Getting to Monserrate: the bus number the operator gives, and the one most guides give
The bus number, and why this page differs from most of the others
A great deal of published advice about Monserrate says to take the 435 from Sintra train station. Parques de Sintra’s own page says something else. It gives bus nº 1253, run by Carris Metropolitano, from the train station; and, separately, bus nº 435, run by Scotturb, from the Lourel car park.
So there are two routes and two starting points, and the widespread version of the advice has combined them into one that the operator does not give. This site follows the operator, and I want to say why out loud rather than leave you to trust me. A bus route is exactly the kind of fact that goes stale in a guide and does not go stale on the page of the organisation that runs the monument the bus stops at. Bus routes change; articles about them do not get revisited; and an article written before a change reads exactly like one written after it.
Check the current timetable the week you travel, on the carrier’s own site, and check the last departure back before you plan anything else. I am not printing times on this page. A timetable copied into a web page in August 2026 is a wrong timetable by the following spring, and this is a hillside road rather than a metro line.
| How | Route | From |
|---|---|---|
| Train | CP Sintra Line | Oriente, Rossio or Entrecampos |
| Bus | nº 1253, Carris Metropolitano | Sintra train station |
| Bus | nº 435, Scotturb | Lourel car park |
| Road | EN375, the Sintra–Colares road | Reached from Lisbon via the IC19 |
By train from Lisbon
The CP Sintra Line runs from Oriente, Rossio and Entrecampos. Those are the three the operator names, they all end at Sintra, and the one to pick is simply the one nearest wherever you are sleeping — Rossio sits in the old centre and the other two are further out. Sintra station is where the bus half of the day begins.
The train is the easy leg. The leg people underestimate is the one after it, which is why the paragraph above about the bus number is the longest on this page.
By road
The palace stands on the EN375, the road that connects Sintra town centre to Colares, and the approach from Lisbon is the IC19. That is the whole of what the operator publishes about driving here and it is the whole of what this page says. There is no drive time and no road distance anywhere on this site, because I have not found one from a source I would stand behind, and a number invented in this paragraph is a number somebody plans a morning around.
What I will say, and I am labelling it as my own observation rather than anybody’s published figure, is that the EN375 is a hill road through woods with a town at one end and Colares at the other. Take it as a road to enjoy rather than a road to make time on. And if you are coming in summer, come early: the Sintra roads fill from the middle of the morning and they do not empty again until the evening.
Once you are through the gate: the shuttle, and the transfer
Two facts here and both are true at once, so this page prints both rather than picking the tidier one.
The hop-on hop-off electric transport inside the park is temporarily unavailable. That is the operator’s word, temporarily, and I am leaving it as the operator’s word rather than reading it as anything stronger. A paid transfer supplement is offered on the operator’s ticket page — a round trip between the main entrance and the palace, with admission not included in it, bought separately from your ticket.
The thing to take from those two sentences together: the palace sits uphill from the main entrance, the free ride up is not running, and the ride that is running costs money. I am not going to tell you how long the walk takes, because nobody publishes a figure and I am not going to invent one. What I can tell you is that it is uphill and that it is the part of the day people plan for least. If you are visiting with someone who does not manage slopes well, look at the transfer supplement at the point of booking rather than at the gate.
One reviewer on the ticket listing put the practical version of this in a sentence this summer, writing that the gardens “are hilly and some are elevated” and that they “had problems with this famous shuttle”. That is a fair description of the day as it currently stands, and it comes from somebody who gave the place five stars anyway.
What works
- The train from Lisbon lands you at the start of the bus route, and it runs from three Lisbon stations
- Two bus routes reach the palace, from two different starting points
- The EN375 is a good road to drive and the palace is on it
- Arriving under your own steam means you leave when you want to, which no coach passenger does
Worth knowing
- The bus number most guides give is not the one the operator gives from the station
- Timetables change; check the last departure back before you plan the rest of the day
- The park’s own electric transport is temporarily unavailable
- The palace is uphill from the main entrance and the transfer between them is paid
- Sintra’s roads and car parks fill from mid-morning in summer
The Farmyard, and the only distance on this site
There is exactly one measured distance anywhere on this website, and it is the operator’s own: the Farmyard of Monserrate is 850 metres east of the main entrance. It is one of the thirteen points of interest the operator lists in the park, and it is the one far enough from everything else to need a number attached to it. Every other distance you may have read about this place, including from me, does not exist. What else is out there is set out area by area here.
There is no cable car, and this is the useful paragraph for a lot of readers
If you arrived here after searching for a cable car to Monserrate, or the price of the ticket for it, or how long the ride takes, or whether the walk up is safe: you are almost certainly looking for a different Monserrate, and the confusion is entirely reasonable. The Sintra one has no cable car, no funicular and no rack railway. It is a house and a garden on a hill road, reached by bus or by car. Cerro de Monserrate in Bogotá has a funicular and a cable car; Montserrat in Catalonia has a rack railway and cable cars. The names really are that close. Which is which, and which one you actually want, is set out here.
Or let somebody else do the driving
The reason a whole industry of day trips exists is sitting in the paragraphs above: a train, then a bus whose number is disputed on the internet, then a hill. A seat in a van removes all three, and for a visitor with four days in Lisbon, no car and one free Wednesday that is a genuinely useful thing to buy. What it is not, on most of these listings, is a ticket. Three of the six day trips that name Monserrate cross the entrance fee out, including the busiest of them. Which listing does what about admission is set out line by line here.
The ticket itselfSintra: Monserrate Palace & Park Ticket
The one most people bookLisbon: Sintra Full Day Pena Palace, Regaleira & Monserrate
Driven there, ticket not includedLisbon: Half Day Trip to Sintra and Monserrate Palace
Can’t make these dates?
Browse more available Monserrate Palace tickets and find one that fits your schedule — all with instant confirmation and free cancellation.
Related: what the ticket costs and covers, how long you need once you are inside the gate, when to come, and the other two Monserrates.
Frequently asked questions
How do I get to Monserrate Palace?
By train, take the CP Sintra Line from Oriente, Rossio or Entrecampos to Sintra, then bus nº 1253, run by Carris Metropolitano, from the train station. Bus nº 435, run by Scotturb, reaches the palace from the Lourel car park. Those are Parques de Sintra’s own directions, and this site follows them rather than the commoner advice; check the current timetables before you travel. By road the palace is on the EN375 between Sintra and Colares, reached from Lisbon via the IC19.
Which bus goes to Monserrate, the 435 or the 1253?
Both, from different places. A great deal of published advice says to take the 435 from Sintra train station, but the operator’s own page gives the 1253 from the station and the 435 from the Lourel car park. Where the internet and the organisation that runs the monument disagree about a bus route, this site follows the organisation, and asks you to check the current timetable either way, because route numbers do change and articles do not get revisited.
Can you get to Monserrate without a car?
Yes. Take the CP Sintra Line from Oriente, Rossio or Entrecampos, then bus nº 1253 from Sintra train station out along the Sintra–Colares road. The one thing to plan is the return: check the last departure before you set out, rather than after you have wandered the park for three hours. If you would rather not assemble the legs yourself, several day trips out of Lisbon call here, though most of them do not include the entrance fee.
Is there a shuttle inside the park to the palace?
The hop-on hop-off electric transport inside the park is temporarily unavailable, in the operator’s own words. The palace sits uphill from the main entrance, and a separate paid transfer supplement is offered on the operator’s ticket page — a round trip between the main entrance and the palace, admission not included. Both of those things are true at once, so budget for a climb or for the supplement.
How long is the walk up to Monserrate?
This site does not print a walking time, because no source I would stand behind publishes one and a number invented here is a number somebody plans a morning around. What is documented is that the palace is uphill from the main entrance, that the park’s own electric transport is currently not running, and that a paid transfer between the two is offered. If the phrase “the walk up” brought you here from a search about a mountain, you may want the Monserrate in Bogotá or Montserrat in Catalonia instead.
Is there a cable car to Monserrate?
Not in Sintra. Sintra’s Monserrate is a palace and a park on a hill road with no cable car, no funicular and no rack railway. Cerro de Monserrate in Bogotá has both a funicular and a cable car, and Montserrat in Catalonia has a rack railway and cable cars. Three places, nearly the same name, and the search results mix them constantly.
Where exactly is Monserrate Palace?
On the EN375, the road connecting Sintra town centre to Colares, and inside the Cultural Landscape of Sintra that UNESCO listed in 1995. From Lisbon the road approach is the IC19. The Farmyard of Monserrate, one of the points of interest in the park, sits 850 metres east of the main entrance — the only distance published anywhere on this site.