchemy, Freemasonry, Rosicrucianism and the Templars. The farm was transformed into a place full of mystical symbolism. Quinta da Regaleira was built to be a space for contemplation, meditation and celebration of ancient mysteries. Today, Quinta da Regaleira is one of the most visited tourist attractions in Sintra, offering visitors a journey full of mystery through secret tunnels, exotic gardens, lakes, caves and buildings, such as the famous Initiatory Well. This spiral well descends 27 meters into the earth and is surrounded by a staircase, also built in a spiral.
A retreat for writers, Monserrate attracted countless foreign travelers, mainly English, who praised its beauty in travel stories and prints. When Francis Cook, a wealthy 19th century English industrialist and great art collector, visited the site, he was fascinated. Out of that passion was born a masterpiece of Romanticism: the Park and Palace of Monserrate.
The current Sintra Palace is made up of many royal palaces. It is a set of buildings that were built, added and adapted over the centuries, with the date of the foundation of the oldest palace being an enigma still unsolved today. Most likely, the first building was built around the 10th or 11th century, when Sintra was Islamic territory. At the end of the Middle Ages, the Paço de Sintra was the center of a territory managed by the Queens of Portugal, but it was also one of the favorite spaces of Portuguese monarchs. The abundance of game in the region, the freshness of the climate during the summer months or the need for refuge in periods of plague in the capital made Paço de Sintra a frequent destination. Keeper of memories and witness to exciting events in the history of Portugal, Paço de Sintra offers visitors the opportunity to travel back in time and meet other lives so different from ours.
The Palace of Queluz with a beautiful decoration filled with pieces of enormous value, became the official residence of royalty, especially the Portuguese prince regent, the future D. João VI, as well as his family, until the flight of the royal family to Brazil due to the French invasions. In this palace was born D. Pedro IV or D. Pedro I of Brazil. It also served as a discreet place of imprisonment for Queen Mary I, "Mary Louca", while her madness continued to worsen after D. Pedro's death.
In the village of Mafra, it is impossible to remain indifferent to the monumental Palace of Mafra, which was erected by D. João V in 1711. Known also as a place of welcoming people, there is also the famous Tapada de Mafra with an area of 1187 hectares and surrounded by a wall with a length of 21 km. The Tapada has a great diversity of animal and vegetable species. The palace, located in the center of the village, is the most luxurious national convent in the Baroque style and also houses, in addition to the Convent, a Basilica and the Royal Library. The Library displays a precious collection of more than 40,000 books with gold bindings, including the first edition of the Luís de Camões Lusíadas. It also has a set of six organs, unique in the World for size and beauty.
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Reviews
héng kǎolǜ fēicháng zhōudào. The tour guide was very nice and provided a comprehensive overview, explaining each room carefully. His driving skills were also excellent, and the itinerary was very well planned.
João was great to work with. He had our full trip planned for us, picked us up and dropped us off directly from our hotel. He managed our schedule so well that we were able to minimize our wait times and we saw and did everything we wanted to do. I would absolutely recommend him to anyone looking for tours around all of Portugal!
We had a wonderful tour of Sintra and two palaces there and then one palace in Mafra. Joao was our tour guide who picked us up from our ship and dropped us back again with no worries of missing our sailing. Very professional, informative and conversational. He personalized our tour and was willing to take us anywhere we wanted. We really enjoyed our day!
We had a fantastic day visiting Sintra . Our guide John was five stars! We learned so much about the construction and history of Pena, Monserrate and Sintra National palace and the royal lineage of Portugal. he taught us about the construction and history of Sintra . I highly recommend this tour!! Get John as your guide
Our guide, Joao, was extremely enthusiastic, knowledgeable and dedicated to making our tour a wonderful experience. We saw so much and it was an extremely well-planned itinerary. Highly recommend.
Loved our guide John. Extremely knowledgeable about Portuguese history. We were so impressed. The places we visited were lovely and John Taylor’s it to our pace. It was a lovely fun day. I highly recommend him!
Our tour guide “John” was extremely knowledgeable about Portuguese history. His knowledge was impressive along with many details. He was responsive to our needs and paced the tour accordingly. A very enjoyable interesting day. I would highly recommend him and this tour. Nice to have the choices.
We chose this tour with Joao's Kitzel Tours because it gave us the flexibility to focus on the sites that were most important to us. Many of the Sintra tours allow for less palace time and include a visit to Cascais, which we did not feel was necessary. I am so glad that we chose this private, "choose your own adventure" tour! Joao was friendly, polite, thoughtful and so knowledgeable! We chose to visit Mafra, Pena Palace and Quinta da Regaleira. Each palace was intriguing in a unique way and it was an excellent combination of sites. The price was reasonable and we saw and learned so much more than we would have if we had visited Sintra on our own. I highly recommend Joao and his Kitzel Tours Portugal!! Joao, thank you very, very much!
This was a very informative and scenic tour of multiple palaces. Our guide did a great job of giving us the history behind all of them.
The experience was incredible. John is the best guide tour. He is friendly and courteous. He is very knowledgeable about the history and places we were visited The tour was amazing. The conversation with him was spectacular. I highly recommend this tour and company.
John!! Thank you for a relaxing day filled with great adventures and information about your beautiful country of Portugal. I loved this tour and its ability to customize it to our liking.
We took this tour with john and we were very pleased. There were three of us on the tour and john was very patient and attentive to our desires to see.I would change nothing about this tour or the guide.
The trip was amazing. We were very lucky to have John as our tour guide. Not only is he really friendly, but he is also super helpful. Thanks to him, we managed to visit all the places that are on the list. It is one of the most fulfilling day trip we have ever taken. If we ever visit Portugal again, we would definitely want to try another day trip that are arranged with Kirzel Tours Portugal
We did love so much the sintra and cascais tour we want to make another tour with Joao and he did told us to see the other museums close to sintra, since we did stay in Cascais for 2 days. We love the Queluz Palace and his beautiful garden likes you are in Paris for visiting Versalhes. In Mafra the last Unesco Place Portugal did take so amazing. They have the biggest number of Italian estatos outside of Italy. Guess who who told us all this great information lol. We did a super lunch close to Beach and visit the great monserrate. The gardens are so beautiful. Two great days with my new good Portuguese friend. looking for a great company and great tour guide. Kitzel Tours and Joao the best choice.
Got too see more palaces than I expected. The trip was very enjoyable and the tour leader was very helpfull and enthusiastic about his job.
We had two trips with john the 1st was Arrabida which was wonderful and the 2nd was Mafra which was actually one of the best trips we had during our stay in Portugal which lasted for almost 2 weeks. As for John he is very knowledgeable and he is very helpful as he provided us with all the information we needed either during our trip or even after finishing it, you will never feel bored if you had a trip with him. Both of John and the trip are highly recommended.
Gratitude to guide Anastasia. Excellent park area with fabulous imitation of medieval architecture.
Traveling to Portugal for the second time, I returned to tour with Kitzel Tours and my friend João. I visited the three palaces I had not seen last year with João, and once again, the explanations and joy that the guide conveyed throughout were fantastic. I was pleased to learn that the company has grown and is now run by a couple. I highly recommend this company.
Better was impossible, we visited with João, the Palace of Queluz, the Palace of Mafra and the Quinta da Regaleira, we loved. Besides knowing all the history of the monuments visited, it is super well disposed and fun.
Journée magnifique due a notre guide-chauffeur formidable Joao, qui nous a fait partager son savoir, son amour pour le Portugal, sa grande érudition sur tous les sujets ..il a pu répondre à toutes nos questions. Il était très agréable et très attentifs à notre bien-être. L'organisation et le timing parfait , nous avons pu voir 3 palais sans courir d'une manière très relaxante. Nous recommandons vivement cette excursion .
Excellent experience with guide Joao, a fantastic super fun Cover with a high sense of humor and knowledge of history. This was one of the many tours we did in Portugal and without a doubt the best of all. 3 palaces with different history and architecture. Super recommended for those who want to have a day with super guide FUN!!! Thank you Joao!!
An unforgettable day for the Brazilians who long wanted to visit these 3 palaces. The guide joao super fantastic and with high sense of humor and knowledge. Show of ball friend !! Super recommended !!!
We loved our tour with John. The palace of Queluz sensational with amazing gardens. Mafra we loved everything especially the library. Amazing lunch and most importantly John with his always that enthusiasm!! Super recommended
Since we are Brazilians for a long time we wanted to visit the house of the first emperor of Brazil and we loved it!! The view with the guide João was sensational super nice and fun and he knows plenty of history!! Wonderful and monserrate Mafra Palace has an amazing garden!! Super recommended !!! Goodbye friend
Thank you Joao for the fantastic day we had in your company. We learned and had a lot of fun about our culture and beautiful areas of Sintra and Mafra. We recommend 100000000%.
Being a family from the city of Porto we hired the services of the kitzel for a historic day. My two sons ordered this tour to visit during Christmas. Just fantastic. The joao is super sympathetic, with a simple language and quite fun. Super recommended. Embrace joao x familia pereira
The first thing I have to say is that it was raining all day, and yet...... it was a perfect day! And all thanks to Juan, he behaved with us phenomenal. It was our guide on the way out that we hired Sintra, Queuz and Mafra and not only dedicated himself to guide, which is ultimately his job, it also made our tour like a walk among friends who remain a day to go on a hike. I don’t know the other tour companies, but I’m sure there aren’t any that make you feel as comfortable as this. 100% recommended!!!! Thank you Juan for making us spend such a splendid day..., I can not imagine how it would have been, if also..., it is sunny! A hug!
We took the decision to discover the new UNESCO monument from the list of Portugal and the decision was super right. Our guide Joao showed with his wisdom all the magic and beauty of the Palace of Mafra and also the Palace of Queluz. Super recommended this tour and also in company of the guide Joao.
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