Best Day Trips from Lisbon: Sintra, Évora & the Alentejo

Lisbon's position on Portugal's western edge places it within reach of some of Europe's most rewarding day trip destinations, all connected by reliable Comboios de Portugal rail services. Sintra, 40 minutes by train, is the mandatory first choice: a UNESCO World Heritage fairy-tale landscape of Romantic palaces built into forested peaks — the Pena Palace in candy-coloured Neo-Manueline extravagance, the Moorish Castle ruins, and the enigmatic Quinta da Regaleira with its Initiation Well descending 27 metres into the earth. Cascais, 40 minutes on the same train line, offers a relaxed fishing-village-turned-resort with beaches, seafood restaurants, and the most pleasant promenade on the Estoril Coast. Óbidos, 1 hour by bus, is a perfectly preserved medieval walled town where the entire old centre can be walked in two hours. Évora (UNESCO) and the Alentejo require a full day but deliver Roman temple ruins, medieval cathedral, and the disturbing Chapel of Bones built from 5,000 Franciscan monks.