Lisbon or Cascais in July
 

Hello, My family of 4 (2 adults and children age 19 and 22) have 3 nights to stay in the Lisbon area. Only my daughter has been before. I am sure if it was another time of year we would spend those nights in Lisbon but with the summer temps I am wondering if it would make more sense to stay in Cascais. We will have a car which we can use if we decide to take a day trip to Sintra, but would probably use public transportation to get into Lisbon. I have read some reviews of Cascais which make it sound less than ideal with crowds, new construction, etc but we would stay in the historic part of town so hopefully we wouldn't notice this as much. Does anyone have any thoughts that might help me decide? Also do the trains from Lisbon to Cascais run late in the evening if we should chose to go out late at night? Many thanks for any advice you may have.

I understand the temptation to stay out in Caiscais by the water, but I really recommend that you stay in Lisbon for a much richer experience in all ways.

FWIW, when we went it was late August/ early September, so a very warm time of year. We split our time between Lisbon and Cascais and thought that was ideal. With only 3 nights though, I would probably stick to just Lisbon unless you are ok with changing hotels for the last night. I would not do Cascais for all 3 nights as you would really short change Lisbon by doing that.

It really depends on what you're looking for. If you want to really know Lisbon, its history, and culture, you should definitely need to stay in Lisbon, especially downtown. If you're looking for relax and maybe one day for sightseeing Cascais is the place.