Dogs Return to the Palace Gardens of Sintra and Queluz on Sunday After More Than a Century, One Per Person on a Free Ticket

Dogs will be allowed back into the gardens of the National Palaces of Sintra and Queluz from Sunday, 4 October, for the first time in more than a century. Parques de Sintra (Sintra Parks), the company that manages the monuments of the Sintra hills, announced the change on Friday to mark World Animal Day. The Convento dos Capuchos (Capuchos Convent), a former friary in the Sintra hills, will admit dogs from the same day.

The three sites join the Castelo dos Mouros (Moorish Castle), where dogs have been allowed since 2022, and the park of Monserrate, where they have been allowed since 2024. That leaves two of the places Parques de Sintra runs closed to dogs: the Parque da Pena (Pena Park), with the palace at its centre, and the lighthouse at Cabo da Roca.

The rules at the gate

The dog needs its own ticket, which is free and collected at the entrance. The company's rules for every site that admits dogs are:

• one dog per person;
• no more than five dogs inside a monument at the same time, so you may have to wait at the gate until another leaves;
• a lead is compulsory, and it must not be an extending one;
• the dog must have a microchip;
• dogs stay on the paths, keep out of signed no-dog areas and must not disturb other visitors or animals;
• owners pick up after their dog and use the bins provided.

Dogs of breeds classed as potentially dangerous get in only with a handler aged over 16, a muzzle and a short lead of up to one metre, and the owner must show the dog's licence. Those conditions mirror the general rules for the listed breeds, which our guide to owning a Rottweiler or a Pit Bull in Portugal explains.

The sites have been fitted with water bowls, dispensers of bags for droppings and secure spots where an owner can leave the dog while visiting the parts it cannot enter. Parques de Sintra publishes maps of where dogs may go at the Moorish Castle and at Monserrate; it has not yet published maps for the three gardens that open to dogs on Sunday.

What a visit costs

The dog's ticket is free, but its owner pays the usual price. On the company's current price list, the garden of the National Palace of Sintra, in the centre of the town, is free to enter. A ticket for the gardens alone at Queluz costs 6 euros for an adult and 4.50 euros for anyone aged 6 to 17 or over 65, with a family ticket for two adults and two young people at 15 euros. Entry to the Moorish Castle and to Monserrate costs 12 euros for an adult, and to the Capuchos Convent 11 euros.

Opening hours differ from site to site. The gardens at Queluz are open from 9:00 to 18:30, with the last tickets sold at 17:30; the garden of the National Palace of Sintra is open from 9:30 to 18:30, with the last entry at 18:00. The Capuchos Convent closes at 17:30. Several ticket offices close for lunch from 12:00 to 13:00, with ticket machines on site.

Back to the royal family's habits

The company presents the change as a return to an older way of life. Dogs were part of the daily life of the Portuguese royal family at Sintra, it says, and appear in the record: a photograph of Queen Amélia at the Pena Palace with three of her dogs, a Great Dane, a Labrador and an Irish Terrier, and dozens of drawings, watercolours and ceramic pieces of dogs by King Fernando II, known as the artist king. In the botanical garden at Queluz, four statues of pointers still stand.

Parques de Sintra says the aim is to make the parks more inclusive and closer to nature, while protecting the gardens, the monuments and their wildlife. Sintra has been trying to manage the pressure of visitors on the hills for some time: in July the council barred tour coaches from the historic centre, a decision tour operators then took to court.

The full rules, and the maps for the Moorish Castle and Monserrate, are on the Parques de Sintra website (in Portuguese).

Sources: Parques de Sintra notice of 2 October 2026 on the admission of dogs to the gardens of the National Palaces of Sintra and Queluz and the Capuchos Convent; its "Os cães são bem-vindos" rules page and the site leaflets for the Moorish Castle and Monserrate; its current opening hours and prices page (parquesdesintra.pt).