Estoril

Quieter, older and slightly cheaper than Cascais next door, with a casino, a good beach and a three-kilometre seafront promenade.

Estoril is what Cascais was before Cascais got busy: a strip of belle-époque villas and 1950s hotels on a hillside, sloping down through the casino gardens to Praia do Tamariz. Two stops before the end of the Cascais line, twenty-seven minutes from Cais do Sodré. The town made its name in the 1940s as the parking lot of exiled European royalty and the spies who watched them — Ian Fleming came through, and the Hotel Palácio on Rua Particular still trades on it, reasonably enough, because the bar really has not changed much.

The centre of gravity is the Casino Estoril at the top of the Parque dos Estoris. Entry is free, you need photo ID, and the dress code is looser than the marketing suggests — no beachwear, that is about it. The gaming floors are frankly ordinary; the reason to go is the Salão Preto e Prata, which puts on concerts and dinner shows most weekends, and the fact that it is the only thing in town reliably open past midnight. Everything else — the restaurants on Avenida de Nice, the cafés by the station — has closed by half eleven.

At nine on a Tuesday in October, Estoril is elderly couples walking the Paredão, the seafront promenade, and teenagers on the Tamariz esplanade. It is genuinely quiet. That is either the appeal or the deal-breaker. People who love it are here for a week of beach, promenade, a golf course at Penha Longa or Oitavos, and a train into Lisbon three times. People who hate it wanted bars and found a retirement coast with a good bus service.

Practically, it is often €20 to €30 a night cheaper than the equivalent room in Cascais, and Cascais is a twenty-five minute walk or one train stop away — so you can take the price and still eat where you like. Monte Estoril, the station in between, is the best-value micro-pocket on the whole line. Skip Estoril if you are travelling with teenagers who need something to do, or if you want the town itself to entertain you after dark.

Where to sleep

Three bands. On the seafront, either side of Tamariz, you pay €120 to €200 in shoulder season for a sea view and the promenade at your door. Up the hill around Rua do Viveiro, Avenida de Nice and Rua de Lisboa, five to eight minutes' walk from the station, the same standard drops to €85 to €130 and you get quiet. Monte Estoril, one stop east on Avenida Marginal, is quieter still and frequently the cheapest sea-view rooms on the line. Avoid anything advertised as Estoril but with an Alcabideche or Livramento address — that is a twenty-minute uphill walk from the water with no useful bus. Also check which side of the building your room faces: the Marginal carries heavy traffic from six in the morning, and the train line runs right along the sand. January bottoms out near €65; August roughly doubles everything above.

The essentials

Casino gardens to Monte Estoril (3 km)

Start at the top of the Parque dos Estoris by the casino entrance, walk down through the terraced gardens and fountains to Avenida Marginal, cross to Praia do Tamariz and pick up the Paredão heading west. Pass the tidal pool, the Monte Estoril station steps, and Praia da Poça, then keep going to the Cascais marina wall. Return by train from Cascais in four minutes.

Getting there & around

Trains from Cais do Sodré to Estoril run every twenty minutes and take about twenty-seven minutes; a Navegante zapping fare is around €2.25. From the airport, red metro line to Alameda, change to green for Cais do Sodré — roughly seventy minutes in total. By road it is the A5 to the Estoril exit, thirty minutes without traffic, and a taxi runs €40 to €55. Once here you walk everywhere: station to casino is four minutes uphill, station to Cascais twenty-five along the Paredão. Bus 418 and 499 climb inland to Alcabideche and the Sintra road. The last train back from Lisbon leaves around 01:30.