Cascais

We have a poster who lives in Cascais, so I think you can look forward to some excellent advice.

I can only comment based on a day tour from Cascais, but it is a lovely town. First, we went to Sintra and then through the national park to the coast, down the coast to Cascais and back to Lisbon. Certainly renting a car for exploring outside of Lisbon would enhance the trip. I am not sure I would stay in Cascais if your main focus is Lisbon, but some like to take a breather from the big city. The train between the 2 is about 40 minutes. Driving is 23 minutes (by Rome2Rio). Then add all the mess of one way streets and expensive parking; just stick to the train. You can get a bus from Cascais to Sintra for a day trip. It follows the route our tourbus took. I would still consider a drive trip even if just for the ability to stop and admire the cork trees and how they harvest it.

Andrea, We took the RS Heart of Portugal Tour in 2016. We arrived in Lisbon a couple of days before starting the tour. We chose to do a day tour to Cascais, Sintra and surrounding area. This was a highlight of our time in Portugal. We hired Lisbon Riders. lisbonriders.com. You can certainly drive or take public transportation. We felt hiring a guide was a great way to give us additional knowledge before our RS Tour.

One of our favorite memories was our time in Porto. “Smaller version” of Lisbon. Very walkable city. In addition we highly recommend the beautiful Douro Valley, It’s about 1.5 hours from Porto. Day trip?

I’ve lived in Cascais for almost 5 years so can likely answer some of your questions. First, October is a lovely month in the area and Portugal in general. There is potential for rain in the later part of the month, but it’s usually brief showers.

As far as staying in Cascais, it depends on what you want in a place to stay. It’s an old town - just celebrated 600 plus years, with a number of old palaces, small beaches, lots of restaurants and easy train access to Lisbon. There is good public transport around town and to Lisbon and Sintra. For other areas, a car would be good. But, I live here without a car and have no interest in having one, except for the occasional road trip. If your main focus is going to be Lisbon, you might want to stay there for quicker access to things in the city.

If you are coming from Porto, there is an express bus service (within the last year) directly to Cascais. Much easier than taking the train to Lisbon then another train to Cascais.

I would encourage you to google Cascais so you can see what the town, beaches and sea look like. If you decide to stay here, I’m happy to answer questions and offer suggestions for the best areas to stay, etc.

I was in Portugal just over a year ago. I don't know about driving in Cascais, which I visited only for a few hours. I spent several nights in Sintra and in Lisbon; in both cities, a car will be a liability. And both are better toured by staying in them rather than commuting, however commuting is not a terrible alternative. Uber is a good way to commute to Sintra than the bus and not expensive, especially for a couple, and it's door-to-door. Uber is not a great alternative to Lisbon in the morning - traffic is a bear - but returning late in the evening would be okay.

Thank you all for your thoughts and advice. If we stay at the place in Cascais it would be for one week. Maybe that's too long for that particular location? I'll have to give this more thought before I commit.

Hi.
Some practical info.

The train between Cascais and Lisbon : https://www.cp.pt/passageiros/en/how-to-travel.
Click how to travel > Lisbon urban trains > Cascais line.
www.cp.pt also provides info for trains for the rest of Portugal and International trains from Lisbon or Porto.

Buses in Cascais provide regular public transport along with tour buses to Sintra ( with skip the lines option) and Hop On Hop Off buses: https://scotturb.com/skip-all-the-lines/. https://scotturb.com/en/scotturb-sightseeing/. The site english page is mixed with portuguese making it a bit awkward to navigate.
https://www.rede-expressos.pt/en is the national inter-city bus service for the rest of Portugal.

For Cascais tourist info: https://www.cascaisportugaltourism.com/. https://www.visitcascais.com/en. https://www.cascais-portugal.com/index.html.

Since it will be your first time in Portugal some advice: be aware of pickpockets in ALL crowded areas. Everything that is placed on the table at a restaurant has to be paid for - it's not free - if you don't want a particular item say so to the waiter. The ocean can be cold and very rough with undertow, and depending on the beach with very sharp rocks ( Carcavelos beach is the biggest beach between Cascais and Lisbon - about 1km south of the Carcavelos train station). Cobblestones are very slippery especially when wet - wear rubber sole shoes not leather.
There is a coastal walk between Cascais (It starts behind the Cascais train station) and Estoril ( the Estoril casino gardens can be nice when blooming).

Happy travels

Wow! Thank you for that great information!

A few days ago we did an Airbnb Virtual Online Experience focused on Lisbon. Afterwards we decided that we needed to have more time for Portugal and it was concluded that we would devote another trip to Portugal and Spain. It will hopefully happen in 2022 or 2023. Our probable 2021 trip is already about 7 or so weeks long.

We spent a nice day trip to Caiscais and Estoril from Lisbon but couldn’t imagine not staying in Lisbon.

Thanks Suki. We have decided that when we do go we will stay in Lisbon.