Sintra is a region – and a town with the same name in its center. 400 000 people live here and a part of them work in Lisbon which is 32 km away. The hilly slopes of Sintra draw a lot of tourists, 4 million visitors a year. Sintra is an essential part of Portugal's history and all Portuguese want to visit.

Sintra is one of the most visited destinations in Portugal, typically attracting between 3.5 and 5 million tourists annually. This incredible volume of visitors is driven by Sintra’s status as a UNESCO World Heritage site and its proximity to Lisbon, making it a premier day-trip location. The town’s most famous landmark, the Pena Palace, frequently sees over 1 million visitors on its own each year. Because the historic center of Sintra is small and the roads are narrow and winding, this high volume of tourism has led to significant logistical challenges. In recent years, local authorities have implemented strict traffic restrictions, including banning private cars from many of the mountain roads and introducing a mandatory shuttle system for access to the higher palaces like Pena and the Moorish Castle. The tourism "peak" occurs during the summer months and major holidays, leading to long lines and crowded forest trails. To manage these crowds, a new ticketing system was introduced in 2024 that requires guests to book specific, time-limited entry slots for the main palaces. Despite the crowds, the town's unique "Romanticist" architecture and misty, forested microclimate continue to make it an essential stop for travelers worldwide.