We stayed here for six nights...we were going to do a city break to Lisbon but realised this would be a much better option...as it took in relaxation and the city. We stayed in one bedroom apartment in Villa Bicuda complex, because of this we used car hire to get about apart from trips into Lisbon where we used the local train service a journey of a bout 40 minutes.

Cascais itself was lovely with a collection of cobbled narrow streets with bars and restaurants. The surrounding area was good to tour around, particularly liked Sintra.

We went to Lisbon last year and stayed there for 1 week.
We don't really like being in the busy, noisy places but as there is so much to see in Lisbon (and we didn't manage to do everything in 1 week), we thought it best to stay there.
We stayed in a fabulous hotel (think it was Real Parque) which wasn't in too busy an area and travelled everywhere by metro.
We visited Cascais and it is beautiful. It would be nice to stay there but what you have to remember is that if you are going to be going into Lisbon everyday to see things, it's better to stay there!!!!!
We easily managed to get by train to Cascais, Estoril and Sintra.
Hope this helps.
Pat

Thanx for your replies.
I feel that a full week in any city is too much and would usually go for about a 4 day city break. I don't think I'd go into the capital every day if I was there for a a week.That's why I thought this option might be a good way of combining sight-seeing & relaxation, and seeing some of the surrounding area.
Still pondering. Do you think the weather at beginning of April would be reasonable? i.e. to maybe sit outdoors and look at the beach if not exactly sunbathing!?
(sunbear, we were thinking of hiring an apartment off the internet. Is this what you did & if so would you recomend your accommodation?)
Glad to hear there's so much to see in Lisbon Pat as I don't know a huge amount about the city but it certainly looks full of character and different to other European capitals.

Although we stayed a week there, we spent 1 day in Cascais/Estoril and another in Sintra, so it only left us 5 days!!!
We were there in January and it wasn't too cold but it was cloudy and we needed jackets etc even during the day.
We have been to the Algarve in April and we have had very mixed weather, sometimes lovely sunshine, sometimes wet!!! Think that Lisbon maybe a little cooler though than the Algarve.
Pat

We were in Lisbon last March for 2 days and it was very warm .It is a lovely city well worth seeing

toastedmallow,
Would happily recommend the Villa Bicuda. A modern complex set in pleasant grounds, with a couple of swimming pools, restaurant bar and bakery and mini-mart. The one bedroom apartments are quite smart, the studios a bit more cramped. Its not by the sea (about 25 mins walk to sea front)and would recommend car hire although there is a good bus service. Nearest real shop is Lidl where we stocked with the basics.

Price wise was coming out less than a 4 star property in Lisbon. My personal choice would be to stay is Cascais

Thansk sunbear,
We were hoping to get away without car hire with the good train links into Lisbon, don't fancy driving into an unfamiliar capital city.
If we wanted to go to Sintra is that easily possible from Cascais by train or bus?
Do you think this would be manageable or would life just be easier with a car?

toastedmallow,
Things are possible by bus and train. I thing there is a transfer bus service that runs from the airport that stops outside Villa Bicuda for example. There were also special tourist bus services that took in places like Sintra. As for the train we did park and ride from Cascais to Lisbon. Also there's plenty of hotel accomodation in the centre of Cascais should you wish to be more central.

If you stop a bit out of the centre of Cascais I would reccomend a car just to make life simpler, if you're in the centre than you can probably get by with the public transport.

Have a look at the link below for bus details
http://www.scotturb.com/enindex.htm

Thanks a lot Sunbear. That's really useful.