Queluz National Palace (Palácio Nacional de Queluz)

The state rooms of Queluz National Palace

The visit starts in the state rooms, where the court held its parties and concerts, and then goes out into the gardens. Parques de Sintra, which runs Queluz, allows an hour and 40 minutes for both, with a coffee in the middle.

The Throne Room

The Throne Room went up around 1770, and Pedro III and Maria I, Portugal’s first undisputed queen, held their parties here. They were husband and wife, and also uncle and niece.

Around the room stand Atlantes, carved male figures by the sculptor Silvestre Faria Lobo, with the ceiling on their shoulders, among mirrors and chandeliers.

For royal christenings the room became a chapel. Today it still hosts concerts, and the President’s banquets for visiting heads of state.

The Music Room

Music had its own room, and it has barely changed since the palace’s first inventory, in 1761. Look up for the carved violins and other instruments hanging on ribbons from the curved part of the ceiling.

Under Maria I’s portrait stands a rare fortepiano by Clementi, the Italian composer and piano maker in London. It’s still played at concerts.

The Don Quixote Room

The Don Quixote Room plays a trick on the eye. Its eight columns make it look round, and it’s painted with scenes from Cervantes’s novel.

Seven of the nine children of King João VI and his Spanish-born queen, Carlota Joaquina, were born here. One of them, Pedro, became Brazil’s first emperor and then King Pedro IV of Portugal, and he died in this same room at 35.

The gardens and the Tiled Canal of Queluz National Palace

The Tiled Canal runs for 115 metres, with the river Jamor flowing through it. Its walls are lined with tile panels based on engravings of ports and landscapes.

Beside the water there used to be the Lake House, also called the Chinese House or the House of Music, where the queen’s musicians played on summer afternoons. At night, torches in gilded cornucopia holders lit the way.

Nearer the palace, the formal gardens start right under its windows. The Hanging Garden, also called Neptune’s, is laid out in clipped box in the French “embroidery” pattern, with lead statues from John Cheere’s workshop in London. Most of the other statues came from Italy.

The gardens also take in the Grand Cascade, a typical rococo piece, the Malta Garden and the Botanical Garden, which won two Europa Nostra awards in 2018.

Tickets for Queluz National Palace and its gardens

You can buy a ticket for the palace and gardens, €13, or one for the gardens alone, €6. Both are sold at the palace, and neither has a set entry time.

The Lisboa Card takes 10% off the palace and gardens ticket at the desk. The 24-hour card, €31, covers the trains to Sintra from Rossio, and they stop at Queluz-Belas.

A few things are out of action this autumn. Until the end of November the toilets at the entrance are shut, with temporary ones by the garden entrance and three more along the route.

Queen Carlota Joaquina’s rooms were due to reopen in October 2026, and a new room for the sacred art collection is due to open in November.

Between May and October, setting up events can close parts of the palace at short notice.

Who lived in Queluz National Palace

Queluz grew out of an older house. In 1747 Prince Pedro, the future Pedro III, had the Portuguese architect Mateus Vicente de Oliveira enlarge it.

From 1760 the works were in the hands of Jean-Baptiste Robillion, a French architect, who also designed the gardens. When the old royal palace at Ajuda, a wooden building, burned in 1794, Queluz became the official home of the court.

After Maria I came her son João, the future João VI, and his wife, Carlota Joaquina. In 1807, as Napoleon’s general Junot marched on Lisbon, the royal family left for Brazil.

From 1821 Carlota Joaquina lived at Queluz in semi-exile. Since 1957 the D. Maria I Pavilion has housed heads of state on official visits.

Queluz National Palace by train, and on to Sintra

Sintra line trains from Rossio, Oriente or Entrecampos stop at Queluz-Belas and Monte Abraão, each about a kilometre’s walk from the palace. From Rossio it’s about 20 minutes to Queluz-Belas.

Bus 1717 runs from Colégio Militar metro to the Queluz (4 Caminhos) stop, about 15 minutes’ walk away. Drivers take the IC19 and leave at Queluz-Palácio.

Back on the train, Sintra is about 20 minutes further down the line: