Sintra

Pena at opening time, Regaleira by late afternoon

Catch an early train from Rossio and board bus 434 right outside Sintra station, heading straight for Pena and the first timed entry. Allow time for the climb from the park gate to the palace. After the rooms and terraces, wander down through the park, past the lakes, to the Castle of the Moors and walk its walls along the ridge.

Ride the 434 back into town for lunch and a travesseiro at Piriquita. In the afternoon, walk west to Quinta da Regaleira for the Initiation Well and its tunnels. If the gates are still open when you come out, the National Palace with its conical chimneys is right in the centre and rarely as crowded as the hilltop sights.

Eat dinner in the old town before the last trains, which run late enough for an unhurried evening, or stay the night and have the lanes to yourself once Lisbon's day-trippers have gone.

Monserrate, the Colares tram and the cape at Cabo da Roca

A second day shows a quieter Sintra. Take bus 435 out to Monserrate, a Romantic palace whose sloping gardens hold ferns, palms and trees gathered from several continents; it draws a fraction of Pena's crowds. Stop at Seteais on the way back for a look at the neoclassical palace, now a hotel, and its lawn framing the hills.

In the afternoon, see whether the old tram is running to Praia das Maçãs. It rattles downhill to the coast in about 45 minutes, and you can break the ride at the Adega Regional de Colares to taste the area's rare wine, made from vines rooted in sand within sight of the sea. Praia das Maçãs itself is a small, calm resort with a saltwater pool and fish restaurants along the front.

Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point of mainland Europe, sits on the coast road to the south and makes a good last stop before carrying on to Cascais. Bring a jacket, since the wind on the cliffs is strong in any season, and stay back from the unfenced edges.

Piriquita travesseiros, queijadas and sand-grown Colares wine

Buy travesseiros, almond-cream puff pastries, at Piriquita on the street climbing from the National Palace, and queijadas, small cheese and cinnamon tarts, at Casa do Preto. Expect a queue at Piriquita on summer afternoons. For a sit-down meal, skip the tourist menus in the square below the palace and walk a few streets further.

Two pastries belong to Sintra. Travesseiros are long puff-pastry pillows filled with almond and egg cream and dusted with sugar; the classic place for them is Piriquita, on the street climbing from the National Palace, where the queue on summer afternoons reaches the door. Queijadas are small, firm tarts of fresh cheese, sugar and cinnamon in a crisp case, sold by the stack and wrapped in paper; Casa do Preto is the name locals point to. Buy a few to eat on the train back.

For a proper meal, avoid the tourist menus in the square below the palace. Dom Pipas on Rua João de Deus serves Portuguese home cooking and daily specials (it closes on Mondays), and near the station on Avenida Doutor Miguel Bombarda a small restaurant called Cyntia cooks bacalhau à brás and grilled salt cod with care.

Out west, Colares wine is worth seeking. The vines grow in sand, which protected them from phylloxera, and very little is made. Taste it at the Colares cooperative, then finish with fish by the sea at Praia das Maçãs.