CURVESCOUTThursday Ride #2 · 19 November 2026
Lisbon · Sintra Ridge and Atlantic Coast
A loop from Sintra palace roads · Portugal
- 96 km
- 1 h 40 min riding
- 5 stops
- loop
This Thursday: Lisbon · Sintra Ridge and Atlantic Coast. 96 km as a loop from Sintra palace roads in Portugal, about 1 h 40 min in the saddle. A November ride for the south: it never climbs above about 100 m, well away from the high passes that close for the winter.
Keep this if you want palaces and the edge of Europe in one short ride from Lisbon. The roads up to the Sintra palaces are narrow and steep, and access to Pena Palace is often closed to private vehicles at busy times, so park lower down rather than riding to the gate. The N247 then runs about 18 km west through the Sintra-Cascais Natural Park to Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point of mainland Europe. Pass on it at midday in high season. Keep it for an early start, before the crowds.
- Kenji, CurveScout scout
The map loads with the stops and the ride's road.
The ride, stop by stop
1Sintra palace roads
Sintra is a hill town where a granite ridge catches the Atlantic cloud and holds it, so that the slopes are green, damp and cool while Lisbon, half an hour away, bakes. Lord Byron called it a glorious Eden, and Portuguese kings agreed, building summer palaces among the rocks and tree ferns. The Moors left a ruined castle on the ridge, and in the nineteenth century King Ferdinand II, a German prince who married the queen, built the Pena Palace on the highest peak, a fantasy of yellow, red and blue towers that looks as though it was assembled from a box of bricks. Close to the town centre the Quinta da Regaleira has a spiral well and tunnels, and Monserrate Palace has some of the finest gardens.
The ride up to the palaces is the point of the place. The road climbs through dense forest and moss-covered boulders in tight hairpins on a narrow, damp surface, with tourists on foot, tuk-tuks and buses sharing the road. On a busy day it can be slow and a bit nerve-racking, and the mist can fall without warning, so start early. Once you are over the ridge, the road drops west toward the sea and the cape of Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point of mainland Europe, where a lighthouse stands on cliffs above the Atlantic wind. A coast road then runs south toward Cascais, with views over surf beaches and rocky coves.
2Cabo da Rocakm 29
Cabo da Roca is the westernmost point of mainland Europe, a wind-scoured headland where the Sintra mountains run straight into the Atlantic and stop. The cliffs rise some 140 metres above the water, topped with a squat white lighthouse that has been working since the eighteenth century, and a stone monument carries a line from the poet Luís de Camões, who described this as the place where the land ends and the sea begins. There is something genuinely humbling about it, standing in a cold gale with nothing but ocean in front of you, though the tourist crowds have rather broken the spell by midday.
The ride in is part of the pleasure. From Sintra the road climbs through eucalyptus and cork oak into the hills, passing quiet villages and then opening onto a bare, heathy plateau. Along the coast, the N247 runs north and south with bends that are open but often sandy, and the wind can be violent, with gusts strong enough to move a loaded bike across the lane. Fog off the sea can swallow the cliffs in minutes, particularly in summer, and sometimes the whole peninsula is clear while Sintra's palaces sit in cloud. Go early, before the tour buses arrive, or late in the evening, when the sun drops into the sea.
3Guincho coastkm 46
Guincho is a wind machine with a beach attached. The broad, curving strand lies on the exposed Atlantic side of the Cascais peninsula, backed by dunes and a wild scrub of juniper and umbrella pine, and the north-westerly that Portuguese sailors call the nortada blows across it almost every summer afternoon. Windsurfers and kitesurfers love it, and on a good day the water is full of bright sails skimming the swell. To the north the granite bulk of the Serra de Sintra catches clouds and holds them, while to the south the line of the coast leads on toward Cascais, six kilometres away, and Alcabideche sits on the hills inland.
The dunes behind the beach are protected as part of the Sintra-Cascais Natural Park, and they are worth knowing about because they are some of the last such dunes on this stretch of coast. A boardwalk crosses the sand at Cresmina, and in spring the slopes bloom with sea lavender and wild thyme, while lizards bask on the warm planks. At the southern end of the bay, an old sea fort stands on the rocks, a reminder that this coast spent centuries watching for pirates and enemy ships.
4Cascais foodkm 62
Cascais began as a fishing village, and the fish never left. In 1870 King Luís I made the little town his summer residence, the court followed, the aristocracy built villas along the shore, and a quiet harbour became the smart seaside resort of Lisbon. It is about thirty-six thousand people now, with a marina full of yachts, a pedestrian centre of mosaic pavements, and a fishing fleet that still unloads in the afternoon, which is the best moment to understand why people eat here.
Food is the reason for the stop, and Cascais is generous with it. Grilled sea bream, sea bass and sardines are the staples, cooked simply over charcoal with coarse salt, and you will find shellfish by the kilo, with prawns, barnacles and clams in garlic and coriander. Rice with seafood, soupy and rich, is a local classic, and a plate of salt cod in its many forms is never far away. Pastries are good, a pastel de nata for the road is almost obligatory, and the coffee is strong. Many of the best simple places are a street or two back from the water, where the prices are fairer and the customers are locals.
5Sintra palace roadskm 96
Sintra is a hill town where a granite ridge catches the Atlantic cloud and holds it, so that the slopes are green, damp and cool while Lisbon, half an hour away, bakes. Lord Byron called it a glorious Eden, and Portuguese kings agreed, building summer palaces among the rocks and tree ferns. The Moors left a ruined castle on the ridge, and in the nineteenth century King Ferdinand II, a German prince who married the queen, built the Pena Palace on the highest peak, a fantasy of yellow, red and blue towers that looks as though it was assembled from a box of bricks. Close to the town centre the Quinta da Regaleira has a spiral well and tunnels, and Monserrate Palace has some of the finest gardens.
The ride up to the palaces is the point of the place. The road climbs through dense forest and moss-covered boulders in tight hairpins on a narrow, damp surface, with tourists on foot, tuk-tuks and buses sharing the road. On a busy day it can be slow and a bit nerve-racking, and the mist can fall without warning, so start early. Once you are over the ridge, the road drops west toward the sea and the cape of Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point of mainland Europe, where a lighthouse stands on cliffs above the Atlantic wind. A coast road then runs south toward Cascais, with views over surf beaches and rocky coves.
Before you go
96 km loop, about 1 h 40 min of riding. Check the weather and any road closures before you leave; mountain and coast roads change with the season.