SINTRA - Mountain of Sintra 30 Km north of Lisbon -

Rock of friendship

Route link at the end of the page.

Sintra is a nice traditional town, 30 Km north of Lisbon. In this place there are forests gardens and castles where some European Kings spent week ends. Lots of tourists are coming every year to visit this nice place.

The climbing sectors are in the mountain near the Moorish Castle and are oriented to west. The north rock is faced to norwest so, is the coldest one. Sintra is a very cold climbing school in the winter, and very pleasant at summer. If you go there in the winter, choose the afternoon .

How to go there:

If you stay in Lisbon you have a lot of hotels and hostages to choose, at very good price ( Go to the link page ).
To go to Sintra from Lisbon, you must take the train at the station of Rossio, which is just in centre of Lisbon.
You also can take a taxi, if you are going to stay at a more distant hotel and in this case it will cost you around $10 USD. If you stay in the city area you will pay $6 USD.
Distance from Lisbon to Sintra is around 35Km. Don't go by taxi from Lisbon to Sintra !
As Sintra is normally cold in the winter mornings, go to the Rossio train station only at 10 am . Is not necessary to go early.

Sintra is at the top centre of the map . The climb is 3 Km of road up the mountain .

Arriving the station don’t forget to buy at the restaurant in front one or two sandwiches called "bifana" for your lunch. It's a pork sandwich very special !
If you have lunch here, you will pay around $5 USD for a complete meal : beer(Imperial), pork sandwich(Bifana), a soup and a coffee !
Some times I go there to have my lunch ;is very quick, if you eat on foot.

Take a ticket to Sintra ( ~$2USD )which is the end of the line - no mistakes are possible !
Train will take 30 minutes travelling.
In Sintra, you walk around 500m to arrive to the center of the town. Here, stop at a very typical coffee-house where climbers go and eat a sweet called " Travesseiro". You will get the energy to begin walking up the 1 Km road to the routes and, also, the last 200 meters stairs.
Now, take the road just in front of this coffee-house, from centre of Sintra, in the west direction to Cascais and Colares. 200 meters later at the first road intersection you will see the sign indication to go to Colares at right and, to left : Castelo dos Mouros, Covento dos Capuchos and Palácio da Pena, which are the three monuments to visit at The mountain. Turn left.
Climbing routes are just near the "Castelo dos Mouros" ( Moorish Castle ) .
Some 20 meter after this road intersection, there is another intersection where you must turn right at a very sharp curve in direction to monument zone. Go for more 800m, until you see the green door-gate at left of the road, to access the natural park. Enter the Gate and walk 100 meters until see the stairs at your right . Take it to the granite cliff. Count 205 stairs and you will reach the Solar (IV) route. It seams like a stone stair on the cliff.

If you go by car, go to Sintra and park the car at the park. See the air picture. Ask for the "Piriquita" coffee-house and rest.
You can go by car just near to the green door-gate of the forest park, because is possible to park your car in front of the gate before the road curve passing in front of the gate. Go slowly. See the map .

Staying

Is not possible to camp in Sintra, because it is a protected area. To look for camping in the area, go to the page link .
Any way, if you want to stay near you must contact the Hostage of Sta. Eufémia which is the ideal residence for young people . This hostage is near the park of Pena.
Prices are good for you. For the others that want to walk and visit Sintra must do reservations at one of the several available Hotels.
If you want to camp, please contact the organisation responsible for the park zone.
For more information about staying in Portugal go to the page links .

Rock type

Pure granite for adherence climbing

Access to routes

Some difficult to go up 205 stairs until the first routes. For other places you must walk to look for, and ask for them, because some accesses are not visible. For the access of Penedo North you must go on the top of the mountain and then rappel to get the beginning of routes like BICO , AMIZADE , GRUTA.

Route characteristics

Almost all routes are equipped. Some are not equipped and are used for top rope, with an easy access to tops. There are around 38 routes with levels between III and 7c and with 10 to 50 meters height.

Click here for routes