Cascais, situated at the terminus of the "Linha da Cascais", the suburban rail line that runs from Lisbon's Cais de Sodre station, has long been a destination for the upmarket tourist segment.
However, these figures confirm qualitative data over the past two years from online sources such as Tripadvisor.com, that increasingly tourists in general are looking at Cascais, and Estoril which lies in the Cascais Council area, as desirable destinations.
The bulk of visitors originated from the UK, Germany, Holland, Sweden and France. Visitors from Spain also favor the area, it being an easy drive from the Madrid region.
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In part the development of low-cost flights into Lisbon Airport by airlines such as ryanair.com, easyjet.com, transavia.com, vueling.com are contributory factors. However, the write also believes that the fact that the Cascais region offers a range of tourist products, apart from beaches, makes it increasingly desirable. The proximity of the region to both Sintra and Lisbon also adds to the region's desirability.
However, there are a couple of issues that, in the writer's opinion, may restrict substantial future development of visitor numbers:
- Lack of direct reasonably priced public transport services such as direct buses/scheduled limo services to Lisbon Airport. A direct hourly bus service from Cascais Station via Estoril Station to Lisbon Airport via the A5 motorway /CRIL would be a great improvement, especially with more airlines such as monarch.co.uk starting direct services to Lisbon Airport in 2016..
- Insufficient tourist accommodation, particularly in the budget/independent traveler end and apartment/villa rental sectors of the market.
