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The best independent guide to Lisbon
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Praia da Rainha beach, Cascais
The Praia da Rainha is the smallest beach within Cascais, but it is by far the most picturesque. This beautiful and secluded location was chosen to be the private beach of Queen Amélia in 1889, and since has been known as the Praia da Rainha, Queen's Beach.
The beautiful Praia da Rainha on a quiet spring day
It is easy to understand how Queen Amélia fell in love with this beach. The small cove of golden sands is surrounded by jagged rocks and overlooks the calm waters of Cascais bay. Today the beach is popular with tourists, but it still retains a sense of importance and grandeur over the other beaches found within the Cascais region.
Related articles: Cascais guide - Cascais beach guide - Lisbon beach guide
More likely when you visit it in the summer it will be packed!
Tourist information for the Praia da Rainha
The Praia da Rainha is tiny beach, with a shoreline of just 60m, and nestles within a rocky headland. Today the headland is lined with houses and apartments, but Rainha beach always feels slightly removed from the hecticness of the main town.
The sea waters are calm, clean and are safe to swim in, but the small size of the beach means there is no lifeguard supervision. The beach is ideal for families and young children, due to these safe waters. At high tide, the size of the beach massive reduces so that there is only a small area close to the cliffs.
At high tide much of the golden sands vanish
On the western side of the beach are two huge boulders, which are a favourite for teenagers to clamber over – never jump from these as there are rocks at the base and the water is not that deep!
On the beach is the Bar Praia da Rainha, which sells drinks, salads, toasties and wraps. This is a great setting for an evening cocktail after the hordes of tourist have left. Above the beach is the Largo da Praia da Rainha plaza and this holds the terrace eating for the Music Bar Restaurante.
The main disadvantage of the beach is its small size and the overlooked feeling from being surrounded by bars restaurants. As the beach is in the centre of Cascais there are good amenities with numerous shops, bars and cafes but there are no showers directly on the beach.
The Largo da Praia da Rainha, just above the beach is a pleasant place to relax
The Praia da Rainha is the most central beach of Cascais. It is entered by a side street from the Rua Frederico Arouca, the main shopping street of Cascais. From the train station it is only a 200m walk.
If you are wanting a slightly larger beach, then continue past the Largo da Praia da Rainha, which leads to the Praia da Conceição. Praia da Conceição is the largest beach of Cascais and is always a lively place to visit.
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