National Palace of Sintra

On arrival
In the case of wheelchair users, we would recommend getting in touch beforehand in order to guarantee vehicle access as far as the most appropriate entranceway.

The vast majority of staff have received basic training in Portuguese Sign Language and hence contact with ticket offices may be made by this means.

National Palace of Sintra
Opportunity to reserve a manual wheelchair with a traction chassis for any visitor with mobility difficulties.

The main entranceway features various flights of stairs that render it inaccessible to persons with mobility restrictions. We correspondingly recommend such access is made via the Palace kitchen. Whenever necessary, we can provide traction equipment to facilitate mobility and counter both the slope on this route and its irregular cobbled surface. 

A ramp may be laid in the kitchen in order to provide access to visit the Manueline Room.

There is also the means of placing a ramp to link with the Archers’ Room and enabling visits to be extended to the Swan Room. To ensure these ramps are in place, please make a prior reservation. Whenever there is no reservation, the visitor shall have to await their placing (approximately 15-20 min).

The connection between Archers’ Room and the Central Patio involves the deployment of equipment to enable the crossing of the stairways – a stair climber. This equipment, operated by members of the Parques de Sintra team, ensures the safe circumvention of steps up to 20 cm in height.

In turn, visitors may then proceed from the Central Patio to the Lion’s Patio via the fixed, permanent ramps in stainless steel.

The retail outlets and toilet facilities are accessible within the monument.

Visitors may also move on from the Lion’s Patio through to the Preta Garden via two lifting platforms that ensure the means to get round the two flights of stairs. There is also the opportunity to visit the ground floor of the Preta Garden and take in the views of Sintra and its surrounding hills although the gravel pathways here may hinder ease of movement.

Departure from the monument takes place via recourse to the stair climber.

Due to the existence of various steps along the extent of the visitor route, the remainder of the Palace remains inaccessible to persons with mobility restrictions. However, the accessible area now totals around 1,820 m2.

Inside the Palace, there is also a three-dimensional scale model of the monument that visitors may touch and engage with to gain a better understanding of the structure and layout of the building.