Cascais is a great weekend break from the UK. There are several airlines that fly to Lisbon, including EasyJet, Monarch, British Airways and Monarch. From Lisbon airport, it is a fifty minute bus journey on the Aerobus, costing just 8.50 euros to Estoril or Cascais.

Cascais is 6.5km (4 miles) W of Estoril and 61km (38 miles) west of Lisbon. From 1870 to 1908, the Royal Family came to Cascais for the sea air, turning the Portuguese quiet fishing village into an ‘it spot’. The citadel gained electric light in 1878, the first in the country, thanks to King Lus. The village gained better roads to Lisbon and Sintra, a casino, a bullfight ring, a sport club and improvements in the basic infrastructure for the population. The railway arrived in 1889. Many aristocratic families built beautiful mansions in Cascais, many of which can still be seen in the centre and surroundings of the town. In the 1930s, Cascais’ popularity revived and attracted artists and writers to its little cottages. During WW2 several Kings and heads of European countries and their aristocratic entourages sought refuge in Cascais and nearby Estoril. Today Cascais is a dormitory town of Lisbon but there is still a lot to see and do.

Cascais is still a small, pretty fishing port which is small enough to be explored on foot over the course of a weekend. The town is dominated by a small beach with a still active fishing industry. There is a pretty harbour with lots of splendid yachts mixed with small fishing boats. Legend even has it that it was a Cascais fisherman, a certain Afonso Sanches, and not Columbus who discovered the New World ten years before the famed date of 1492.

Behind the harbour and the beach is an old town with a maze of small streets and side streets with shopping, an internet caf – don’t forget to explore the small side alleys, plenty of which feature tucked away little restaurants, often with fixed price menus with good food.

Also tucked away in the back streets is the fish market where some of the fisherman haul their small boats and catches. See photo below.

In 1926 the railway line from Lisbon to Cascais was the first to be electrified in Portugal and this is the best way by public transport to get in to Lisbon if you want to do some shopping. Cascais is at the end of the line and the train takes you along to coast to Cais do Sodre. From there, you can easily transfer to Lisbon’s metro which is frequent, safe and inexpensive and allows easy access to all the things and places you may want to do or visit in Lisbon. Though there is shopping to be had in and around Cascais in the form of trestle table markets where the speciality is fine linens and embroidery and there is one shopping complex in Cascais and another much larger one on the road to Sintra.

There is the Museu do Mar that depicts the story of Cascais and its fishing history. Three kilometres, about a 20-minute walk along the coastal road outside town is the Boca do Inferno where on rougher days the sea hammers into the rock through a blow hole creating spectacular spray giving meaning to the English translation of “mouth of hell.” A small piece of trivia: Aleister Crowley came to Boca do Inferno to fake his own death in 1930. It is possible to walk all the way from Cascais to Estoril along a waterfront boardwalk where you can see plenty of beaches, though these can become crowded in the summer months.

The best beach nearby (reached by bus from outside the train station every one or two hours) is the sandy beach of Guincho – see photo right. If surfing is your thing, the beach at Guincho has high waves that attract windsurfers from around the globe and has hosted the World Surfing Championships. The next town to the east of Cascais is the resort town of Estoril dominated by the Casino – which was used as the basis of the James Bond film Casino Royale.

To the north and within easy reach is the lovely hill town of Sintra and which was described in glowing terms by Lord Byron. All in all, a good destination for a long weekend with a chance to stay in Lisbon and visit Cascais and Estoril or stay in Cascais and visit Lisbon and Estoril.