Cascais, Once a Summer Getaway for Portuguese Royalty, Is a Delight

It’s an easy day trip from Lisbon.
Cascais, Once a Summer Getaway for Portuguese Royalty, Is a Delight
Praia da Rainha, a small beach in Cascais, Portugal, is sheltered between cliffs. trabantos/Shutterstock
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On my visits to Portugal, I have been twice foiled in attempts to spend time in Cascais. To be fair, the first time it was an issue of ignorance on my part. I had a scant idea of the beauty and wonder of this place. Invited for lunch with a friend at a beachside hotel there, with a full afternoon planned elsewhere, I ate my meal a little too quickly. We then rolled back through the lovely town center of Cascais with looks of marvel on our faces. Looking at each other, we said, “Why didn’t we spend more time here?”

I endeavored to return as soon as possible. But on my second attempt, the timing was just pure bad luck. While visiting Lisbon, Portugal, with my sister’s family, we blocked out an entire day for Cascais. During months of planning, I sang the praises of this seaside town—what little I’d seen of it, anyway. It was a cornerstone of the Lisbon part of our trip.

Tim Johnson
Tim Johnson
Author
Toronto-based writer Tim Johnson is always traveling in search of the next great story. Having visited 140 countries across all seven continents, he’s tracked lions on foot in Botswana, dug for dinosaur bones in Mongolia, and walked among a half-million penguins on South Georgia Island. He contributes to some of North America’s largest publications, including CNN Travel, Bloomberg, and The Globe and Mail.