Portugal / Lisbon
Cascais
Cascais is a coastal resort area in Lisbon, Portugal. Its longest mapped beach (Praia do Tamariz) stretches about 415 m and has a sand surface. The sea averages 18.8 °C in September, its warmest month, and 14.6 °C in February; it never reaches 21 °C on average.
Average sea surface temperature by month. Current month outlined.
The sea peaks at 18.8 °C in September. Most swimmers find water below 20 °C cold; a wetsuit is common here.
OpenStreetMap shows no lifeguard station within 1 km. Seasonal lifeguard posts are often unmapped, so check on site.
Services in the resort
- 294Restaurants, cafés & bars
- 13Public toilets
- –Showers
- 8Drinking water
- 45Car parks
- –Lifeguard stations
- 51Hotels & guesthouses
- 24Grocery shops
- 5Water-sports spots
- 2Marinas & slipways
- 83Bus stops (1.5 km)
- 9Pharmacies & clinics
- 15Cash machines
- 8Bike rental
- 6Viewpoints
- 3Historic sites
Food and drink mapped within 1 km: 220 restaurants, 25 cafés, 44 bars and 5 fast-food outlets. Accommodation: 51 hotels and guesthouses.
Counted within 1 km of the beach (bus stops 1.5 km) from OpenStreetMap features and Overture Maps places, release of 2026-10. Unmapped does not mean absent.
Bathing water quality
The official EU bathing-water site “Rainha (Cascais)”, 330 m from the beach centre, was rated Good for the 2025 season. It was Excellent in 3 of its 11 classified seasons since 2015.
- 2015Good
- 2016Good
- 2017Good
- 2018Good
- 2019Good
- 2020Excellent
- 2021Excellent
- 2022Excellent
- 2023Good
- 2024Good
- 2025Good
Source: European Environment Agency, EU Bathing Water Directive assessments · national site profile. Classes are based on four seasons of bacteriological sampling.
Month by month
October at Cascais
Beach-day index 5.4/10 · Portugal median 6.6
| Measure | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sea °C | 15.2 °C | 14.6 °C | 14.7 °C | 15.4 °C | 16.4 °C | 17.7 °C | 18.3 °C | 18.7 °C | 18.8 °C | 18.3 °C | 17.2 °C | 16.0 °C |
| High °C | 14° | 15° | 16° | 18° | 20° | 23° | 24° | 24° | 24° | 21° | 17° | 15° |
| Low °C | 9° | 9° | 10° | 11° | 13° | 15° | 16° | 17° | 16° | 15° | 12° | 9° |
| Rain mm | 73 | 53 | 63 | 58 | 34 | 13 | 4 | 8 | 26 | 84 | 93 | 67 |
| Cloud % | 62 | 58 | 61 | 57 | 52 | 49 | 45 | 41 | 48 | 58 | 60 | 62 |
| Wind m/s | 5.3 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 5.3 | 5.3 | 5.3 | 5.7 | 5.3 | 4.5 | 4.9 | 5.3 | 5.5 |
| Daylight h | 9.7 | 10.7 | 11.9 | 13.2 | 14.3 | 14.9 | 14.6 | 13.7 | 12.5 | 11.3 | 10.1 | 9.5 |
| Record high/low | 19°/1° | 20°/1° | 24°/-0° | 27°/8° | 30°/9° | 32°/12° | 34°/14° | 36°/14° | 32°/13° | 29°/9° | 23°/4° | 19°/1° |
| Beach index | 2.6 | 2.7 | 2.6 | 3.2 | 4.8 | 6.4 | 7.2 | 7.7 | 7.3 | 5.4 | 3.2 | 2.9 |
Long-term monthly averages: air from NASA POWER (2001–2020), sea from NOAA OISST (1991–2020); records are the extremes of 2001–2020. How the index works.
When to go
The beach-day index peaks in July–September; August scores 7.7/10 with highs of 24 °C, sea at 18.7 °C and 8 mm of rain.
That matches the median for beaches in Portugal in the same month.
Across the year the sea averages 16.8 °C, cooler than 65% of the coastal beaches in the atlas.
November is the wettest month (93 mm) and July the driest (4 mm); the yearly total is about 580 mm.
Daylight runs from 9.5 hours in December to 14.9 hours in June; in mid-August the sun rises at 06:50 and sets at 20:34 local time.
Orientation, sun and shore
The shore faces south-east (130°). Open water fills about 36% of the horizon close by, which makes it an open stretch of shore.
At no time of year does the sun set over the sea here: sunset bearings run from 240° to 301°, behind the land.
Sunrise is over the sea in August–April.
The opposite shore is only about 500 m away to the south-east, which keeps the water sheltered from big waves.
About 1 km offshore the sea is roughly 12 m deep and 23 m at 3 km. Behind the beach the ground is about 29 m above sea level 500 m inland and 55 m at 1.5 km.
Within 1 km, the land is 62% built-up land, 28% tree cover and 7% grassland (satellite land-cover map, 2021): an urban beach. Water makes up 33% of that circle.
- Built 62%
- Tree 28%
- Grass 7%
- Bare 3%
Land cover: ESA WorldCover 2021 (10 m). Orientation from OpenStreetMap land polygons sampled in 36 directions; depths and heights from the GEBCO 2020 grid (about 450 m cells), indicative only.
Getting there
| Airport | Code | Distance | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cascais Airport Cascais | CAT | 6.5 km | north-east |
| Lisbon Humberto Delgado Airport Lisbon | LIS | 26.4 km | east |
| Portimão Airport Portimão | PRM | 187 km | south-east |
Straight-line distances from the beach; road distance is usually 20–40% longer.
Local transport: 83 bus stops within 1.5 km, rail station Cascais (490 m), rail station Monte Estoril (1.4 km) and 45 mapped car parks within 1 km.
12 towns and villages of 1,000+ people lie within 10 km (about 245.7K residents); within 30 km there are 116 (about 2.9M).
Photos
From above
Around the beach
Attractions & museums
- Museu da Vila museum 20 m NE
- Museo Condes de Castro Guimareas museum 120 m SE
- Casa Sommer museum 230 m SW
- Museu do Mar Rei D. Carlos museum 310 m SW
- Museo Paula Rego De Cascais museum 380 m SW
- Casa das Histórias Paula Rego museum 390 m SW
Historic sites
- Alameda dos Combatentes da Grande Guerra monument 120 m NE
- Sintra - Castelo Pena monument 240 m N
- Grutas do Poço Velho archaeological site 400 m N
Nature
- Cascais- Cabo da Roca nature reserve 190 m NW
- Grutas do Poço Velho cave entrance 400 m N
Marinas
- Cascais Habour 70 m E
- Marina de Cascais 560 m SE
Diving & boat hire
- Cascais Rent Bike 270 m N
- Wonder Bike 480 m N
- Aquastart 660 m S
- Dolphin Explorers 660 m S
- FD Yacht Cascais 730 m S
Map
Loading map…
Data on this page
- Air temperature, rain, cloud, wind, humidity: NASA POWER climatology 2001–2020, 0.5° grid.
- Sea temperature: NOAA OISST v2.1 monthly normals 1991–2020, nearest ocean cell 8.9 km away.
- Beach outline, surface, rules and public facilities: OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), feature w23847961; restaurants, cafés, bars and lodging: Overture Maps places (CDLA-Permissive-2.0).
- Towns and time zone: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Airports: OurAirports (public domain). Sunrise and sunset: NOAA solar equations.
- Photos: Wikimedia Commons, author and licence under each image.
- Satellite view: Copernicus Sentinel-2 (ESA), scene S2B_29SMC_20260913_0_L2A.
- Orientation: OpenStreetMap land polygons (ODbL). Depth and terrain: GEBCO 2020 grid.
- Bathing-water quality: European Environment Agency (site PTCF2Q).
- Settlements: GeoNames places with 1,000+ inhabitants.
- Land cover: ESA WorldCover 2021, 10 m (CC BY 4.0).
- Search popularity: about 3.6K Google searches a month for the name (KeywordTool, October 2026).
Data compiled 2026-10-13. Something wrong? Report a data error.