Nestled in the magical green hills and cobble-stoned
roads of Sintra, Casa da Confraria offers you a
peaceful and private setting in the heart of Portugal's
enchanting region where the Kings built their summer
palaces. The recently refurbished manor house,
thirty minutes from Lisbon airport, has magnificent
views of the surrounding mountains, the village, and
the coastline. The picturesque old town of Sintra,
with its 18th-century pastel-hued facades, is only a
five minute walk, and within another fifteen minutes
you enter the colorful, bustling seaside towns of
Estoril and Cascais. Beautiful beaches, some with
great surf, are also a 20 minute drive. The Casa’s
two houses are elegantly furnished. The sitting room
and the traditional dining room give Casa da Confraria
a warmth and home-like atmosphere that is rare
among luxury guesthouses. The terraced gardens are
perfect for a quiet and relaxing dinner, and filled with
fruit trees and grassy areas to lay out.

The House is located in the most elevated area of
the hills. Sintra train station is about 1 mile away.
The train is scheduled every fifteen minutes and it
takes about thirty minutes to get to Lisbon. The
distance to the coast and the town of Cascais with
several beautiful beaches is about 5 miles. The
Lisbon Airport is located eighteen miles from Sintra.
Casino Estoril, the largest in Europe, is only about
ten minutes by car.

Activities: Cycling, diving, fishing, golf, horse riding,
mountain biking, mountaineering, paragliding, roller
blading, sailing, surfing, swimming, tennis, walking,
water skiing, wind-surfing

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Reviews left by previous renters:

(+) We stayed at the Casa da Confraria in September
2004 for my wife's 40th birthday. We couldn't have
been happier with the house and Sintra itself.

The house was furnished with beautiful antiques and
decorated with exquisite Portuguese tiles. There
were two bedrooms, one on the first floor and one on
the second with an adjoining room that I believe had
another single bed. There were three sitting rooms, a
kitchen, a dining room, and two terraces - the higher
one complete with fruit trees and a table for alfresco
dining.

The house is at the top of a hill, and at night, you can
walk out the front door and see all the way to the
sea. At the bottom of the hill, there is a natural
spring where the locals fill their water bottles, and we
did as well.

There were plenty of restaurants, both down the hill
to the main part of town and over in Sao Pedro,
which is walkable from the house. Sao Pedro also
has a market every second and fourth Sunday with a
wide variety of foods and products for sale, including
an amazing bread stuffed with chouriço made in clay
ovens permanently installed in the square there.
Getting it hot out of the oven made it even more
delicious.

There is also a local bus that stops at the bottom of
the hill and goes into another part of Sintra where
there is a grocery store.

Sintra itself is wonderfully beautiful, with two royal
palaces and amazing courtiers' houses. We were
very comfortable in the house except that the beds
were quite narrow and the mattresses rather hard.
But the surroundings were elegant and the site
manager extremely helpful.

The owner even gave us the number of a taxi driver
who picked us up at the airport in Lisbon and took us
to the house. We look forward to returning to Casa
da Confraria, having had such a lovely time there.

Matt Flynn and Megan Mooha

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Bedroom configuration

The big house bedrooms:

One bedroom with a double bed with a bathroom
One bedroom with two single beds with a bathroom
One bedroom with a single bed with a bathroom
One bedroom with a single bed

Total four bedrooms, six sleeping places, three
bathrooms

The small house bedrooms:

One bedroom with a double bed with a bathroom
One bedroom with a double bed
One bedroom with a single bed

Total three bedrooms, five sleeping places

Parking is available at Santa Maria church yard,
about 100 meters from the house. It is very quiet and
secure.