Portuguese Riviera

The Portuguese Riviera (Portuguese: Riviera Portuguesa) is the coastal region to the west of Lisbon, Portugal, centered on the towns of Cascais, Estoril, and Sintra. It is coterminous with the Estoril Coast (Costa do Estoril) and occasionally know as the Costa do Sol (Sunny Coast). The region is known as a popular luxury resort area and for its history as a home of the wealthy and famous.

Both Cascais and Sintra consistently rank among the richest municipalities in Portugal and among the richest in the Iberian Peninsula. Because of its numerous resorts, estates, luxury shopping, and coastal nature, the area has been likened to the French and Italian Rivieras, from which it derives its name.

Cascais's history as a cosmopolitan center originates in the 1870s, when King Luís I of Portugal and the Portuguese royal family made the seaside town his summer residence, thus attracting members of Portugal's aristocracy, who established a summer community there. During World War II, the area's royal affiliations intensified, as many heads of European royal houses and deposed monarchs, such as Edward VIII of the United Kingdom (at that time, Duke of Windsor) and Juan Carlos I of Spain (at the time, Infante of Spain) made their home in Cascais and Estoril, finding refuge in Portugal's neutrality in the war or from tense political situations in their own countries.

Sintra had been a royal retreat since the 15th century, but it was in the 19th century when it became the center of the Romanticist movement in Portugal that it became a summer residence of the Portuguese nobility. Sintra's belle epoch during this time resulted in the numerous villas, gardens, estates, and palaces that characterize the area.

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