Request for tourism advice from Meglorien (or Foradan, or anyone else with relevant Portuguese knowl

[philmophlegm]

A friend of mine is going on a business trip to a conference in Cascais, near Lisbon.

What he would like to know is:

Is this the sort of place you'd want to stay an extra couple of days to explore after the conference?

Or is it easy enough to get to Lisbon to explore the city?


It looks nice in its Wikipedia entry, but I thought I'd ask a more knowledgeable source...

Comments

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

Apparently there's a maximum length of subject heading!

[parrot-knight.livejournal.com]

I didn't get to Cascais, but the metropolitan railway system is frequent and efficient (timetables can be found online somewhere) and it is easy to get to Lisbon. There are lots of other places in the Lisbon area it's worth exploring, such as Sintra.

[foradan.livejournal.com]

Cascais is a seaside resort town. Cascais town is pretty (the huge ugly hotels are slightly closer to Lisbon - but they might be where the conference is). There is a good beach. There is a good suburban train service to Lisbon from Cascais. Sintra is well worth visiting. It is on a different train line from Cascais, but I think there is a bus from Cascais. Sintra is full of Romantic-period follies, and is in a very nice location. There are several palaces to visit, and a ruined moorish castle (the ruins were 'improved' in the 19th century), and plenty of gardens.

[meglorien.livejournal.com]

Cascais is a very pretty town. The thing I like best is walking along the coast starting in Cascais. You can go along as far as Paço de Arcos, which is where I used to live as a child. When you get tired, you're never very far from a railway station. This is of course best done when the weather is nice, though it has it's attraction (like getting splashed and soaked) when it's stormy. We stayed in Cascais a couple of days after our wedding in a very nice (and comparatively cheap) guesthouse we'd recommend to anybody (Casa da Pergola). It's very pretty inside and the staff is very friendly, the view is fantastic. There's also a fortress, (which is also a hotel, but extremely expensive), where you can go and have a meal and listen to fado (fado is a Portuguese traditional type of music, sang by a soloist, accompanied by classic guitar and Portuguese guitar, Pellegrina seemed to like it when she visited). There is a sight very worth seeing if the weather is stormy. I'm not sure how to get there without a car, because I've always been driven there. It's called Boca do Inferno. If the sea is stormy, the waves and the sound are impressive.
So, in short, is it a place worth staying for a few days extra, yes, definitely, though other places nearby, like Sintra, are at least as worth a few days. It's an expensive location, though (so is Sintra).
In reply to your second question, it is extremely easy to get to Lisbon from Cascais, as Foradan has already told you. Along the railway, you have several places to stop and go see things. The best (or the richest in this sort of thing) is Belem. It should take you about 20-30 minutes on the train to get there from Cascais. There is the Discoveries monument, with a tiled map on the ground of the whole world as it used to be. There's Belem's Tower, there's a nice assortment of museums, including the maritime museum and Jeronimos Monastery. There's a palace further up the hill, which is in my opinion one of the nicest palaces to see in great Lisbon's area (which includes Cascais and Sintra).
Another thing well worth seeing is the Oceanarium. That's a bit trickier to get to from Cascais, but not impossible. The Oceanarium is a big aquarium with a very nice organisation. It's a bit pricey, but it's worth it. It's located in a very pretty area too, Parque das Nações and it's where the World Exhibition of 98 happened.
In Lisbon I'd recommend the Castle of St. Jorge. There isn't much castle to see, if you're looking for the keep and a building. The walls are there, though, and the view is just fantastic. There's a restaurant there, but I've never tried it.
That's enough to go with, I think. If you would like to ask anymore questions, I'll be happy to answer.

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

Thanks ever so much - I'll pass this on to random.

By the way, I noticed that I never friended you back, which is terribly rude of me!