DIY Day Trip to Cascais

Cascais is a popular beach town in the Portuguese Riviera, that has grown from the retreat of the Portuguese nobility into a popular tourist destination and resort town over the last decades. Despite this it has largely managed to keep its traditional Portuguese charm. Next to Sintra it is a very worthwhile destination close to Lisbon. Here’s how to go about a DIY day trip to Cascais from Lisbon:

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How to get from Lisbon on your DIY day trip to Cascais?

While the train to Cascais from Lisbon is also free to use with the Lisboa Card I advise against using it for this, as it is cheaper to buy a train ticket separately, since the sights in Cascais are not among the free admissions, while other places within the city of Lisbon are. A day ticket for Lisbon public transport, which includes the train to Cascais, is only 6 Euro.

From Lisbon you take the train from the Cais do Sodré Station, which takes you to Cascais in about 40 minutes. It is a very scenic ride along the river and then the Atlantic ocean. To enjoy those views to the fullest sit on the left side from Lisbon to Cascais, and on the right side when going from Cascais to Lisbon. Trains depart every 20 minutes.

For departure times, look on the website of the Comboios de Portugal: www.cp.pt

What to do in Cascais?

Eat Pastel de Nata while watching over Cascais Bay. This is self explanatory, but here’s some info nonetheless: From the Cascais train station you walk less than five minutes to reach the palm-lined grand street “Avenue of the Combatants of the Great War”, leading to the main beach. Located on this street is a small shop NATA Lisboa – Cascais, where you can buy warm Pastel de Nata.

About 500m down that road you have a beautiful view of Cascais Bay where you can enjoy your Nata.

Visit Museums and the blue lighthouse

Don’t pick Monday for your DIY day trip to Cascais as all three of these sights will be closed! The lighthouse museum is closed on Tuesdays as well.

The first sight I recommend is the Condes de Castro Guimarães Museum, located inside the Count’s of Castro Guimarães Palace. It was built in a romantic-fairytale type architecture and shows off how the “high-class” lived at the end of the last century. On the first floor a former dining room turned library, decorated in a neo-gothic style features (apparently) over 20.000 books! On the second floor you can find a collection of swords from the last two centuries.

Admission ticket costs 4€.

Next is the House of Saint Mary – Casa de Santa Maria, right across the street. It was built in 1902 and was supposed to showcase the “perfect example of a typical Portuguese house” – nevermind that it was a villa that included a large garden and terrace overlooking the ocean, as well as a chimney inspired by the National Palace in Sintra and hundreds of baroque tiles. I’m sure that is the typical Portuguese house during the early 1900s…

Over the cause of a century this house has seen many monarchs and other “high-profile” people who visited Cascais after the end of the second world war. Some of these people were King Juan Carlos (Spain), King Umberto II (Italy), and President Richard Nixon (USA).

Saint Martha’s Lighthouse & Museum, almost right next to the Casa de Santa Maria is the last sight on my list. The lighthouse makes for a great picture (it is the main picture of this post) and while the museum is very small it shows the essential tools and technology to work a lighthouse and features a map of all lighthouses along the coast of Portugal.

Tickets are 5€ for Casa de Santa Maria and the Lighthouse Museum.

I would also love to give you a recommendation on where to eat in Cascais, but the places I went to are not recommendable. Sorry X)