SINTRA · JANUARY · 1991-2020 NORMALS
January hands Sintra a 57.9°F (14.4°C) afternoon, a 46.0°F (7.8°C) night and 9 hours 48 minutes of daylight to spend between them. That is enough for two ticketed sites and a walk downhill, and not enough for three. The palaces keep their doors open, the parks keep their gates open, and the Serra keeps making its own cloud, which is the one thing no ticket controls.
What the month takes away is light and dry ground: 3.78 inches of rain across 9.9 days, and a sun that is gone at 5:39 pm. What it gives back is climbing weather. Pena sits at the top of 210 hectares of walled park, and there is a real difference between walking up that hill at 57.9°F and walking up it in August.
JANUARY AT A GLANCE · SINTRA
Come for palaces and parks at 57.9°F, plan around 9.9 rain days, and start the last visit of the day before 3:30 pm, because the sun is down at 5:39.
AVERAGE HIGH 57.9°F · 9.9 RAIN DAYS · 9H48M OF DAYLIGHT ON JAN 15 · PENA PARK AND PALACE 20 EUR
Go for: cool-weather climbing through Pena’s 210 hectares, Monserrate’s 3,000-plus species on 50 hectares, and palace interiors on the wet days.
Think twice before: planning anything that needs late light. The sun sets at 5:39 pm on January 15, and the Cabo da Roca lighthouse closes at 5:30 pm.
Normals: IPMA station 579, 1991-2020 · Hours and prices: Parques de Sintra, read Sep 22, 2026 · full sources at the end
On this page
- Average highs, lows and rain daysSintra weather in January
- What to wear at 9am and at 2pmHow warm the day gets
- Crowds and what a ticket costsLow season and the gate price
- Things to do in Sintra in JanuaryPena, Monserrate, Cabo da Roca
- A two-day plan built around 9h48m of lightThe two-day itinerary
- January or February?January against December and February
- Is January a good time to visit Sintra?The verdict, for and against
Most visitors do Sintra as a day out of Lisbon, and January changes the hours available rather than the plan itself. We could not read a train fare or a journey time from an operator page, so we quote neither. Our getting-around guide covers the network. For which palace to prioritize whatever the date, start with the Sintra guide. For how this month sits in the country’s year, see the twelve-month verdict.
Sintra weather in January: average highs, lows and rain days
| Measure | January normal |
|---|---|
| Average high | 57.9°F (14.4°C) |
| Average low | 46.0°F (7.8°C) |
| Precipitation | 3.78 in |
| Days with 0.04 in (1 mm) or more | 9.9 |
| Days with 0.39 in (10 mm) or more | 3.3 |
| Daylight, January 15 | 9h48m · sunrise 7:51 am, sunset 5:39 pm |
Every figure here comes from IPMA, Portugal’s national weather service, and from a single real thermometer: station 579, Lisboa Gago Coutinho, at 341 feet (103.9 m), reading 1991-2020 normals rather than a model grid cell. January there averages a 57.9°F high, a 46.0°F low and 3.78 inches of rain. That gauge sits 12 miles (20 km) from Sintra and a great deal lower, and the Serra manufactures its own cloud, so the hill runs several degrees colder and much mistier than the normals below.
Measurable rain falls on 9.9 days in an average January, close to one day in three, and 3.3 of those days deliver 0.39 inch (10 mm) or more. Those thresholds are IPMA’s own, 0.04 inch and 0.39 inch, not the 0.10-inch line American tables use, so the counts do not swap. Over a four-day stay the rates work out to roughly 1.3 days with rain on them and about 0.4 of a day with a genuine soaking.
Between the 57.9°F afternoon and the 46.0°F night sits 11.9 degrees, a modest gap that still decides what you carry up a hill. Pack for wet before you pack for cold: a shell that sheds rain, one warm mid-layer, and shoes with grip, because Sintra’s paths are stone, cobble and wet leaf in a month taking 3.78 inches. The full list lives in our packing guide.
On January 15 the sun is up at 7:51 am and down at 5:39 pm, giving 9 hours 48 minutes (Portugal runs on UTC through the winter). The gates outlast the light. Pena’s park takes its last admission at 6:00 pm, twenty-one minutes after sunset, and the palace stops selling at 5:30. Anything you want to see by daylight needs to be underway by 3:30 pm.
How warm is Sintra in January? Morning lows, afternoon highs and frost
The month averages 57.9°F (14.4°C) by day and 46.0°F (7.8°C) by night, 11.9 degrees apart. Treat 57.9°F as the generous end of your afternoon: the reading belongs to a coastal airport, and Pena’s gate stands well up in the Serra, where the cloud sits.
At 9:00 am, when Pena’s park opens, you are in the coldest working hour of the day, near that 46.0°F low, in air that hangs damp on the hillside. By early afternoon, halfway up 210 hectares of wooded park, most people are carrying the fleece instead of wearing it. Two layers plus a shell handle the whole day. A heavy coat becomes luggage before eleven.
On frost, the IPMA normals we read give monthly averages and not a count of nights below 32°F, so we give no frost figure. What the average does say is that January nights sit 14.0 degrees above freezing at the airport gauge. The Serra runs colder than that gauge and we could not verify by how much, so plan for a cold hillside morning rather than an icy one.
How busy is Sintra in January? Crowds, ticket prices and the low season
January falls in winter, outside the summer and Easter blocks, and that is a calendar fact rather than a price. We found no occupancy series and no monthly room-rate series for Sintra, so we crown no month cheapest or busiest. What we can price is the gate, and nothing Parques de Sintra published on September 22, 2026 carries a seasonal tier.
Pena runs in three tiers: 12 EUR for the park alone, 20 EUR for the Essential visit covering park and palace, 45 EUR for the Full Tour, with children under 6 free. We could not read a booking window from the operator, so we name no number of weeks ahead. The constraint January sets is the clock. With 9 hours 48 minutes of light, two ticketed sites in a day is the working ceiling, and the third one gets seen in the dark.
We could not verify a lodging-tax rate for Sintra, so we give no percentage. The nights question matters more anyway, since most visitors sleep in Lisbon and ride out for the day. Budget the whole trip with what a week in Portugal costs, and pick the bed with our where-to-stay guide.
One paid extra genuinely changes a January day: the 4.50 EUR round-trip transfer between Pena’s park entrance and the palace door. In July it is a convenience. In a month whose light runs out at 5:39 pm and whose paths are carrying 3.78 inches of rain, it hands back the piece of the afternoon you would otherwise spend walking the same slope twice.
Things to do in Sintra in January: Pena, Monserrate and Cabo da Roca
The Cultural Landscape of Sintra joined the UNESCO list in 1995 under criteria (ii), (iv) and (v), and the property covers 946 hectares. Covering a decent share of them on foot is what January allows and high summer does not: at an average 57.9°F, the climb to Pena is a cool walk. All hours and prices here come from Parques de Sintra, read on September 22, 2026.
Pena’s park runs to 210 hectares behind a stone wall and takes in the Tapada do Mocho and the Moorish Castle. Ferdinand II began planting it around 1840 with species brought from North America, Asia and New Zealand. The park opens 09:00 to 19:00, the palace 09:30 to 18:30. The Moorish Castle costs 12 EUR (10 EUR at ages 6 to 17 and over 65) and runs 09:30 to 18:00. Monserrate covers 50 hectares on the northern slopes with more than 3,000 exotic species, 12 EUR, park from 09:00.
Monserrate’s gardens were laid out after a careful reading of the microclimatic zones of the ground, and those 3,000 species stand there in January as in July. What moves is the air around them. January’s real difference is at closing time: the Convent of the Capuchos shuts at 5:30 pm on an 11 EUR ticket, and the Cabo da Roca lighthouse closes its courtyard and interpretation center at 5:30 pm too, nine minutes before the sun goes down. In June the same gates close in broad daylight.
Free in January as in any month: Villa Sassetti, open 10:00 to 18:00, and the gardens of the National Palace of Sintra in the town center, whose interior costs 13 EUR on the Essential visit. Note that Villa Sassetti’s 10:00 opening arrives two hours and nine minutes after a January sunrise, which makes it a poor first stop and a fine mid-morning one.
Sintra in January: a two-day itinerary
Day one belongs to the hill. Be at Pena’s park gate for the 9:00 opening, take the 4.50 EUR transfer up, and be through the palace door at 9:30 when it opens, with the morning still near 46.0°F. Walk back down through the 210 hectares before noon, cross to the Moorish Castle for the ridge in early afternoon (12 EUR, last admission 5:30 pm), and finish in the free gardens of the National Palace in town. Sunset at 5:39 pm ends the outdoor part.
Day two goes lower and west. Monserrate’s park opens at 9:00 and its palace at 9:30, 12 EUR for 50 hectares and 3,000 species, then the road out to Cabo da Roca, where the lighthouse runs 09:30 to 17:30, 5 EUR for the Essential visit or 10 EUR to go up the tower. If the sky delivers one of January’s 3.3 heavy days, flip the order and stay under roofs: the National Palace at 13 EUR, 09:30 to 18:30, and Pena’s interior. Capuchos, at 11 EUR, is the one to postpone.
Sintra in January vs December and February
| Measure | December | January | February |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average high | 58.8°F | 57.9°F | 60.3°F |
| Average low | 47.7°F | 46.0°F | 47.1°F |
| Precipitation | 3.94 in | 3.78 in | 2.80 in |
| Days with 0.04 in (1 mm) or more | 9.7 | 9.9 | 7.8 |
The three months differ by small, consistent margins. January owns the coldest nights at 46.0°F, against 47.7°F in December and 47.1°F in February. By day it reaches 57.9°F, 0.9 degrees under December and 2.4 under February. Rain is where February breaks away: 2.80 inches over 7.8 days, against January’s 3.78 over 9.9 and December’s 3.94 over 9.7.
Moving four weeks forward buys 2.4 degrees on the afternoon, 2.1 fewer rain days and almost a full inch less rain, and that is the whole of February’s case. Moving back a month gains 0.9 degrees of daytime warmth and pays 3.94 inches for it, the wettest of the trio, as the December page lays out. Our daylight reading covers January 15 only, at 9 hours 48 minutes, so we quote no figure for the neighbors.
Is January a good time to visit Sintra?
Yes, if your Sintra is palaces, parks and stone staircases. Afternoons at 57.9°F are good climbing weather, 3.78 inches spread over 9.9 days still leaves roughly two days in three without measurable rain, and the eleven parks and monuments Parques de Sintra manages were all listed as open at the hours quoted here when we read them on September 22, 2026. No, if you need long days or a guaranteed view: the Serra makes cloud, and no month promises you Pena’s towers from the ramparts.
If the answer is no, February is the shift to make, and the argument is 60.3°F by day, 2.80 inches of rain and 7.8 rain days against January’s 9.9. Nothing else separates them by much. December moves the wrong way, to 3.94 inches, and its nights at 47.7°F buy back only 1.7 degrees.
Against its two neighbors, January pairs the coldest nights of the three, 46.0°F, with afternoons warm enough at 57.9°F to walk 210 hectares of hillside park without ever wanting shade.
The last word
Decide by the hill, not the calendar: two ticketed sites is what 9 hours 48 minutes of light will carry, and the 4.50 EUR Pena transfer is the add-on to take. One fact worth holding before you book the nights in Lisbon: the 946-hectare World Heritage property sits inside the Sintra-Cascais Natural Park, protected under national law since 1994 and classified a National Monument, with a further 3,641 hectares of buffer zone wrapped around it. Pick one gate, arrive for 9:00 am, and let the 5:39 pm sunset close the day.
Sources & data for this guide
- January normals, high 57.9°F, low 46.0°F, 3.78 in · IPMA, climatological normals 1991-2020, station 579 Lisboa Gago Coutinho, 103.9 m · checked Sep 23, 2026
- Rain days at the 1 mm and 10 mm thresholds, 9.9 and 3.3 · IPMA, same station and period · checked Sep 23, 2026
- December and February normals used in the comparison · IPMA, same station and period · checked Sep 23, 2026
- Sunrise 7:51 am, sunset 5:39 pm and 9h48m of daylight on January 15 · sunrise-sunset.org · checked Sep 23, 2026
- Ticket prices, opening hours and the 4.50 EUR Pena transfer · Parques de Sintra – Monte da Lua, Opening Times and Prices · checked Sep 23, 2026
- 946-hectare property, 3,641-hectare buffer, 1995 inscription, Pena’s 210 ha, Monserrate’s 50 ha and 3,000 species · UNESCO World Heritage Centre, file 723 · checked Sep 23, 2026
- What we could not verify, and therefore do not quote: a train fare or journey time between Lisbon and Sintra, a bus timetable inside the Serra, a sea-surface temperature for this coast, a lodging-tax rate, and any occupancy or room-rate series.
- The climate gauge is at Lisbon’s airport, 12 miles from the Serra and far lower · hours and prices change, confirm with the operator when you book.