I completely fell head-over-heels for Cascais.

Cascais wasn’t originally on my itinerary. But I found myself with an extra day in Lisbon and decided it would be a good idea to take a day trip to Cascais. Unfortunately, so did about a thousand other people and I had to wait an hour in the train station for an hour just to buy a ticket. Learn from my mistakes and get started early in the morning!

Barring the obnoxious wait time, I loved everything about my trip to Cascais. It used to be a sleepy little fishing village, but it’s now a major beach town in Portugal. Not only are the beaches picturesque, the houses are colored in pretty pastels and flowers drip all over the facades. I strolled through the streets without even a hint of an itinerary or a map, just letting myself get lost among the alleyways. At one point I bought an ice cream and enjoyed it by the glimmering Atlantic. It was such a perfect day.

It’s only a 40 minute train ride away from Lisbon, so if you’re ever in the area, I highly recommend this as a day trip!