Pedro was an excellent tour guide and exceeds expectations. He is extremely knowledgeable and... read more
Pedro was an excellent tour guide and exceeds expectations. He is extremely knowledgeable and... read more
My friend and I were visiting Portugal for holiday and hadn’t planned too much past our locations... read more
Ana was an extremely lovely tour guide. Halfway through the tour we changed car and guide and we met Pedro a font of all knowledge. He is an absolute joy with a wonderful knowledge of Sintra and great fun.
Highly recommend the tour. One small criticism an open top car would be good so everyone could see.
My girlfriend and I had a tour with Ana around the Sintra area and it was really great! Ana was not only incredibly friendly and knowledgeable, but also told us some great spooky tales about Sintra and its mystical vibe. Couldn't recommend this tour enough!
I was totally unpreparedvto visit Sintra, but thanks to Pedro I saw it in the best way and learned a little bit about the history of the city and the country as a whole. It was excellent, interesting and exciting day for me. Pedro understood my mood and showed me exactly that Ineeded. (By the way, i returned to Sintra twice again and I'm pretty sure that it wasn't the last time).
A piece of advice for travellers(IMHO): if you have opportunity to visit Sintra more than one time you shouldn't spend your excursion time in Quinta da Regaliera - it requies at least 2 hours (with children 3 and more). If you haven't a possibility to visit it as a special tour - you have to go ther! It's cooler than Versaille(it's toally different but I found the only one thing to compare with )
Whilst we travelled by train from Rossio to Sintra (30 minutes), I started mapping out how to get to the beach (a little late, but a busy trip, so little time). I realized the beach was not walking distance from Sintra station. When we arrived, there was young lady at a kiosk inside the station offering 24 hour hop on/hop off tours for 20€ each (half price for kids). The bus visited 6 or 7 stops and ran every 30 minutes until 8 pm. We almost took up her offer vut saw other vendors just outside the exit. Immediately after the exit, we were approached by a man whose English was quite broken, and decided not to go. We then saw a young man holding up a plaquard with several tours. He spoke English very well, with an Australian-like accent (we came to know that he was born in Sintra, and learnt English through cartoons, friend from England and other areas I'd the world). He told us he could do a tour until 5 pm (we reached at 2 pm) for a set fee (not the cheapest offering). We hemmed and hawed a bit, but decided it was worth trying, primarily because he asked us what we'd like to see and said he'd customize the tour for us. He asked us to wait 2 minutes so he could retrieve his 7 seater VW Sharan - he took more than 2 minutes which seemed a little dodgy, so I quickly looked it up on TripAdvisor (he had a 2017 TripAdvisor badge on the plaquard). And it turned out that it had great reviews, so that put us at ease. So, what was an originally-scheduled 3 hour tour lasted 6 hours (he was able to make arrangements to have his daughter picked up from nursery)...our guide, Pedro, did his Masters degree in Portuguese history and was a fountain of knowledge. From the anecdotes about a mute girl and hermit, to the extensive description of the gardens of Penha Palace, to the explanation of why homes were painted certain colours on the outside. We also went to the Sintra lighthouse and were treated with a breathtaking view of the Atlantic Ocean and Tagus River. He warned us about the National Guard (stay clear of them) and the fact that the earth was eroding quickly, and advised us to stay on the inside of the barrier, particularly as a man fell to his death 2 days earlier because he took a selfie on the other side of the barrier, as the ground looks quite stable...tragic, but he told us that they move barrier almost every 2 years because the earth just falls into the ocean over time. We drive by Moorish Castle (we weren't inclined to enter), and stopped at a scenic viewpoint.
We told him we really wanted to visit the beach, even if only to soak our feet for 5 minutes, and he obliged. He showed us Apple beach, Bears beach and we ventured into the water at Big beach (which incidentally has great surfing waves). He also showed us other amazing sites, like the small fishing village (azenhas do mar sintra) with an amazing view of the Atlantic ocean. In fact, there were so many majestic views that he showed us, I lamented not bringing my Canon digital camera on the excursion to Sintra.
Throughout the tour, he kept us interested through his explanation of the history and significance of certain things in Sintra that a normal tour guide wouldn't know. For example, because Sintra is a World Heritage Site (since 1995 I believe), only people that owned properties at that time were allowed to remain in Sintra - today, that comprises today, only about 40 people, ine of which is a tour guide named Frederick that Pedro know well. Toward the end of the tour, he asked if we wanted to try a traditional Sintra dessert (only available in Sintra), and took us to a bakery where the owner is the founder's great- granddaughter...the Travesseiro were amazing. Pedro described the dessert as "Diabetes and Cholesterol had a baby". And, for 7 of us, with drinks, only €30...a real steal compared to what we were paying in Lisbon.
In case you haven't gleaned it by now, we thoroughly enjoyed the tour of Sintra with Pedro- he even provided his contact information in case we had any follow-up questions. Given that tours of Sintra have only existed for 5 years, this was amazing value (bring cash), and highly recommended.
Our family, including our two teenagers, spent a day in Sintra with Pedro and had a wonderful time. Sintra was very crowded on the day we visited, but Pedro was able to adapt to the situation so that we were still able to see several of the main sites in Sintra (Pena Palace and Quinta da Regaleira as well as several less well-known but very beautiful destinations) as well as Cabo da Roca and several spectacular beach areas. Pedro also arranged a fabulous seafood lunch at a beachside restaurant, giving us the chance to try some local specialties we would otherwise never have known to order. He is a very charming, diligent and knowledgeable guide and a wonderful ambassador for his hometown Sintra.
We had the most spectacular time in Sintra. Led by Pedro who was so lovely, professional, and extremely knowledgeable, we learned so much and had a really fun day. He took us exactly where we wanted to go and added in some fantastic extra local spots of his choice. We highly recommend seeing the wonders of sintra with Pedro!!