Eight kilometres west of Cascais, the coast turns and opens to the full Atlantic at Praia do Guincho — a long, wide, wind-blasted beach backed by dunes and the green Sintra hills. It is one of the best surf beaches near Lisbon and a regular venue for European windsurfing and kitesurfing competitions.
The wind is the defining feature: the prevailing northerly almost never stops, and on most summer afternoons it lifts a thin sandstorm along the beach by three or four o'clock. Bring a windbreak, or come for the morning swim and lunch at one of the cliff-top restaurants before the wind comes up. The drive in itself is worth doing — the road runs along the cliff edge from Cascais through pine forest, with the Atlantic on one side and the Sintra mountains rising on the other.