Cascais Is The Dreamy Portuguese Seaside Town You Need To Know ♦ Close to the Portuguese capital yet far less crowded, this amazing town is the ideal base for rest and relaxation. It combines the blue of the Atlantic Ocean with the green of Serra de Sintra in a unique landscape that deserves to be immortalized in a postcard. In Cascais, the sun shines most of there year and it’s suitable not only for dives but for great walks, it has seven golf courses each of them with a green-designed by a different architect, all of them with beautiful surroundings. Secrets From Portugal will tell about this amazing Portuguese city. Keep reading to understand everything you’ve been missing in Cascais (and what’s not to miss! You can thank us later)
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This Atlantic resort town west of Lisbon has long been seen as a must-do day trip from the Portuguese capital. As well as outdoor adventure, it has many attractions including beaches to suit all tastes, a higgledy-piggledy old town and the Paula Rego Modern Art Museum dedicated to the venerable Portuguese painter.
Cascais is a traditional and charming Portuguese fishing town, which is situated on the beautiful Lisbon coastline. Historically, Cascais was the summer retreat of the Portuguese nobility, and today the town is an elegant fusion of decorative 19th-century architecture and modern tourist facilities. Cascais is a joy to explore as a day trip from Lisbon, and within the cobbled streets of the historic centre are lavish mansions, an imposing fort and fascinating museums. For a holiday, Cascais is the Lisbon coastline’s premier holiday destination, combining an authentic Portuguese experience with glorious beaches and a buzzing holiday atmosphere.
When well-heeled Lisboans need a change of airs in summer they go west to Cascais on the upper lip of the Tagus Estuary. At this beach getaway, you can bathe in transparent waters at peaceful coves. Or you can brave the charging Atlantic waves of the Sintra-Cascais Natural Park on a surfboard. Portugal’s royal family holidayed at Cascais at the turn of the 20th century, and that glamour has never faded: The president spends his summer in a palace beside the marina, while neighbouring Estoril has an enormous casino once frequented by the jet set. There are elegant parks, noble mansions replete with precious furnishings and a superb art museum for Paula Rego.
PLACES TO GO
Boca do Inferno
Boca do Inferno is located on the Costa da Guia, west of the village of Cascais in Portugal. The name “Hell’s Mouth” given to this place is due to the morphological analogy and the tremendous and frightening impact of the waves that are felt there. The characteristic that makes up the rock in the cliff is carbonated in nature. The erosion exerted by the action of rainwater, which, containing dissolved carbon dioxide, causes the dissolution of carbonate. Through this process cavities and caves are formed inside the limestones. It is quite possible that the place was an old cave. With the abatement of the upper layers, the cave will have been destroyed, leaving a huge open pit. With unique features, it is a place of leisure, where you can enjoy a divine landscape and magnificent sunsets, being only overshadowed by the often suicides committed in its dangerous and unprotected cliff.
On days of rough seas, you can hear the sound of water striking the rocks, a noise so unique that it is analogous to the name of the place. When you reach Boca do Inferno it is possible to contemplate the beauty of the place from above, however, there is also a path that leads to the other side of the cavity “arch”, through which the water enters. This place is already very close to the water and you can enjoy the view of the entire rocky coast.
Casa das Histórias Paula Rego
With architectural design by Eduardo Souto de Moura, Pritzker Prize 2011, Paula Rego House of Stories was inaugurated in September 2009. It is the most international museum space in the county. In 2006 Paula Rego chose Cascais for the construction of “her” House of Stories, a museum designed by architect Eduardo Souto de Moura, which showcases a significant set of her graphic work and some works by her husband, Victor Willing, artist and critic. of art, died in 1988.
Santa Marta Lighthouse and Museum
With an architecture project by Francisco and Manuel Aires Mateus and museological programme by Joaquim Boiça, the Santa Marta Lighthouse Museum was restored based on a protocol signed between the Municipal Council of Cascais and the Chief of Staff of the Portuguese Navy. It opened to the public on July 2007, and its model is unique in the country as it links spaces of exhibits with the function.
With the exception of the cannonball found in city council archaeological excavations on the grounds, the collection of the Farol Museu de Santa Marta (Santa Marta Lighthouse Museum) was fully restored and placed in the Farol Museu (Lighthouse Museum) by the Portuguese Navy / Directorate of Lighthouses.
Golf
In line with the resort’s reputation as an upmarket getaway, there are five golf courses within a ten-kilometre radius of Cascais. Safe to say that Cascais is where affluent Lisboans come to hit the fairways.
The most reputable is the Penha Longa Resort, host of the Portuguese Open and ranked in Europe’s top 30 courses. There are 27 holes designed by the legendary architect Robert Trent Jones jr.
Museu Condes de Castro Guimarães
The Condes de Castro Guimarães Museum is housed in the old S. Sebastião Tower, built between 1897 and 1900, in Santa Marta Cove on the initiative of Jorge O’Neill, an aristocrat and financier of Irish descent. A remarkable work of the Cascalense summer architecture, this set is integrated into the current Marechal Carmona (or Gandarinha) Park, where the S. Sebastião Chapel, dating from approximately 1594, is also located.
The former Tower of S. Sebastião passes the Museum on the merit of Manuel Inácio de Castro Guimarães (1858-1927), the second owner of the Tower of S. Sebastião, awarded the title of Count of Castro Guimarães, by D. Manuel II, in 1909. In 1924 the Count of Castro Guimarães left the town of Cascais with a will and testament to the house and all its artistic and bibliographic contents to form a municipal museum and public library, in connection with the gardens and the adjoining park “for recreation. from the public ”. The museum was opened on July 12, 1931.
