Sintra
Forty minutes northwest of Lisbon by train, the hilltop town of Sintra is a UNESCO site of nineteenth-century romantic palaces — the multicoloured Palácio da Pena perched above the forest, the moss-covered Quinta da Regaleira with its initiation well, the Moorish castle along a cliff ridge, and the National Palace in the town below. Most visitors do it as a day trip from Lisbon; an overnight in Sintra is the better version, after the day-trippers leave. Combine with Cabo da Roca (continental Europe’s westernmost point) and the Atlantic surf town of Cascais.