Perfect locations from Lisbon for amazing day trips are Sintra for castles and Cascais for the Atlantic Ocean.

Sintra is about a 40-minute train ride away, from the train station in the beautiful Rossio square, located in central Lisbon. To this day, is one of the most amazing places I ever visited.

Sintra

Sintra is an UNESCO World Heritage Site for a reason and is a fascinating place to visit. Is one of the most popular day trips from Lisbon.

Up in the Sintra hills, I only visited Palácio Nacional da Pena or Pena Palace, so I have still plenty of reasons to return, hopefully on a sunny day. I was “lucky” enough to be in Sintra in the only day that was raining, but perhaps rain made my visit to this castle even more magical. The ornamental stone carvings of the castle are unforgettable. To this day, is one of my favorite places in Europe and the most interesting colorful castle I visited.

In addition, you can visit the National Palace or the Moorish castle and hike in National Park of Sintra. On the way back to Lisbon, I stopped at a beautiful and modern Oriente train station.

Cascais

Home is where I hear the waves.

Being born at the seaside, home is where I hear the waves, so to head to the Atlantic Ocean in Cascais was an amazing experience. The journey takes about 30 minutes, and I took the train for Cais do Sodre station. This time, on the way to Cascais, I stopped in Belem, for the Age of the discoveries history lesson.

The beaches here are sandy and with crystal cleat water. The main beach in Cascais is Praia da Ribeira, but my favourite one was Praia da Rainha.

Portuguese people seems the kindest people I have met in a trip this year. Everybody that I stopped to ask for direction helped me and always with a smile on their face. But I guess is understandable when you live in a city with 200 days of sunshine and the Atlantic Ocean.

Thank you for reading! Adeus e obrigada.

Feature photo credit – lonelyplanet.com