Leaving Lisbon’s western suburbs and climbing into Sintra feels like crossing over into another world. This town is in a green mountainscape of palaces, country estates, parks and a medieval castle. In the centre, the Palace of Sintra was a residence for the Portuguese royalty, and it’s just one of many exquisite properties to win you over. Another is the enigmatic Quinta da Regaleira, the playground of a wealthy eccentric, or the Pena Palace and its fairytale muddle of towers atop a high peak. You can trek through woodland planted with giant exotic trees in the 19th century. Or carry on to the coast for beaches beneath sky-scraping cliffs, ot Cabo da Roca, at the very edge of mainland Europe.

The Palacio Nacional da Pena is one of the finest tourist attractions in Portugal and exemplifies the 19th century Romanticism style of architecture

The Castle of the Moors (Portuguese: Castelo dos Mouros) is a hilltop medieval castle located in the central Portuguese civil parish of Santa Maria e São Miguel, in the municipality of Sintra, about 25km northwest of Lisbon. Built by the Moors in the 8th and 9th centuries, it was an important strategic point during the Reconquista, and was taken by Christian forces after the fall of Lisbon in 1147. It is classified as a National Monument, part of the Sintra Cultural Landscape, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.