Cascais - Avril. Date of travel: Jan 2003
No-one else has written about Cascais, so I will tell you a little though we went in 2001 twice, in May and in November. We stayed in non-hotel accommodation. Cascais is pleasant, safe and small - a change from the routine resorts, so a place where the Portugese go on their holidays. Unpretentious, more like a quiet English resort of yesteryear but trying to update. A place for pottering around, sitting on the beach for an hour or two, a day or two but not a dream, beach vacation like the Costas, Thailand etc!, despite its golden sands or somewhere to taste the thrills of a theme park etc. It does give you a taste of real Portugal, in their style, with friendly enough people who do not speak much English on the whole and somewhere aspiring to modernize and update. Estorial is just alongside and boasts a huge Casino. You can walk between Cascais and Estoril though the taxi is cheap enough. It is very handy for going off on visits to a variety of places ,for the quieter couple who might like to have one day in a city with great shops, another having a longish bus ride through the village to a magical castle and gardens, and another poking thier noses into an interesting museum and art gallery, rather than providing the high level of attractions some families would demand. (There are nightclubs in Lisborn and plenty of bars in Cascais). More Leigh on Sea, Seaton or Sidmouth than Blackpool or Skegness. The economy of the area is dominated by the Casino, where you can see very large scale, high quality music/dance shows, and, from our experience, the two of them that we saw were excellent, but aimed at the Portugese locals as much as tourists. You can eat and watch, and it is a friendly atmosphere. Or, you can just sit in the huge bar area surrounded by people minlessly feeding the one-arm bandits, behind the glass screens, and watch the quite professional singers and performers in the corner of this area over a glass of something. (There is a small dance floor for when a band plays!) Not bad entertainment at all. The coast has a few nice fish restaurants and a fairly level walking area running along, in some places, aspiring to be an esplanade. (They were planting palms when we were there!) Out of town, but walkable if you are reasonably fit and willing in the cooler months, are some interesting rocks with a deep hole that roars when the waves hit its base. You can walk to the furthest Westerly place in mainland Europe from Cascais!! You come across small craft shops, smell roasting chestnuts etc. and can buy the home-made woollens in winter. You come across the usual smattering of traders of leather, wooden and silver wire goods, etc. on the pavements behind the beaches. There are good, cheap bus and train links to Lisborn and stops along the way. Lisborn is a good City to potter round, has had millions spent on updating it, so you can combine shopping with a stroll down to the port area and a visit to the old quarter. A sightseeing bus trip around the old town is a good idea for those who do not have the stamina to walk around, as some of it is very steep. Views from the castle are interesting, attainable by bus for the less able walkers, but not far from the central area. There is a ruined church that is quite interesting if you want a change of focus. Plenty of places to just poke your nose into to get a flavour of their heritage and culture. Not spectacular but worth a visit. Highlight of our visit to Cascais was the (cheap) bus trip, from Lisborn, using the train along the coast from Estoral, to a small town where there was a castle just like a child-hood fantasy, with little rooms of interest and where the Portugese Royal Family lived at one time. I've lent my stuff to someone and can't remember the name but it is well known. The views were absolutely stunning and the gardens that we wandered through, at will, were magical but had been delightfully neglected after their major construction of grottos and pathways to entice you into little corners! A bus runs a return journey to the top and there were no single tickets, so better to walk down rather than up!! Guincho is not far away and somewhere where you can have a beach BBQ, if you take water to make sure that you do not set fire to the trees! A great change from the manicured holiday areas. Sorry I can't be more helpful.