page_title: Cascais
section_title: Geography
hierarchical_section_title: Cascais / Geography
caption_attribution_description: Horasis India Meeting, Cascais, Portugal, 3-4 July
context_page_description: Cascais is a municipality in the Lisbon District of Portugal, located on the Portuguese Riviera. The population in 2011 was 206,479, in an area of 97.40 km². Cascais is an important tourist destination. Its marina hosts events such as the America's Cup and the town of Estoril, part of the Cascais municipality, hosts conferences such as the Horasis Global Meeting.
  Cascais's history as a popular seaside resort originated in the 1870s, when King Luís I of Portugal and the Portuguese royal family made the seaside town their residence every September, thus also attracting members of the Portuguese nobility, who established a summer community there. Cascais is known for the many members of royalty who have lived there, including King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom, King Juan Carlos I of Spain, and King Umberto II of Italy. Exiled Cuban president Fulgencio Batista was also once a resident of the municipality, while it was the Casino Estoril that inspired Ian Fleming's first James Bond novel Casino Royale.
  The municipality is one of the wealthiest in both Portugal and the Iberian Peninsula.
context_section_description: Cascais is situated on the western edge of the Tagus estuary, between the Sintra mountains and the Atlantic Ocean; the territory occupied by the municipality is limited in the north by the municipality of Sintra, south and west by the ocean, and east by the municipality of Oeiras.
  Administratively, the municipality is divided into 4 civil parishes (freguesias), with municipal authority vested in the Câmara Municipal of Cascais:
  Alcabideche
  Carcavelos e Parede
  Cascais e Estoril
  São Domingos de Rana
  Cascais' coastline is home to 17 beaches. These are:
  Praia das Avencas
  Praia da Azarujinha
  Praia da Bafureira
  Praia da Conceição
  Praia da Cresmina
  Praia da Duquesa
  Praia da Parede
  Praia da Poça
  Praia da Rainha
  Praia da Ribeira de Cascais
  Praia das Moitas
  Praia de Carcavelos
  Praia de S. Pedro do Estoril
  Praia de Santa Marta
  Praia do Abano
  Praia do Tamariz
  Praia do Guincho
  Guincho Beach and Carcavelos Beach are especially well known as good surf spots. Close to Praia do Guincho is the Cresmina Dune, which is an unstable dune system due to the constant drifting of sand particles caused by strong winds.
caption: Horasis Global Meeting Reception at the Hotel Palácio Estoril, 2016.
exif: {"Image Make": "NIKON CORPORATION", "Image Model": "NIKON D750", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop Camera Raw 9.5.1 (Macintosh)", "Image DateTime": "2016:07:06 00:29:44", "Image Artist": "MIGUEL QUESADA", "Image Copyright": "All Rights Reserved", "Image ExifOffset": "282", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1050", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "15833", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/3200", "EXIF FNumber": "16/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Aperture Priority", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "200", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Recommended Exposure Index", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2016:07:04 20:01:18", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2016:07:04 20:01:18", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "727741/62500", "EXIF ApertureValue": "209759/62500", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "1", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "CenterWeightedAverage", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "24", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "77", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "77", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "54886891/32768", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "54886891/32768", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "3", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CVAPattern": "[2, 0, 2, 0, 0, 1, 1, 2]", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Custom", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "24", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0", "EXIF BodySerialNumber": "8027583", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[24, 70, 14/5, 14/5]", "EXIF LensModel": "24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8"}