Where was the last sunset spot you raced to?
After touring the beautiful area of Sintra, Portugal, we wanted to get down to Cascais for sunset. Cascais is a beach town that is about a 30-minute drive from Lisbon. One of the main highlights is Boca do Inferno, which means the mouth of hell. It gets its name from the rough ocean waves that crash against the cliff face. The waves force their way into a cave system and spray from an opening above.
We started our day in Lisbon, spending most of it at our Couchsurfing host’s place. He was at work, so we were leaving to head back up to Sintra for a night before heading up to Porto. Unfortunately, we couldn’t check into our Airbnb until 4pm and our host wouldn’t budge on the arrival time. So we had to get there at exactly 4pm so we would have time for a quick meal and then race down the coast to Cascais. We would have loved to spend more time seeing the town, but only did sunset at Boca do Inferno.
Since it was late October when we arrived, the sunset was early which put more pressure on our arrival time. There were many people there, so we had to find parking and get down to the main attraction quickly. I parked as close as I could and then we got our camera bags and headed down to the rocky cliffs.
The views were amazing with the late evening sunlight hitting the cliff face. The caves were the best feature as they were open holes in the cliffs. It is a very dramatic coastline that has seen its days of severe storms and erosion, which is what makes it so spectacular.
Many people were sitting on the rocks waiting for the sun to set. There were also plenty of other photographers there getting shooting the rock face. We got around the crowds to get the photos we wanted and also enjoyed watching the sun go down. There were strong winds that kept us panicked about having our travel kitties out, but we kept them mildly safe for photos.
After sunset, we headed back to the car for an unpleasant surprise; a parking ticket. We weren’t aware there was a fee for parking there as the signage was only on the edges of the parking lot and we parked far in between the two signs. We were also in a hurry to get down to the water. If we had parked a little way up the hill parking was free. If you end up here, just be careful about where you park. It was about a 30 euro fine.
Overall, we loved this place and hope to do it more justice on our next trip to Portugal.
Don’t miss out on new content!
Follow our blog for new snippets every day and full posts and videos every week.