Cascais Historic Centre

Cascais was a fishing town until 1870, when Luís I chose the seventeenth-century citadel as his summer residence and the court followed - which brought the first electric street lighting in the country, a railway from Lisbon, and a belt of villas and palacetes along the coast that are still the town's character. The centre keeps narrow calçada lanes, painted houses, the fishermen's bay where boats still land and the fish market runs, and a set of small museums: the Condes de Castro Guimarães house on the sea, the Paula Rego museum designed by Souto de Moura, and the citadel itself, now partly a hotel and art quarter. The Boca do Inferno is west along the coast road, Guincho beyond it. In the 1940s the town was full of exiled European royalty and refugees, and the spy activity around them fed the early Bond mythology.

What you actually see

• The citadel - the seventeenth-century fort turned royal summer residence in 1870.
• The fishing bay - boats still landing, with the market alongside.
• The museums - Castro Guimarães, the Paula Rego house and the citadel art quarter.
• The villas - the belt of houses built when the court summered here.

When to go

April to October. Half a day. The train from Cais do Sodré runs frequently and is the sensible way in - parking is difficult.

Honest expectations

Very busy in summer with day-trippers from Lisbon. Prices in the centre are high. The historic core is small and can be walked in an hour. Museum opening days vary; several close on Mondays.

Nearby

Boca do Inferno is a short walk west; Estoril is east along the line.