Cascais is the old fishing town at the mouth of the Tagus that became a royal resort in the 1870s, when King Luís started spending his autumns in the citadel. The train from Lisbon's Cais do Sodré still runs along the river and the coast to its door, which makes it the easiest beach day from the capital.
The town has three sides. The centre, around the bay, the citadel and the marina, holds the museum quarter. East along the promenade lie Estoril, its casino and the train-line beaches as far as Carcavelos, the surf beach. West, past Boca do Inferno, the coast road leaves the houses behind and runs into the Sintra-Cascais Natural Park to Guincho, the wind-blown Atlantic beach under the Sintra hills.
Cabo da Roca, on the Portugal page, is a short bus ride north of Guincho.
On a day of big swell, watch the waves boom into a collapsed sea cave and throw spray over the rocks.
What it is
Boca do Inferno, Hell's Mouth, is a chasm in the cliffs at the western edge of Cascais, where the cave has left an arch above a pit that the sea enters from below. On calm days it is a quiet inlet; the swell is when it earns its name. It has drawn visitors for a long time: an 1896 British film, A Sea Cave Near Lisbon, shows waves breaking there and is often cited as the first moving picture of a cave.
How to do it
There is no ticket. Walk out west from the centre along the coast road, past the marina and the Santa Marta lighthouse.
Good to know
Stay behind the railings and off the wet rock below the viewpoint, where anglers and waves share the same ledges.
See Paula Rego's paintings in her House of Stories
Avenida da República, Cascais
1 to 1.5 hoursNo booking needed
See Paula Rego's unsettling fairy tales in two red concrete pyramids that recall old chimneys, set among the trees of a park.
What it is
Rego, the Portuguese-British painter, chose Cascais in 2006 as the place for a museum of her work, and the Casa das Histórias opened in 2009 in a building by Eduardo Souto de Moura, who won the Pritzker Prize two years later. The galleries show a large body of her paintings, prints and drawings, alongside works by her late husband, Victor Willing.
How to do it
The general ticket costs €5, half price for seniors, students and Cascais residents, and anyone up to 18 enters free. If you plan several museums, the €15 day ticket covers every venue of the Cascais museum quarter, and a €12 pack adds the return train from Lisbon's Cais do Sodré.
Good to know
It closes on Mondays and opens from 10:00 to 18:00 on other days.
Visit the Santa Marta lighthouse and the Condes palace
Santa Marta, Cascais
2 hours for bothNo booking needed
Cross the small Santa Marta inlet from a lighthouse museum to a turreted summer house where Fernando Pessoa once applied to be curator.
What it is
Two of Cascais's museums face each other across the water. The Santa Marta Lighthouse Museum, opened in July 2007 in a design by the architects Francisco and Manuel Aires Mateus, tells the story of Portugal's lighthouses and their keepers, with a 15-minute film in its auditorium. The Torre de São Sebastião was built in 1897 for Jorge O'Neill, bought in 1910 by the Counts of Castro Guimarães, who left it to the town; it opened as the Condes de Castro Guimarães Museum in 1931, and in 1932 Pessoa's application was turned down.
How to do it
The lighthouse opens Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 to 13:00 and 14:00 to 18:00. In the house, look for the music room's 1,170-pipe organ, installed in 1912. The €15 day ticket covers both.
Walk into the citadel where Portugal's kings summered
Cidadela de Cascais
1 hourNo booking needed
Walk into the walled citadel where Portugal's royal family spent every September and October, with the court and writers in tow.
What it is
The citadel on the point of Cascais bay was built to guard the approach to Lisbon, and by 1870, when its military role had faded, King Luís turned the governor's house inside into a holiday residence. The royal stays lasted until King Carlos was assassinated in 1908, and the literary circle known as the Vencidos da Vida also followed them to the town. Carlos, a keen oceanographer, set up Portugal's first marine biology laboratory in the citadel, and in 1882 the country's first tide gauge was built on the promenade just below. After 1910 the palace passed to the presidency of the Republic.
How to do it
Today a pousada hotel stands on the parade ground, and the palace's exhibition gallery opens Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 to 13:00 and 14:00 to 18:00.
Good to know
The president still uses the palace as a summer residence.
Walk a seawall past small beaches to the casino where wartime spies met, cited as one of the inspirations for Casino Royale.
What it is
The Paredão runs about 2.75 km along the coast from Praia da Conceição, at the east end of Cascais, to Praia da Azarujinha in São João do Estoril, with the train line on one side. Halfway, at Estoril, Tamariz beach and its rock pool sit at the foot of the gardens that climb to the Casino Estoril, opened in 1931. During the Second World War, neutral Portugal made it a meeting place for spies, exiled royals and wartime adventurers; Casino Royale was Ian Fleming's first James Bond novel.
How to do it
Walk it in the late afternoon, when the light runs along the water, and take the train back from Estoril or São João do Estoril.
Feel the wind at Guincho and walk the Cresmina dunes
Guincho
Half a dayFree
Lean into the strong northerly wind on a wide Atlantic beach where kitesurf and windsurf world championships are held.
What it is
Guincho, north-west of Cascais, is about 1 km of sand between the headlands of Ponta Alta and Ponta do Abano, inside the Sintra-Cascais Natural Park, with the Sintra hills and the dunes behind it. It is known for wind more than lounging: the northerlies blow from June to August, and winter brings bigger surf. Just south, the Cresmina dune interpretation centre has a small exhibition on the dune system and boardwalks that cross the moving sand without trampling it.
How to do it
At low tide, look for the dark basalt of a volcanic chimney exposed on the beach. Kite and surf schools work from the beach, and Cabo da Roca is a short drive north.
Good to know
Swim only when the lifeguards allow it in the bathing season.
Time needed
Half a day
Best time
June to August for kitesurfing; winter for big surf
Stand up on a board for the first time on the long sandy beach halfway between Lisbon and Cascais.
What it is
Carcavelos is on the Cascais train line, and many visitors learn here. The council lists it for surf, windsurf and bodyboard because of its strong swell, and competitions are held here. At the east end, the São Julião da Barra fort closes the bay.
How to do it
Surf schools on the beach run beginner lessons with the board and wetsuit included, and also rent out gear. Get off the train at Carcavelos station and walk down to the beach. After the lesson, the bars and terraces of the pedestrian promenade around the sand are the place for a drink.
Shop the Wednesday and Saturday market at the Mercado da Vila
Mercado da Vila, Cascais
1 hourFree
Buy fruit, flowers and cheeses from farmers' stalls on the two days the country market fills the square.
What it is
Cascais's market hall, the Mercado da Vila, is a square of covered stalls a short walk inland from the bay, and its liveliest days are Wednesday and Saturday, with the Mercado Saloio. There are vegetables too; on Wednesday mornings a bigger fair of clothes, shoes and kitchenware spreads around it. The restaurants and bars around the square open every day, so the market works for lunch even on a quiet day.
How to do it
The council lists the market from 6:30 to 16:00 on those two days and from 8:00 to 14:00 on Sundays. Come in the morning, when the stalls are full and the farmers still have time to talk.
Good to know
Bring cash and a bag; a picnic from here suits the beaches of the bay.
Cascais line trains leave Lisbon's Cais do Sodré and run along the river and the coast, stopping at Belém, Carcavelos and Estoril before the end of the line in Cascais. Buy a Navegante card in Lisbon and load it with zapping credit. Carris Metropolitano bus 1624 links Cascais with Sintra via Cabo da Roca, so the two can be combined in one loop.
Getting around
The centre, the citadel, the museum quarter and Boca do Inferno are all walkable. The Paredão promenade connects Cascais with Estoril on foot, and the train covers the coast towards Lisbon. For Guincho and the natural park, use the municipal buses, a taxi or a bike; the council runs a shared bike scheme called biCas.
How many days
A day trip from Lisbon covers the old town, the museums and Boca do Inferno, with the Paredão to Estoril in the late afternoon. Stay two or three days if you want Guincho, a surf lesson at Carcavelos or a slow beach day, or if you plan to combine Cascais with Sintra and Cabo da Roca.
When to go
The beach season runs in summer, when the main beaches have lifeguards. Guincho is a different place: strong northerly winds blow there from June to August, which suits kitesurfers more than sunbathers, while winter brings bigger surf. Most municipal museums close on Mondays, so plan museum days from Tuesday to Sunday.
Where to stay
Stay in the centre of Cascais for the bay, the restaurants and the end of the train line. Estoril is quieter and closer to the casino and the Tamariz beach, also on the line. Guincho has a handful of places to stay in the natural park, for those who come for the wind and the waves and have a car.
Questions travellers ask
How do you get from Lisbon to Cascais?
By train from Cais do Sodré on the Cascais line, which follows the river and the coast and ends in the centre of Cascais. Pay with a Navegante card loaded with zapping credit. The museum quarter sells a combined ticket that includes the return train from Cais do Sodré.
Is Cascais worth a day trip from Lisbon?
Yes. In one day you can walk the old town and the citadel, see the Paula Rego museum, walk out to Boca do Inferno and come back along the Paredão to Estoril for the train home. Add a second day for Guincho or a surf lesson.
Can you swim at Guincho?
In the bathing season the beach has lifeguards and flags, so swim only when they allow it. It is an open Atlantic beach with strong summer winds and big surf in winter, much rougher than the bay beaches of Cascais and Estoril, which suit an easy swim better.
Where can you learn to surf near Cascais?
Carcavelos is the beginners' beach of the line, a long sandy beach with surf schools on the promenade and a station on the Cascais line. Guincho is for more experienced surfers, windsurfers and kitesurfers.
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