In shortThe High Cross (Cruz Alta) sits at 528 metres, the highest point of the Sintra hills, almost directly south of Pena's Queen's Terrace, and the official description gives views to Lisbon, Cascais and the Atlantic. It stands inside the Park of Pena, open 09:00 to 19:00 with last admission at 18:00, and is reached on foot uphill from the palace area.
528 mhighest point of the hills
85 hapark around the palace
09:00–19:00park gates, last entry 18:00
from €708-hour small group tour
The cross stands at 528 metres
Everything else on this ridge is lower. The official figure for the High Cross is 528 metres, and from the stone cross at the top the park's own description sends your eye to Lisbon on one side, Cascais on the other, and the Atlantic filling the gap between them. On the map the cross sits almost straight south of the Queen's Terrace, so the palace is behind you and below you rather than beside you.
Seven park highlights carry a name on the official list, and this is the one you have to go uphill for. The other six, the Temple of Columns, the Monk's Grotto, the Valley of the Lakes, the Queen's Fernery, Pena Farm and the Chalet of the Countess of Edla, are spread across 85 hectares of wooded slope, which is the part of a Pena visit people underestimate most.
Plan the cross as its own park objective. The 23 named points of interest at Pena are almost entirely rooms and terraces inside the building, so the time you spend walking up to 528 metres has to be budgeted on top of your interior visit. If you still have to settle which entrance to use and how the hillside sits around it, that is laid out on the Pena Park page here.
Walking up to the High Cross in Sintra
Start from the palace area and keep climbing south. The route is park path rather than pavement: packed earth, loose stone, roots and steps under tree cover, then more open ground as you near the summit. Parques de Sintra publishes no walking time for its park routes, so plan by effort rather than by a number, and give yourself more than you think on the way up and a comfortable margin on the way back down.
For a sense of the gradients involved on this hill, the one slope the official accessibility page puts a figure on is the final approach to the palace door from the transfer stop: about 90 metres reaching up to 18 per cent. The walk to the cross is longer and rougher than that stretch. Shoes with grip matter more here than anywhere else at Pena, and there is nothing resembling a handrail at the top.
The summit is fully exposed. Wind that you barely notice on the terraces arrives unbroken up there, and when cloud settles on the ridge the palace simply vanishes from view while you stand in wet grey air. In high wind the park can be closed to circulation altogether, with the palace then reachable only by the transfer bus, so check the day's park notices before you commit to the climb.
Watch the clock on the descent. The park's last admission is 18:00 and the gates close at 19:00, and the walk back from 528 metres to the main entrance is all the ground you have just covered, in reverse and in failing light if you leave it late.
- Surface: unpaved park path, stone and earth, stepped in places
- Exposure: open summit, wind and low cloud with no shelter
- No official walking time is published for park routes, so budget generously
- Gates: entry until 18:00, closing at 19:00, which fixes your turnaround time on the summit
- Wind: the park can be closed to circulation, leaving the palace reachable only by the transfer bus and the climb out of the question
Outside the walls at Pena, then Cabo da Roca and Cascais
An 8-hour small group day from €70 with guiding outside the monuments, which is where the park paths and the view from the cross are.
★ 4.9/5 · 5,026 reviews
What the palace looks like from up there
Early in the day the hill is at its quietest and also at its most unreliable: cloud often sits on the ridge first thing, and if it does, the palace is a rumour. Wait it out in the park rather than racing up, because the same cloud can clear in minutes.
Once the air is clear, the colours do the work. The 1994 restoration put the old monastery back to old rose and the New Palace to ochre, and from 528 metres those two blocks read as separate buildings welded onto one crag, ringed by mock patrol paths, merlons and watch-towers. You also see what no terrace shows you: how small the palace is against 85 hectares of trees, and how much of the hill is forest.
Late afternoon gives the longest horizon, with Cascais and the Atlantic laid out beyond the palace roofline. Do not plan a sunset up there. Entry stops at 18:00 and closing is 19:00, so on any date when the sun goes down later than that you will be outside the fence when it happens. Be heading downhill well before the gates close.
Where to get the best view of Pena Palace
The palace terraces face outward over the hills. The Queen's Terrace, with the small Arabic Cabinet at the back where a telescope was kept, Triton's Terrace under its coral-decorated arch, the Sentry Walk and the Coach House's Terrace all give you the horizon and the drop, and none of them puts the palace itself in your frame.
For the postcard angle you want the next hilltop. The parapet walk at the Moorish Castle, founded in the 10th century with granite walls threaded between natural boulders along the crests, looks across at Pena with Sintra town below and the Atlantic behind, which is the view most people have already seen before they arrive. The castle opens 09:30 to 18:00 with last ticket and last admission at 17:30, and bus 434 serves both monuments on the same circuit. The Moorish Castle page here covers it in full.
Split the job: the Moorish Castle walls for the framed shot of the palace on its crag, the High Cross for scale, horizon and the sense of standing above everything, the terraces for the drop and the detail of the building you are standing on. Times can shift with notices and weather, so confirm hours on the day.
| Viewpoint | Where it is | What you see | Hours |
|---|
| High Cross (Cruz Alta) | Inside Pena Park, south of the Queen's Terrace, 528 m | Lisbon, Cascais, the Atlantic, the palace below you | Park 09:00–19:00, last admission 18:00 |
|---|
| Palace terraces | On the interior visitor route | Outward views over the hills and coast | Palace 09:30–18:30, last admission 18:00 |
|---|
| Moorish Castle parapet walk | The neighbouring hilltop, same 434 circuit | Sintra town, Pena Palace, the hills, the Atlantic | 09:30–18:00, last ticket and admission 17:30 |
|---|
Camera rules before you carry anything up
Photography and video inside the National Palace of Pena are not allowed at all, so the pictures you take on this hill are taken outdoors: the facades, the terraced approach, the park and the view from the cross.
Leave the tripod behind: they are not permitted anywhere on the Parques de Sintra sites, with exceptional cases requiring written authorisation granted in advance, and the same page rules out drones along with any other remotely operated equipment. Flash and artificial light are out in indoor spaces where capture is permitted. Anything beyond general environments for private use, including commercial or public use, needs authorisation requested at least 15 working days in advance, and a wedding session in the parks carries a heritage image utilization fee of €150 covering park entry for up to six people, with no photography inside the monuments.
Parques de Sintra also publishes a photography itinerary of its own, Another perspective of Sintra, one of seven official itineraries. The photography page on this site goes through the rules and the angles in detail.
Tours that leave room for the detour
The climb to 528 metres only happens if your day has slack in it. Small Group Tour to Sintra, Pena Palace, Cabo Roca and Cascais gives you 8 hours from €70 on a 4.9 ★ (5026 reviews) record, with a maximum of 8 people in an air-conditioned mini-van, collection and return at city-centre hotels, and the guiding done at the outside of the monuments, which is where the park paths and the cross are. Palace tickets sit outside the price: the guide carries them and you settle up with the guide. Lunch is not included either. With Cabo da Roca and Cascais in the same 8 hours, your time at Pena is a block, so decide before you arrive whether the cross is what you spend it on.
Sintra Full Day Private Tour: Including Pena Palace + Regaleira takes the shared timetable out of it: 8 hours from €149, a 4.8 ★ (1803 reviews) record, a driver/guide and vehicle for your party alone, collection and return at the hotel, Wi-Fi on board at no charge, and Pena Palace tickets covered when the skip-the-line option is chosen. Because nobody else is waiting in the van, you can spend the uphill time the walk actually needs and still keep the interior slot.
Both can be cancelled at no charge up to 24 hours before departure, which is worth having on a summit that disappears into cloud and a park that closes to circulation in high wind.
- Small Group Tour to Sintra, Pena Palace, Cabo Roca and Cascais: from €70, 8 hours, 4.9 ★ (5026 reviews), mini-van capped at 8, hotel collection, guiding at the outside of the monuments, palace ticket settled with the guide
- Sintra Full Day Private Tour: Including Pena Palace + Regaleira: 8 hours, from €149, 4.8 ★ (1803 reviews), private driver/guide, hotel pick-up and drop-off, Pena tickets included on the skip-the-line option
- Cancel either one at no charge until 24 hours before departure
Questions people ask
Can you reach the High Cross without going into Pena Park?
No. Cruz Alta stands inside the Park of Pena, so you need park entry and the park's clock applies: gates 09:00 to 19:00, with last admission at 18:00. Nothing in the park is sold by time slot, so the cross fits around whatever hour your palace ticket names; the fixed slots apply to the interior only.
Is the walk suitable for wheelchairs or anyone with reduced mobility?
The route to the cross is unpaved park path with steps and sustained climbing, so plan around it. Getting up to the palace is a different matter: the paid transfer takes wheelchairs on a lifting platform at the rear and comes past every 15 minutes, and Pena keeps one parking space for disabled visitors. The palace interior itself is not accessible because the visitor route has stairways throughout.
What can you actually see from 528 metres?
The official description of the High Cross names Lisbon, Cascais and the Atlantic from the same spot, with Pena Palace below you to the north. On a clouded day you may see none of it: the summit sits in the low cloud that forms on the ridge, and there is no shelter up there.
Can I fly a drone or set up a tripod at the High Cross?
Drones and any remotely operated equipment are not allowed at Parques de Sintra monuments, Pena included. Tripods get the same answer across the sites, with exceptional cases needing written authorisation obtained beforehand. If the images go beyond general environments for private use, the request for authorisation has to be in at least 15 working days ahead.
Is the park ever shut when the palace is open?
Yes. When the wind gets up the park can be closed to circulation, with the transfer bus the only remaining way to the palace, and that takes the climb off your day. Full closures by date are limited to 24 and 25 December plus 31 December and 1 January. Check the day's notices before you travel.
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