A great day trip from Lisbon is to visit Sintra or Cascais. So of course, I geared up to visit both. Trains in Lisbon are cheap and appear reliable, and with a little bit of planning it should be possible to do everything. Hot tip #1: make sure each passenger has their own ticket as you are not allowed to reuse multiple journeys on a single one.
We decided to hit Sintra first, where I walked up the hill to Pena Palace instead of taking the bus. Hot tip #2: make sure you ask someone credible how to make your way up, as the directions we were provided by a taxi driver took us up a road instead of a trail. Still it was a pleasant enough walk, although the Moorish castle at the top was a bit of a bust.
Pena Palace was much better - Hot tip #3: stick to the park ticket as it still lets you explore a huge chunk of the palace.
I joined the rest in the bus back down to the town centre (where the aforementioned walking trails up really start), and then caught a quick taxi to the Cabo de Roca, with a brief stop at Quinta da Regaleira on the way - and if there's anything I feel that we missed it was the gothic palace.
You don't need more than 30 mins or so at Cabo de Roca, so it's arguable as to whether it's worth it or not. Still, there's something undeniably romantic about being at the western most tip of Europe.
We got to Cascais later than planned, but this was okay - it's a place to hang out and have tea and ice creams rather than spend any real time doing anything in. As a last stop of the day it served well in allowing us to chill and unwind on the days hectic schedule. After we were done, we headed back to Lisbon proper for a late dinner.
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