Glorious Eden: A Sintra Walking Tour of Portugal's Royal Mountain

Sintra has enchanted writers, kings, and wanderers for centuries, earning descriptions like Glorious Eden and vast temple of Nature. On this self-guided audio tour, you'll trace how Moors, medieval monarchs, and Romantic visionaries layered their ambitions onto a single mountain, creating Portugal's most extraordinary cultural landscape. The tour starts at Sintra's train station, the same arrival point visitors have used since 1889. You'll hear how hermits, Knights Templar, and royal courts each claimed this mountain, and why UNESCO recognised the whole landscape, not just its monuments, as a World Heritage Site in 1995. The route climbs toward the Miradouro da Ferraria for panoramic views over the historic center before ending at Parque das Merendas, a shaded picnic park that also serves as the trailhead for those continuing on foot to the Moorish Castle and Pena Palace.