Convent of the Capuchos

Convent of the Capuchos tickets: which one to buy

A modest ticket is bought online or at the gate, and fast-track versions exist mainly because the car park is small rather than because the queue is long. The convent is the least visited of the Sintra sites and the hardest to reach: it sits deep in the Sintra hills, about seven kilometres from the town centre on narrow forest roads with no bus service. A hire car, a taxi or a tuk-tuk are the options, and drivers charge a fixed rate for the round trip with waiting time.

Combined tickets with Pena Palace and the Moorish Castle are sold by the parks company and save money if you are doing several; they do not solve the transport. Guided tours are not offered on site and the labelling is minimal, which suits the place. Allow ninety minutes including the drive. The parks company runs a shuttle between the Sintra sites in high season, but it does not reach Capuchos, which is part of why the convent stays quiet.

Visiting Convent of the Capuchos: what to see

Eight friars arrived from Arrabida in 1560 and built what may be the most extreme monastery in Europe: a warren of cells cut into the granite boulders of the hillside, each barely large enough to lie down in, with doorways so low that an adult must stoop and walls and ceilings lined with cork to keep out the damp and the cold. The cork gives the place its other name, the Cork Convent. There is a chapel, a refectory, a tiny kitchen, a bell, and outside a scatter of hermit caves where individual friars withdrew further still.

Philip II of Spain is said to have remarked that he had seen two things in his kingdom worth the journey, the Escorial for its size and Capuchos for its poverty. The forest has grown back over everything, and moss covers the stones. A small chapel of wood and cork stands apart from the main cluster, and the friars' water supply was a stone channel cut down the hillside that still runs after rain.

Convent of the Capuchos opening hours and the best time to go

Open daily from morning to early evening with shorter hours in winter; the last entry is an hour before closing. Sintra's microclimate matters here more than anywhere: the hills hold cloud and drizzle even when Lisbon is in full sun, and the convent in mist is extraordinary and also slippery. Paths are uneven granite with steps and low doorways throughout, and the site is not suitable for anyone with limited mobility.

Summer weekends bring Sintra's traffic to a standstill on the mountain roads, so go early. There is no cafe and no shop. Photography is allowed. Bring a light and mind your head in the cells, where a torch reveals the cork lining properly. Combining Capuchos with the Peninha chapel on the ridge above makes a good half day for anyone with a car.