It is a one-way loop from Sintra station: São Pedro, the old town, the Moorish Castle gate, the Pena gate, then back through the old town to the station. The ticket is a 24-hour pass for €13.50, 8% less online, valid on the 434 and on the 435, which does Regaleira, Seteais and Monserrate. A bus every 10 minutes on average, from about nine in the morning into the early evening, and on a weekend morning the queue at the station can take longer than the ride.
From Lisbon you take the train to Sintra first; the 434 is the local loop from the railway station. It drops you at the Pena gate, not the palace: from there it is 20 minutes uphill on foot or the shuttle, €4.50 return. The tours that start in Sintra skip the queue altogether; the loop and its stops are below.
Tours that skip the bus
For train arrivals: three tours that meet you at the station or in the old town and do the hill on their own wheels or feet. The full comparison is in the chips above.
EasyEscape Tours · 5.0/5 · 72 reviews
Portela station: Pena’s grounds and Regaleira on foot
Tickets reserved for you, paid in cash on the day. Guided at Pena’s grounds and inside Regaleira. Meals extra.
From €65 per adult · “Half-Day Sintra: Pena Palace, Quinta Regaleira & Town Center”
Easy Going Portugal · 5.0/5 · 186 reviews
Join in the old town at 09:35, tickets in the price
Regaleira ticket and Pena terraces ticket included; rooms not. Food and drinks extra.
From €118 per adult · “Sintra Guided Tour (8pax)”
Soul Travelers · 4.8/5 · 58 reviews
Seventy-five minutes by tuk-tuk from the station
No tickets; monuments seen from outside. Water. Private tuk-tuk for 1 to 6.
From €45 per adult · “Private Tour Sintra, Palaces and Mountain Tuk Tuk(2 to 6 people)”
All 8 compared: Tours starting in Sintra →Bookings go through Viator at the same price; we earn a commission.
Why we would book one
- No queue at the station: the van drops you at the gate, or the guide walks you up the shaded trail.
- Two of the three hold the Pena or Regaleira ticket, or reserve it and take cash on the day.
- A tuk-tuk does the same loop with a driver-guide for €45 per person, and stops at the viewpoints the bus passes.
The loop, stop by stop
The 434 route, stop by stop, with our own minutes; the operator publishes the route and the frequency, not a timetable.
| Stop | Minutes from the station | What is there |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | The bus leaves from outside the station. Buy the pass online for 8% off, or at the stop; it is valid for 24 hours from the first validation. Parques de Sintra sends drivers to the peripheral car parks, above all the free one at Lourel on the edge of town, from which the 434 and 435 also run. | |
| about 5 | The upper village; the Santa Maria trail to the castle starts near the Parques de Sintra information point here, 1.8 km and about an hour uphill. | |
| about 10 | The National Palace square, the pastry shops, the walk to Regaleira. Get off here on the way down for lunch. | |
| about 15 | No timed slot at the castle; the office at the gate closes 12:00 to 13:00 and the machine keeps selling. The Pena gate is a 10-minute walk further up the same road. | |
| about 20 | Not the palace: 20 minutes uphill through the park on foot, or the shuttle, €4.50 return per person over 6. Be at the palace door for your slot, not at the gate. | |
| about 35 to 40 for the full loop | The bus returns through the old town. Trains to Lisbon every 30 minutes until 23:50. |
- Return train from Rossio
- €5.10
- Bus 434/435 pass, 24 hours
- €13.50
- Pena shuttle, gate to palace, return
- €4.50
- Pena Essential ticket, adult
- €20
- The hill by bus, per adult
- €43.10
Without the shuttle the day is €38.60. The operator sells the pass, not single fares; online it is 8% less than €13.50.
If the queue at the station is the part you dread, the tours above meet you there and do the hill for you, or walk you up the trail with no bus queue.
Route, frequency and pass from the Scotturb ticket site sintra434.com and the Sintra 434 page, checked Sep 18, 2026; the operator publishes no first or last bus. Minutes from the station and the queue are the editor’s own timing. Shuttle and slot rules from Parques de Sintra, checked Aug 29, 2026.
What to change if
- The queue at the station is long
- Walk. From the old town the trail past Vila Sassetti reaches the Pena gate in under an hour, steep and shaded, and you arrive from the side where nobody is queuing. Or take the 435 the other way to Regaleira first.
- You want Regaleira and Monserrate
- That is the 435, on the same pass: Regaleira, Seteais and Monserrate via Colares. Regaleira is also a 15-minute walk from the station, so the 435 earns its keep for Monserrate.
- You are staying in Sintra
- Skip the pass if you are only doing Pena and the castle: walk up the Santa Maria trail in the morning and down through the town in the afternoon. The pass is for a day with Monserrate in it.
- You would rather not do the hill on a bus at all
- A tuk-tuk from the station does the loop with a guide in 75 to 90 minutes from €45 per person, and stops at the viewpoints; a half-day tour from Lisbon does it with the ticket held.
Questions
How much is the 434 bus?
€13.50 for a 24-hour hop-on hop-off pass valid on the 434 and the 435, 8% less bought online. The operator does not publish a single fare.
Does the 434 go to Pena Palace?
To the Pena gate. The palace is 20 minutes uphill through the park on foot, or the shuttle for €4.50 return. Your timed slot is for the palace door, so allow at least 20 minutes from the gate to the palace door.
What time does the first 434 leave?
Around nine, by our own mornings, and the loop runs into the early evening; the operator publishes the frequency, every 10 minutes on average, rather than a timetable. For a 09:30 Pena slot, take the trail or a tuk-tuk rather than trust the first bus.
Is the 434 worth it, or should I walk?
Worth it for the ride up on a hot day and for the 435 to Monserrate. The walk up past Vila Sassetti takes under an hour and skips the queue; the walk down from the castle to the old town is the nicest half hour on the hill.