What to do

Cascais Marina, the Cascais Sailing Club situated on the bay, has facilities for all water sports and important international competitions are organised from here. There is a sailing school at weekends, yachts and motor boats for hire and water skiing instruction. Several beaches have facilities for water skiing and boat hire. Surfing is good at Carcavelos and Guincho and latter also has ideal conditions for wind surfing. In the summer months, Cascais Bay is always busy with nautical events.

Litte town beaches (Praia da Rainha, Praia da Conceição) with charming surroundings and yachts bobbing on the water. The Praia da Ribeira is a picturesque spot and still a traditional fishing harbour. The beaches of Cascais have names like the "Pescadores", "Marchioness" and the "Queen", reminding us of the time when it was the "Land of Kings and fishermen". Portuguese kings and many exiled kings have lived in Cascais over the years.

 

This 16th century fortress was built to protect the Bay of Cascais. It is part of a whole line of fortresses along the Tagus estuary which were built to protect Lisbon from being invaded. In the garden, there is a small, open air artillery museum.

The Estoril Casino is the largest in Europe. There is a great deal of entertainment here, including different types of gambling and nightly cabaret and music hall shows in a sophisticated atmosphere. Apart from the main activities of the casino, there is also an art gallery where a variety of art exhibitions are held, particularly of modern painting and sculpture.

Situated in one of the most sought after areas of the town, where the sea appears to be trying to reach the Gandarinha Park, is the Counts of Castro Guimarães Palace, whose medieval castle overlooks the Santa Marta Cove. The Palace was donated to the local authority in 1924, when it became a Museum. It is worth a prolonged visit, not only for its unusual architecture, but also for its wealth of art and archaeology. You can appreciate works of art by national and international artists, some of them depicting Cascais and rich Indo-Portuguese furniture. The library was constantly replenished and updated, and has over twenty five thousand books, some of them from the XVII century, richly bound. It provides an exceptional source of information and assistance to lecturers, researchers and students. The Museum is open daily from 10.00 - 17.00, but closed on Mondays and Public Holidays. There are guided tours in several languages and visitors are accompanied. Do not miss the opportunity to take a walk in the adjacent park where there are lovely tiles and a mini-zoo.

There are over seventy officially recognised places for fishing along the coast from Cascais to Guincho, where you can catch many different varieties of fish and shellfish.