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The Costa do Estoril & Cascais is waiting for you to discover it.
Romantic, cosmopolitan, full of entertainment and with a unique character, it is where Lisbon meets the ocean.

Nowhere else in the world can such dramatic changes of scenery and such contrasting atmospheres be experienced within such a small area. The region offers a wide variety of different environments, all within half hour’s drive from Lisbon.

In its humble beginnings Cascais lived from the products of the sea and land, but already in the XIII Century its fish production served the capital by then already Lisbon.

Due to its location close to the Tagus estuary, it was also seen as a strategic post in the defence of the capital and various fortresses were built on the coast around Cascais during the XVII Century, many of them still existing.
From then on Cascais became an outlook for Lisbon in the great maritime era of discovering new Worlds, it was the first place the navigators saw when they returned from long and adventures voyages looking for the African treasures, oriental spices and later on the gold from Brazil.

In 1755, the great Lisbon earthquake destroyed a large portion of the village and after that, the Marquis of Pombal , prime minister of King Jose I and responsible for the reconstruction of Lisbon took protective measures for the reconstruction of this area as well. The Marquis also started to develop the economy bringing the Royal Factory of Wool and the commercialization of the famous Carcavelos Wine.

During the invasion of Portugal by the Napoleonic troops around 1807 the citadel was occupied by the French, with General Junot staying some time in the village, which brought decadence to the region.

Later on the royal family decided to come to Cascais to bathe enjoying the mild climate around this area, turning the fishing village into a cosmopolitan and exciting town.

The railway arrived in 1889 and the international connection to Paris brought a lot of people, important at the time together with the European aristocracy.

From the 1930 ‘s both Cascais and Monte do Estoril have supported Estoril as a flagship of the Portuguese Tourism and the area became internationally well know as the Sun Coast.

In the 40’s, due to Portugal’s neutrality in the II World War, the town’s elegance and royal past, Cascais became home to many of the exiled royal families of Europe including those of Spain , Italy and Bulgaria.

But they were not the only ones to choose Estoril - spies also made it their home. Lisbon was an obligatory stopover for whoever travelling through Europe so it became a natural intelligence operations centre for both sides.

Today this is a very exciting and cosmopolitan area !
Culture and entertainment are constant in Estoril & Cascais coast, supported by a great range of quality and charming properties complemented by excellent sea food restaurants and the well known Casino do Estoril one of the most important entertainment venues in Portugal .

Surrounded by popular beaches as Guincho and magnificent Golf Courses considered amongst the best in Europe, this is an area with a life of its own.

If you drive out west of Lisbon, you will notice a mountain rising up majestically, casting a shadow of romantic mystery over the town of Sintra, nestling in the foothills to the north of it.
The potential of the Sintra district are not confined to the wild enchantments of the Serra, sometimes wreathed in mist, and to the artistic heritage of the Old Town, described by Byron as "the most pleasing in Europe", but also include valuable archaeological remains, particularly from the Roman period, ancient manor houses, churches of personalised artistic value and characteristic villages.
During the Moorish domination there was built the Moorish Castle - Castelo dos Mouros - perched on the crest of the Serra (alt. 450 m), this castle was constructed by the Moors in the 8th or 9th Century A.D., and is situated on two of the peaks of the Serra de Sintra, offering magnificent views.
Sintra Royal Palace which is situated downhill, was the residence of the Moorish rulers of the region. In the 12th century, when the village was conquered by King Afonso Henriques, the King took the residence in his possession. The mixture of Gothic, Manueline and Moorish styles in the present palace is, however, mainly the result of building campaigns in the 15th and early 16th centuries.
But it was above all in the 19th Century, with Romanticism, that the region was rediscovered and recovered in international terms. Romantic artists such as William Beckford (1787) and Lord Byron (1811) sang its unsurpassable beauty, engravers such as William Burnett (1830-1837) immortalised the most significant parts of the countryside. Men of sensitivity like King Fernando II lent impulse to planned forestation of the Serra de Sintra and helped the construction of sumptuous revivalist buildings such as the Palácio da Pena.
The Pena Palace dates back to 1839, when the King Consort Dom Fernando II of Saxe Coburg-Gotha (1816-1885) bought the ruins of the Hieronymite Monastery of Nossa Senhora da Pena and started to adapt it for use as a residence, according, to his Romantic taste.

Palácio da Pena, or "Castelo da Pena" as it is more commonly known, is the most complete and notable example of Portuguese architecture in the Romantic period. It stands on one of the rocky peaks of the Serra de Sintra, and blends in, in a surprisingly fortunate manner with its natural background of greenery and crags, testifying to the aesthetic potentialities of the project.

The monuments that are part of the area classified by World Heritage by Unesco are numerous and they all deserved a visit but it is a walk trough the town and up into the Serra that shows the unique charm of the region.

Today Sintra still is an inexhaustible attraction.

Loved by poets and painters in the past, Sintra is nowadays one of the most visited cities in the Lisbon region offering a perfect fusion between the richness of nature and the magnificent monuments, creating something that can be felt but very difficult to describe.

… Pure fascination.