The ranking holds 6 schools with an international accreditation or an authorised programme. International Baccalaureate programmes are taught at 2 of them. The British Cambridge route, IGCSE and A-Level, at 3. A year of school costs from €11 285 to €24 308.
We do not take reviews from maps and directories: their terms forbid it, and nobody checks the quality there. Everything below comes from the official registers of the accrediting organisations and from the schools' own sites, and every fact carries its source and the date of the check.
| Cheapest | $13 110 a year | Prime School Sintra |
| Median | $27 337 a year | top of the fee range at 3 schools with a published fee |
| Most expensive | $28 239 a year | TASIS Portugal |
Figures are converted to dollars at a weekly rate; schools publish their fees in their own currency. One-off charges, meals, transport and uniform are not included unless the school says otherwise. Fees for schools in Sintra are taken from published price lists, not from what third parties say.
All 6 schools in the ranking are private. We have not yet found a state school in Sintra with an international accreditation. The type of school does not affect the score: private and state schools sit in one list and are scored by the same formula, and only verifiable data moves the number.
Schools in Sintra with an IB programme (2): Carlucci American International School of Lisbon, TASIS Portugal. Authorisation is confirmed against the International Baccalaureate register.
The British Cambridge programme - IGCSE and A-Level - is taught at 3 schools in Sintra: TASIS Portugal, Hypha International School, Prime School Sintra.
A facility counts only when the school names it outright on its own site: a modern campus is not a swimming pool. School transport: 1 school.
Comparing schools on a single feature is useless: the most expensive is not the best, and a famous name says nothing about what is backed by documents. The score is therefore built from nine criteria with different weights - from academic programmes and accreditation to facilities, clubs and fees relative to other schools in the country.
A criterion counts towards the score only when there is verifiable data behind it. That is why every score says how many of the nine criteria were counted: at schools in Sintra that is 7.5 out of 9 on average. A school with a detailed site and a school with no site cannot earn an equally reliable score, and that is shown rather than hidden.
Ratings and reviews from Google Maps, Yandex Maps and 2GIS are not used: their terms forbid aggregation. Only verified reviews left here count. Full methodology →
Published fees run from $13 110 to $28 239 for a school year. The cheapest is Prime School Sintra, the most expensive TASIS Portugal. The median for the senior stage is $27 337 a year. Fees are converted into dollars at a weekly rate; schools publish them in their own currency.
Carlucci American International School of Lisbon comes first with 75.3 points out of 100, counted from 8 of the 9 criteria. Next come TASIS Portugal (74.5) and Hypha International School (67.2). The score is built from data anyone can check: accreditations found in official registers, programmes, facilities and published fees. A place in the ranking is not for sale.
The ranking holds 6 schools: 6 private. We found no state school in Sintra with an international accreditation. Private and state schools go into the ranking on equal terms.
International Baccalaureate programmes are taught at 2 schools: Carlucci American International School of Lisbon, TASIS Portugal.
IGCSE and A-Level are offered by 3 schools: TASIS Portugal, Hypha International School, Prime School Sintra.
The earliest intake starts at 3 years old. 4 schools have a preschool section.
The score of every school adds up from nine criteria with different weights: academic programmes, accreditation, facilities, clubs, the fee against other schools in the country, reviews, university destinations, safety and teachers. A criterion counts only when there is data behind it that can be checked, so every score says how many of the nine were counted. Right now that is 7.5 out of 9 on average. We do not use reviews from maps or directories.