Portugal’s royal family holidayed at Cascais at the turn of the 20th century, and that glamour has never faded. 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.

Beach

It isn’t easy picking a favourite beach in Cascais, because they all have their strong points. But if your vision of a perfect beach is a sandy cove lapped by crystalline seas then Praia da Rainha is the one for you. We also recommend Praia de Santa Marta.

Frederico Arouca Street

Here you can find many bars and cafes. The Praça 5 de Outubro is also hemmed by bars and restaurants.

Cascais is small and pedestrian-friendly so you could see it all in an hour or so. The squares and sidewalks are paved with calçada portuguesa, mosaics in various patterns.

https://www.visitcascais.com/en

Estoril Casino

The Casino in Estoril is reputed to be the largest in Europe offering over 1,000 slot machines.

During World War II Estoril was something of a hotspot for exiled royalty and deposed despots, as well as spies from all sides. One such spy was Ian Fleming, the James Bond author, and it is said that his experiences here were the inspiration for his first Bond book - Casino Royale. Interestingly enough much of the later Bond film, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, was filmed in the Estoril / Cascais area.

Pena National Palace

This UNESCO World Heritage Site is one of the finest examples of 19th century Romanticism anywhere in the world. Pena Park (Parque da Pena), which surrounds the palace, provides over 200 hectares of heavily forested grounds to enjoy. There are a wonderful mix of over 500 different species of trees and shrubs from around the world.

Quinta da Regaleira

António Augusto Carvalho Monteiro was born in 1848 to wealthy Portuguese emigrants in Brazil and augmented his fortune in the coffee and precious stone businesses.

That wealth was funnelled into the bewildering Quinta da Regaleira, which is crammed with small monuments reflecting his fascination with the Masons, Knights Templar and Divination.

His Romantic palace is out of a dream and bursts with Manueline-style masonry, but it’s in the palace park where Monteiro’s eccentric personality comes through: Underground there’s a system of tunnels and grottoes, all intended to confuse and delight.

Above are ornate gazebos, benches with sculptures and two “initiation wells”, deep shafts lined with spiral stairways leading down to sanctums for tarot ceremonies.

Castle of the Moors

Hoisted on one of Sintra’s northernmost peaks are the ruins of a mighty castle, built by the Moors and enlarged after the Reconquista.

The walls have four square towers and snake with the contours of the mountain at the top of a sheer cliff, so it’s a sight to behold from below and is an amazing vantage point from above.

Up between the merlons you can look over the peaks, bluffs and rocky spurs, out to the Atlantic and over Sintra.

Historians can investigate the ruins for some exciting vestiges like the large Moorish cistern that you can enter via a stairway, and the ruins of a Romanesque chapel with frescos in its chancel.

Park and Palace of Monserrate

Monserrate is deep in the mountain range, slightly removed from Sintra’s other palaces, and so isn’t quite as crowded.

But that doesn’t mean you can pass it by, because both the Moorish Revival palace and grounds are glorious.

It was all landscaped in the mid-19th century for Sir Francis Cook, an English aristocrat who was given the title Viscount of Monserrate by King Luís I. The parkland has bamboo plantations, grottoes, man-made waterfalls, ponds, exotic cedars and Oceanic tree ferns.

And as for the residence, the Islamic influence is undeniable, in the latticework in its arches, the arabesque stucco patterns on the stairway and the ceiling of the radiant music room, which hosts concerts to this day.

Cabo da Roca

Sintra’s boundaries go all the way to the coast, and the westernmost point of continental Europe.

Cabo da Roca is the point where the Serra de Sintra sinks dramatically into the ocean.

The cape is 140 metres at the top of a granite cliff and with powerful boulders and outcrops pounded by the ocean far below.

There’s a lighthouse up here, as well as a stone monolith with a cross to mark this headland, which was a famous seamark from Roman times to the Age of Discovery.

The ground up here is a carpet of evergreen ice plants, an invasive plant native to South Africa.

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