Cascais From Sintra: The 1624 Coast Bus, the Faster 1620 and What to See

The figures come from the Carris Metropolitana timetable feed for a Thursday and a Sunday in September, and from CP's Cascais line timetable. Minutes run from Portela de Sintra to the Cascais terminal. No official page we read prints a road distance, so none is given here.

The 1624 Along the Coast

The 1624 leaves Portela de Sintra from the north entrance and heads west through Colares and Almoçageme, climbs to the Azóia turn, and on its daytime trips runs out to the Cabo da Roca stop before dropping down the Malveira da Serra road into Cascais. On a weekday the first bus leaves at 06:05 and the last at 22:00, with a bus every 30 minutes between 10:00 and 17:00. The trips that call at the cape take 67 to 87 minutes end to end and reach the Cabo da Roca stop 38 to 49 minutes after leaving Portela.

Early morning and late evening trips skip the cape and take 52 to 67 minutes. On Sundays service starts at 08:30 and runs to 22:10, still every 30 minutes through the middle of the day. It is the line to take one way, for the view and the cape.

The 1620 Through São Pedro

The 1620 leaves from the south entrance of Portela de Sintra and takes the inland road through São Pedro de Sintra and past CascaiShopping. It is the quick line, 27 to 42 minutes towards Cascais, but it is not frequent: 20 departures on a weekday, from 05:50 to 20:35, with gaps of up to two hours in the late morning. At weekends it runs 13 times a day, from 06:45 to 20:40.

Coming back, the weekday departures from Cascais include 15:00, 15:50, 16:45 and 18:00, and the evening trips are slower, the 16:45 taking 52 minutes. Line 1623 via Alvide covers some of the gaps with nine weekday trips, the last at 16:00 from Portela.

The Train Loop Through Lisbon

There is no train from Sintra to Cascais. The rail route is the CP Sintra line into Lisbon, a change across the city, and the CP Cascais line out from Cais do Sodré, which takes 40 minutes to Cascais on the timetable in force from 6 April 2026 and runs every 20 minutes in the weekday middle of the day. CP's Bilhete Turístico covers both lines for $7.73 (€6.70) for 24 hours, but not the change across Lisbon.

The loop makes sense only if you are going back to Lisbon anyway: out on the 1624 to Cascais, and home on the Cascais line. The Lisbon to Sintra page covers the Sintra line end of it.

Taxi, Ride-Hailing and Driving

No official source publishes a taxi or ride-hailing fare between Sintra and Cascais, and we will not guess one. The app shows its own quote before you confirm. Driving, the coast road through Colares and past the Cabo da Roca turn is the same route the 1624 takes.

No municipal page we read gives the distance or names a Cascais car park with a price, so budget for parking in town without a figure from us. The bus avoids both questions for $1.79 (€1.55).

First and last departures and total trips per day from Portela de Sintra, read from Carris Metropolitana's published timetable feed for Thursday 17 September and Sunday 20 September. Saturday follows the Sunday pattern closely on both lines.

Coming Back From Cascais

From the Cascais terminal the 1624 leaves 31 times on a weekday, from 06:05 to 21:55, every 30 minutes in the day, and reaches Portela de Sintra in 52 to 87 minutes. On Sunday it runs from 08:30 to 21:40. The 1620 back leaves Cascais 19 times on a weekday, the last at 21:15, and 14 times on Sunday, the last at 20:00.

If you miss the last 1620, the 1624 is still running for another two hours. Both end at Portela de Sintra, one stop before Sintra on the CP line, so check the last train into Sintra if you are staying in the old town. The getting around page covers the station.

Casa das Histórias Paula Rego

The museum dedicated to Paula Rego's work is on Avenida da República 300, and its building is by the architect Eduardo Souto de Moura. The Bairro dos Museus describes 750 square metres of exhibition space, a shop, a cafeteria with a terrace over the garden and a 200-seat auditorium. Entry is $5.77 (€5) on the Bairro dos Museus ticket page.

It is part of the municipal museum network, so the one-day ticket at $8.65 (€7.50) covers it and every other venue in the network. The museum's opening hours are published by aggregators rather than on the network page we read, so confirm them on the day before you plan around them.

The Citadel and Its Palace

The Cidadela de Cascais houses two paid options on the Bairro dos Museus ticket page. The exhibition gallery of the Palácio da Cidadela is $5.77 (€5). The visit to the Palácio da Cidadela itself, the Palácio da Presidência, is also $5.77 (€5) but is always a guided visit with prior booking at set times, so it cannot be a walk-in.

Gallery and palace together are $11.54 (€10). If the palace visit is the point of the day, book it first and time the bus from Sintra around it.

Free Venues and the Seafront

Casa Duarte Pinto Coelho is free on the municipal ticket page. The Centro Cultural de Cascais is $5.77 (€5). Beyond the museums, the old town, the beaches and the seafront walk cost nothing, and the rest of the day is yours.

If you want a beach with a view of the Serra behind it, the e-bike tours ride to Guincho, and the beaches page covers Sintra's own coast to compare.

Three ways to spend a day, with the weekday buses that make each one work. Bus times are the Carris Metropolitana feed. The time in Cascais is what is left between them.

A four-hour window is enough for the seafront and one museum. The Citadel palace needs its booked slot plus the gallery, which is what makes the day ticket pay. If you only have half a day, skip the cape and take the 1620 both ways.

The two-day itinerary shows how a coast afternoon fits after the palaces.

Give Cascais the day after the palaces. Take the 1624 in the morning, stop at Cabo da Roca, ride on to Cascais, and come back on the 1620 in the late afternoon. If you are staying near Portela de Sintra the bus is at your door, and where to stay covers that part of town.

If you are leaving Sintra for Lisbon, do it the other way: 1624 to Cascais with your bag, then the Cascais line into the city. The other coast and palace trips are ranked on the day trips hub, and the two-day itinerary shows where the coast fits.