Monserrate Palace

Monserrate was rented in the 1790s by William Beckford, the English writer and one of the richest men in Britain, who built a neo-Gothic house here; Byron visited and wrote about it, and the property then fell into ruin. In 1856 Francis Cook, another wealthy Englishman, bought it and rebuilt the palace in an eclectic Moorish, Gothic and Indian manner - a long facade of three domes, and an interior of carved and moulded plaster in interlacing patterns of extraordinary fineness, particularly the central gallery and the music room. The park is the other half: thirty-three hectares planted from the 1860s with species grouped by region - a Mexican garden, an Australian one, tree ferns from New Zealand, a valley of camellias - fed by an irrigation system and laid out with lawns, ruins and a waterfall. It is quieter than Pena and Sintra's other palaces.

What you actually see

• The plasterwork - interlacing carved and moulded patterns through the interior.
• The facade - three domes in a Moorish, Gothic and Indian mix from the 1860s.
• The regional gardens - thirty-three hectares planted by geographic origin.
• The literary history - Beckford's house here, and Byron's visit.

When to go

Year-round; spring for camellias and the fern valley. Two to three hours. Far less crowded than Pena, which is the main reason to prefer it.

Honest expectations

The park is large and hilly with a lot of walking. Sintra's traffic makes driving here difficult and parking is minimal - take the bus. Rain and fog are frequent. The palace interior is small relative to the ticket price.

Nearby

Sintra town is east; Capuchos and Pena are elsewhere in the serra.