Cascais City Guide

Cascais is an affluent coastal town on Portugal's Estoril Coast, about 30 km west of Lisbon and linked to the capital by a scenic commuter rail line in roughly 30-40 minutes. Once a royal summer retreat, it is now one of Portugal's most prestigious residential markets, prized for its marina, Blue Flag beaches (Guincho, Carcavelos), championship golf and a dense cluster of international schools that anchor a large permanent expat community. It blends a walkable historic centre with low-density villa enclaves, drawing high-net-worth buyers from the UK, US, Brazil and Northern Europe seeking a coastal lifestyle within commuting distance of Lisbon's business district. Two policy shifts reshape the 2025-2026 pitch: Portugal's Golden Visa real-estate route was abolished in October 2023, and the NHR tax regime closed to new applicants on 1 January 2025, replaced by the narrower IFICI ('NHR 2.0'). Despite these headwinds, Cascais demand has stayed resilient, driven by lifestyle migration rather than tax arbitrage, though price growth has cooled to the slowest in the Lisbon metro.