Quinta da Regaleira

Romantic Estate Of Palace, Chapel, Grottoes And The Initiation Well, Built 1904 1910 For Antonio Carvalho Monteiro; Inside The UNESCO Cultural Landscape Of Sintra · Sintra, Lisbon

Quinta da Regaleira is a Romantic estate on the edge of Sintra's old town: a neo-Manueline palace, a small chapel and a steep wooded garden riddled with grottoes, tunnels, towers and wells. It was built between 1904 and 1910 by the Italian architect and set designer Luigi Manini for Antonio Augusto Carvalho Monteiro, a millionaire nicknamed Monteiro of the Millions, who filled it with symbols that visitors still argue about - often read as Templar, Masonic, alchemical and Dantesque. The star is the Initiation Well, a spiral stair winding down nine landings into the earth, from which tunnels lead out to a lake and a waterfall with stepping stones. It sits inside the UNESCO Cultural Landscape of Sintra, but it is run separately from the state palaces with its own ticket. People come for the garden more than the house. The honest caveat: the well has queues and a one-way route at busy times, the tunnels are dark, wet and slippery, and the steep garden is very hard going for anyone with limited mobility.

Rua Barbosa du Bocage 5, on the western edge of Sintra historic centre, about 800 m from the National Palace, Sintra, Lisbon, Portugal

Open daily all year, roughly 09:30-10:00 to 18:00-20:00 in the summer season and closing earlier in winter (last entry about an hour before closing - confirm), closed on Christmas and New Year's Day. Tickets are sold by the estate itself, not by Parques de Sintra; buy online ahead from Easter to October, when entry may be in time slots (confirm). It is about 10-15 minutes on foot west of the National Palace in town, or a short circuit bus or tuk-tuk ride from Sintra station, itself about 40 minutes by CP train from Lisbon Rossio.

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