Sintra is famous for its hilltop palaces, but the town itself has a string of smaller sights that most visitors walk straight past. This guide follows them in the order you meet them on foot, from the railway station where most people arrive, past the town hall, the Palácio Valenças and the church of São Martinho, out to the Fonte dos Pisões and the artificial waterfall beside it. Together they show the everyday Sintra of the last few centuries: its trains, its local government, its parish church and its much-loved water.
Sintra train station
Sintra station opened on 2 April 1887, when the line from Alcântara-Terra in Lisbon reached the town. A railway had been planned much earlier: a contract was signed in 1854 and cancelled in 1861. The station is the end of the Linha de Sintra, served by CP urban trains, and although it was designed as a terminus, its passenger building stands beside the tracks on the north-west side rather than across their end.
The railway changed the town. In the early 20th century the station was the starting point for motor coaches and horse-drawn coaches to Ericeira and other places, and trams once ran from here into the old town, to Colares and to the beach at Praia das Maçãs. It is the first stop of our scavenger hunt.
Sintra town hall
Sintra's town hall, the Paços do Concelho, was built between 1906 and 1909 to plans by the architect Arnaldo Redondo Adães Bermudes, on the site of the old chapel of São Sebastião, which was demolished to make room for it. It is still the seat of the municipality, and since 2011 it has been protected as a Monument of Municipal Interest. It is the second stop of our scavenger hunt.
- The town hall fountain, the Chafariz dos Paços do Concelho, opened in 1914 in the neo-Manueline style. It was designed by the architect Tertuliano Lacerda Marques with sculpture by José da Fonseca, and the water comes out of a bronze spout shaped like a fish.
- The Chafariz da Câmara nearby, a plain modern fountain by the architect Vasco Regaleira with a large round basin of blue mosaic and a double spout. Some people felt it clashed with the historic centre.
Palácio Valenças
The Palácio Valenças was built in the late 19th century as the home of the Count of Valenças, to a design by the architect Giuseppe Cinatti, in a romantic style with Italian touches. Its garden is today the public park next door. The town council bought the house in 1936, and in 1939 it moved the municipal library and the historical archive into it; the building was heavily altered inside and out after the purchase.
The library moved to a new building next door in 2002, and the archive has since moved out of town to Vila Verde. Today the palace is where the Municipal Assembly and the town council hold their meetings, and it is also used for talks, seminars and concerts. It is one of the stops on our scavenger hunt.
St. Martin Church
The Igreja de São Martinho is the parish church of Sintra's historic centre and another stop of our scavenger hunt. It began as a Gothic church belonging to the king; after 1245 it was handed to the chapter of Lisbon Cathedral as compensation. King Manuel I, who reigned from 1495 to 1521, rebuilt it during the large building campaign he carried out in Sintra. Its façade stands high above the old paths that lead into the hills, the Caminho dos Frades and the Caminho dos Castanhais. The parish of São Martinho itself was merged with its neighbours in 2013 to form the União de Freguesias de Sintra.
Fonte dos Pisões
The Fonte dos Pisões is one of Sintra's most decorative public fountains and a stop on our scavenger hunt. A fountain stood here long before the present one: an 18th-century description says it flowed more strongly in winter and was used by local people and to water orchards. The fountain you see today was put up in 1931 by Sintra's tourism commission, to a design by José da Fonseca, the same craftsman who made several other fountains in town.
- The semicircular shape, with stone benches on both sides of the high back wall, which is decorated with geometric patterns.
- The large round panel of coloured tiles in the middle, made by the Cerâmica Constância workshop, and the relief of small cherubs drinking water or carrying jugs. A standing figure holds a banner with the word SALVE, a salute to Sintra's water.
- The way the water runs: from the spout into a rectangular basin, and from there into a low trough that was meant for animals.
Pisões waterfall
The route ends at the Cascata dos Pisões, an artificial waterfall that many people mix up with the historic Fonte dos Amores. The land once belonged to the Marquis of Pombal and was bought by his protégé Daniel Gildemeester, the Dutch consul in Portugal and a diamond merchant, who had the cascade built. The stone is carved to look like natural rock, moss covers the walls and the water falls into a small rocky pool.
The waterfall is linked to the Quinta dos Pisões, an estate where, according to tradition, water flowing down from the hills drove water mills that beat linen. It is the last stop of our scavenger hunt. The town's own guide to its fountains quotes the writer Eça de Queirós here: Sintra is this, a little water and a bit of moss.
How to see them in one walk
Start at the station and walk to the town hall and its fountains. From there the road into the historic centre passes the Parque da Liberdade, with the Palácio Valenças at its side. Continue to the palace square, then continue to the church of São Martinho. Finish by walking out to the Fonte dos Pisões, where you can rest on the fountain's stone benches, and the waterfall.
See Sintra with World City Trail
Our Sintra scavenger hunt turns the town into a game you play on your phone. The route links 10 stops, starting at Sintra train station and finishing at the Pisões waterfall, and all six places in this guide are stops: the station, the town hall, the Palácio Valenças, St. Martin Church, the Fonte dos Pisões and the waterfall. In between, the route also takes in the Parque da Liberdade, the Sintra National Palace and the Marco Histórico Carlos França. At each stop you solve a puzzle and learn a story, at your own pace.
There is also a self-guided walking tour and an outdoor escape game in Sintra, for people who prefer a different format.
Play the Sintra scavenger hunt →
Take the self-guided walking tour of Sintra →
Play the outdoor escape game in Sintra →
Facts checked in October 2026.