Luxury Hotels In Estoril

A Monte Estoril Coastal Base

InterContinental Estoril is on Avenida Marginal in Monte Estoril. This is the coastal accommodation setting for the collection, between the wider interests of Estoril and Cascais. The street address distinguishes it from a hotel in Cascais's historic centre.

The Architecture Of Summer Living

The coast's summer-residence architecture developed after the Portuguese royal family's arrival in Cascais in 1870. It spread through Monte Estoril and into Estoril, with houses expressing a range of aesthetic choices over the following century. This gives the area a built history that can interest a traveler independently of a beach itinerary.

Modernist architecture became another strand in the municipality from the 1930s, with important public and private examples in Estoril.

The Fort At São João Do Estoril

Forte de Santo António da Barra adds a military history to the coast's residential architecture. Its position at São João do Estoril belonged to the defences of the approach to Lisbon. Following the invasion of 1580, the ease with which troops had landed at Cascais exposed weaknesses in that system.

In 1589, Filipe I ordered a fort between Cascais and São Julião da Barra. Its artillery could challenge hostile ships using the nearer-shore channel known as the barra pequena. An interest in this building is therefore an interest in how the coastline functioned as an entrance to the Tagus and the capital, before its later reputation as a resort.

Our Portugal hotel guide provides the wider national context for this coastal architectural interest.