Cascais - not what I expected

Hmmm, I was surprised to hear your take on Cascais. We just want to do a day trip somewhere outside of Lisbon. We'll be stopping in Obidos on our way to Porto the next day. We've been to Sintra which is an awesome city. Do you know what the name of the southern most area of Europe is from Lisbon?

I don’t think Cascais has ever been described as a charming fishing village. It has a number of high end hotels and seafood restaurants and is known for its art scene. It’s been a seaside retreat from Lisbon for many, many years. You can’t say it’s not authentic. It’s a real place where people live and take holidays, and the old architecture is just as it appears. Nothing has been created there to try to make you think it’s something it isn’t. You can tell there’s a certain amount of money there and those types of places are always well restored. It’s worth doing of the property has a large enough value.

RailRider, could you divulge where you heard that Cascais was a charming fishing village? I was there several years ago and during my research before my trip I don't remember reading that it was a charming village.

From Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cascais

Cascais is a town and municipality in the Lisbon District of Portugal, located on the Portuguese Riviera... Cascais is an important tourist destination. Its marina hosts events such as the America's Cup and the town of Estoril, part of the Cascais municipality, hosts conferences such as the Horasis Global Meeting.

Cascais's history as a popular seaside resort originated in the 1870s, when King Luís I of Portugal and the Portuguese royal family made the seaside town their residence every September, thus also attracting members of the Portuguese nobility, who established a summer community there. Cascais is known for the many members of royalty who have lived there, including King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom, when he was the Duke of Windsor, King Juan Carlos I of Spain, and King Umberto II of Italy. Exiled Cuban president Fulgencio Batista was also once a resident of the municipality. The Casino Estoril inspired Ian Fleming's first James Bond novel, Casino Royale.

The municipality is one of the wealthiest in both Portugal and the Iberian Peninsula. It has one of the most expensive real estate markets and one of the highest costs of living in the country, and is consistently ranked highly for its quality of life.

Between your Cascais and Sintra comments maybe you set your expectations to high. I dislike when I expect one thing based on trip research and the reality is different.

I will say that Cascais was pretty nice when I visited it in 1979.

Railrider,

Add me to the list of those who have enjoyed Cascais but never expected it to be a "charming fishing village".

Dennis and Elinore

Cascais is a fun coastal resort town. We visited on a day trip from Lisbon earlier this month and enjoyed our visit.

I went to Cascais in 1967, on my honeymoon. It was already an upscale place then, known for its seafood restaurants. First time in my life I ate lobster! It was charming, yes, but not a fishing village. Why would it not be "authentic", whatever that may mean?

It seems "authentic" in this case means that someone from outside the country didn't find Cascais to be what he/she expected when visiting for the first time. Not sure how he/she would know what makes a place "authentic" if he/she goes in with a misconception about what said place is.

I suspect that most authentic real villages all over the world are not full of shops selling postcards and baseball caps with the name of the city, and full of bars with names like "Mike's Pub" featuring "Sex On the Beach" drinks, "California Pizza", etc.. I saw much more of this in the Algarve, and there is nothing wrong with it - because apparently thats what many tourists are looking for. Authentic means authentic. A real place for real local people to have a life - with or without foreign tourists. For me, it's kind of a waste of time to see all the tourist shops and restaurants in Cascais, because I can see the exact same scenes in dozens of other cities.

"A real place for real local people to have a life - with or without foreign tourists" - So a "real local shopkeeper" stops being "real" when selling things those tourists want to buy?
Pity I didn't keep the postcards I sent to my family from Cascais in 1967! I did not realise they had special powers to make the place "inauthentic" and the shopkeeper "unreal".

Authentic means authentic. A real place for real local people to have a life - with or without foreign tourists.

As stated by others Cascais has a long story as an upmarket resort favoured by royalty from many countries, and other monied people.

It seems the OP had totally unrealistic expectations of the town and had not really researched fully. Somehow there appears to have been an expectation that a town 30 minutes or so from Lisbon on a frequent commuter rail line could have been unspoiled and devoid of other tourists.

There is not much evidence that the OP learnt or explored any of the thousand years and more of history of the town. Did he go both ways by train?, or maybe instead take the bus from Sintra one way via the most westerly point in Europe (Cabo da Roca) with it's nearby beaches, walking trails and stunning sunsets.

For where it is of course the local residents are going to give the tourists what they want and need- that is part of real life in a town where tourism is an unstoppable inevitability.

It is very hard to determine what would have made the place "authentic" to the OP. But within the municipality of Cascais there are about 200,000 real residents.

It sounds like he was looking to visit a place without many other tourists, but you are not going to find that in a seaside town 30 minutes from Lisbon. I actually think Cascais is one of the most authentic places in that it was developed as an upmarket seaside resort and it still is an upmarket seaside resort!

It would be wonderful if people who are such experts would merely share their gams of wisdom with others - rather than taking jabs at people or making assumptions about them and their thinking. That turns useful information into tiresome nitpicking which does not reflect well on the image of the sophisticated and worldly travelers. The lesson I am learning is that trying to help others has more negatives than positives.

I did some research before going, and merely shared my experience for the benefit of other people who may be deciding if they want to go, depending on their needs and interests.

OP, in defence of us poor forum contributors, I reread your posts about Portugal, and nowhere did you ask opinions about Cascais or Sintra (hope I did not overlook something). If you had shared your expecations and the research on which they were based, you might have received these comments before instead of after your trip.

It would indeed be wonderful if any would-be contributor could read the mind of people asking questions, then our "expert opinions" would not be useless!!

Anyway, thanks for making me think back to Cascais in 1967 and the lobster I ate there.

All the best for your future trips.

I’ll have to come to the defense of the OP here. I haven't been to Cascais, though I’ve been elsewhere in Portugal, and I can imagine what I would have thought if I had ever encounterd what the OP describes in that city
I’m not going to define “authentic,” but yes, in a Portuguese town California Pizza, or drinks called “Sex on the Beach” — especially if in this Portuguese-speaking country it was literally “Sex on the Beach,” not “Sexo na Praia” — could be signs, to me, that the place is inauthentic. And I might add that too much English, except where it is the common official or national language, also indicates “inauthenticity” to me. I have no idea whether there were souvenir shops selling children's clothing bearing the message “My parents went to Cascais and all I got was this lousy T-shirt"; I can only hope not.

Were you possibly confusing Cascais with Nazare? Nazare is a fishing village though its become quite touristy. We liked Nazare, ate at a good restaurant, went up to Sitio. It is heavily touristed, read LOTS of people. I think its become more busy because RS is enamored with it.

We were less thrilled with Cascais, but probably more our fault. We went there on a national holiday, and it was very busy with locals. I typically make note of holidays, but that was a more obscure one, and I missed it. Every restaurant was quite crowded. Hoped to enjoy a drink over the water but impossible unless ordering a meal. It was a very pretty town, but if we go back to Portugal Cascais would not be a priority.

I was in Cascais for a day in February. I went with zero expectations at all; I just wanted to get out of Lisbon.

I didn't get any "fishing village" vibe. Not even "former fishing village." As others said, it appeared quite upscale. I saw more locals than tourists no doubt due to the time of year. I wandered through the shopping streets and saw a number of art gallery and boutique-type places, I'm sure catering to tourists and locals alike; Lots of shops were open but I mostly saw what appeared to be locals shopping.

I don't remember seeing any tourist tat like OP describes but again, this was February. However, I think it's virtually impossible to avoid tourist tat unless you go somewhere really remote. And the Portugese are tourists there too. It's not just us crass Americans that buy the tacky postcards and shot glasses.