What will the weather be like?

We get a lot of questions about the weather from our guests before their arrival:

Will it rain in May/February/November…?

Will the weather be warm enough to eat outside in the evening?

What are the coolest temperatures we can expect?

Do we need air-conditioning?

As much as we want to answer all of these questions sincerely, not only is it difficult because of climate change, but many of these questions are in fact very subjective in nature.

Traditionally, our summers are warm and dry and winters cooler and humid. Traditionally.  With the climate change however, there are some slight changes in the temperatures and rain fall.  What has not changed is the ABUNDANCE OF LIGHT AND SUNSHINE THROUGHOUT THE YEAR.

There is a special light even in the rain!

It is very, very rare, even in the coldest months, for the temperature to get close to freezing, let alone below freezing temperatures.  So no snow or frost is to be expected at any given month.  The normal average winter daytime temperatures in Sintra range from 10 to 15ºC (50-60F) and about 5-10ºC (40-50F) for the low temperatures at night. Summer time highs are usually in the upper 20´s (80+ F) during the afternoons, rarely much over 30ºC (in the 90’s F), and at night, the temperatures drop to 15-20ºC (60-70F).

Most of our rain comes in the winter months, yet even in the winter it is rare to have full days of rain.  Our rain traditionally comes in cycles of a couple of hours and even during the rainiest of months at least half of the days have plenty of sunshine.  You would have to be very unlucky to get rained on daily during a one week holiday.  And if it were to rain every day, parts of the day are most likely to be sunny anyway.

Both of  these following pictures have been taken in December, just a few days apart. 

Having said that, I do recognize that as we are on the mountain, close to the sea, the cold feels very cold due to the humidity in the air. For the same reason we have a microclimate which allows Sintra to stay green all year around. You can expect misty mornings and ends of afternoons in the summer months as the cool air from the sea reaches the humidity of the mountain.  This keeps the nights comfortably cool 90% of the summer nights! So no, we do not have full air-conditioning.  True to our sustainable values, we use other methods of staying cool: awnings that block the sun from hitting the windows, taller ceilings to let the warmer air rise higher up, cross ventilation in the afternoon. When this is not enough, we do have portable air-conditioning units in place which use cool water to cool the air for the remaining 10% of the evenings.

To keep the rooms comfortable during the colder months, the rooms have heating.  A few of the standard rooms have wood burning stoves in addition to electric heating. And we use de-humidifiers to keep the air in the rooms comfortable.

So – do bring a jacket or something warmer for the evenings, even in the summer months, and do prepare for rain showers most of the year around.