Marina de Cascais

Location

Cascais Bay, Portugal, at 38 41.5 N 009 25.1 W, nine miles southeast of Cabo da Roca and four miles west of the entrance to the Port of Lisbon

Operator

Marcascais, Sociedade Concessionaria da Marina de Cascais, S.A., share capital EUR 20 million, registered at the Casa de Sao Bernardo on the marina

Concession

granted by contract with ENATUR on behalf of the Portuguese State, signed 21 September 1995 under Decree-Law 335/91 as amended by Decree-Law 14/94; the term is not published

Berths

650 per the Portuguese marina association, Wikipedia and the World Cruising and Sailing Wiki, and 668 per the Yacht Harbour Association; the marina publishes no berth count of its own

Opened

1999

Vessel range

tariff classes to 45 m LOA on the pontoons, the association giving a 36 m maximum and TYHA a 100.00 m maximum berth size; a separate megayacht pier is priced to 65 m and by the metre above that, and two cruising guides describe 50 m vessels on an outer pontoon

Beam limits by class

5.00 m at 12 to 15 m, 6.50 m at 20 to 25 m, 7.20 m at 25 to 36 m and 10.00 m at 36 to 45 m

Depth

Noonsite reports the harbour dredged to 8.5 m with access at all states of tide; the World Cruising and Sailing Wiki gives a minimum of 6.0 m at the berths and a maximum draught of 8.0 m; the marina publishes no depth figure of its own

Approach

entered northeast to southwest under the Cidadela, with Guia and Santa Marta as the leading lights, three cardinal buoys and a red buoy on the breakwater and an unlit red buoy to be left to port

VHF

channel 9 with 16 for calling per Noonsite and the Portuguese marina association; the Sea-Seek entry gives 62 with 16

Speed limit

three knots inside the harbour and at the entrance, under the marina regulation

Boatyard

70 tonne travel hoist and 3 tonne crane, with the travel lift tariff priced only as far as the 20 to 25 m class

Megayacht pier

prior booking required, with a helipad alongside for short-duration helicopter landings

Accreditation

Five Gold Anchors from the Yacht Harbour Association, accredited October 2023

Racing

home of the Clube Naval de Cascais, host of the 2007 ISAF Sailing World Championships and of the 2025 Rolex TP52 World Championship and 2025 Finn Gold Cup

Airports

Lisbon Humberto Delgado 35 km by the A5, about 25 minutes; Cascais municipal airport 14 km

Where it sits and what it is for

Cascais Bay is the last usable indentation on the west coast before the Tagus opens out. The marina publishes its position as 38 41.5 N 009 25.1 W, nine miles southeast of Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point of continental Europe, and four miles west of the entrance to the Port of Lisbon, with Cabo Espichel across the estuary to the south. That geography is the whole point of the place. A boat coming down from Northern Europe rounds Roca, which is a genuine corner with its own weather, and Cascais is the first place to stop and take stock; a boat heading for Madeira, the Canaries and the Atlantic crossing leaves from here or from the river behind it.

The second use is Lisbon. The city is 30 km away by road, 24 minutes by car and about EUR 35 to 50 by taxi, and the Cascais railway line runs from the station beside the marina along the Tagus shore into Cais do Sodre in central Lisbon in 40 minutes, every 15 minutes, for EUR 2 to 5. That is a materially better arrangement than berthing in the river itself, where the recreational docks at Belem, Santo Amaro and Alcantara sit inside a working commercial port with 4 to 5 knots of spring tidal stream through the entrances. Cascais gives you Lisbon without the river. The third use, and the one the marina leads with, is competitive sailing.

The approach, the buoys and getting in

The marina is entered on a northeast to southwest heading, tucked under the Cidadela fortress on the west side of the bay. The two lights to work off are Guia to the west and Santa Marta, which is almost on top of the marina. The marina's own instruction is to keep well clear of the breakwater, which is marked by three cardinal buoys and one red buoy in the vicinity, and to leave the small unlit red buoy off the pier head to port on the way in. The reception pontoon is on the north side of the entrance. Inside the harbour, and at the entrance itself, three knots is the legal limit under the marina regulation, and so is any speed that makes a wash uncomfortable for other users.

The two things a skipper wants to know before he commits are depth and tide, and the published answers are thin. Noonsite reports the harbour dredged to 8.5 metres and access available at all states of tide through a well protected entrance. A second published figure exists and it is describing something else: the World Cruising and Sailing Wiki gives 650 berths for yachts up to 25 metres in minimum depths of 6.0 metres, with a maximum draught of 8.0 metres in its data box. Read together, 8.5 metres is a dredged harbour depth and 6.0 metres is a minimum at the berths, which is the number that matters if you draw more than 5. The marina itself publishes no depth at all. The VHF channel is also unsettled: Noonsite and the Portuguese marina association both give channel 9 with 16 for calling, while the Sea-Seek cruising entry gives channel 62 with 16. Call on 9 and try 62 if nobody answers. Clearance for a boat arriving from outside the EU is handled at the quay, with the marina regulation requiring owners to regularise their stay with the marina services and complete the legal formalities with the Maritime and Customs authorities, and to lodge a deposit.

Cascais publishes a rate for a 65 metre yacht and does not publish how many berths it has, how deep they are, or when the concession that owns them ends.

Six hundred and fifty berths, and where the big boats actually go

Both the Portuguese marina association and Wikipedia put the marina at 650 berths, opened in 1999, and the association gives a maximum of 36 metres on the pontoons. The Yacht Harbour Association, which accredited the marina at Five Gold Anchors in October 2023 and which the marina itself cites for that rating, lists it differently again: 668 berths and a 100.00 m maximum berth size. Several berth counts and three maximum lengths are in circulation and not one of them comes from the operator. The marina map runs pontoons lettered A to P around a single basin, with separate piers for reception, fuel, technical work, events, maritime tourist operators and megayachts, plus the Casa de Sao Bernardo administration building and the Clube Naval de Cascais on the same site. The tariff classes are set by length and by beam together: class V is 12.01 to 15 metres to a 5.00 metre beam, class VII is 20.01 to 25 metres to 6.50 metres, class VIII is 25.01 to 36 metres to 7.20 metres and class IX is 36.01 to 45 metres to a 10.00 metre beam. Catamarans pay double the class.

Above 36 metres the marina says only that it is prepared to receive vessels over that length, on a megayacht pier that requires prior booking and has a helipad alongside for short helicopter landings. It does not say how many berths there are, and that matters, because the two independent accounts Yotters could find both describe the big-boat capacity as an outer face. A cruiser note on Sea-Seek gives 70 visitor berths for boats under 30 metres with 50 metre vessels taken on the outer pontoon, and the World Cruising and Sailing Wiki, independently, says larger vessels are berthed on a pontoon outside the northern breakwater which can accept vessels up to 50 metres long. Two contributor-maintained cruising guides agreeing on 50 metres is not an operator figure, but it is corroboration. Read together with the tariff, which prices the megayacht pier to 65 metres and then adds EUR 16.50 a metre above that, the picture is of a marina that can take a very large yacht on an exposed outer face rather than one with a superyacht basin. If you are 45 metres and up, confirm the actual berth and its depth in writing before you plan a stop.

What it costs, and the contract shapes nobody advertises

The rate card in force from 1 January 2026 is one of the most detailed in Portugal. High season here runs 1 April to 30 September, which is six months, and low season is January to March and October to December. Nightly in high season: EUR 71.70 for a class V boat of 12 to 15 metres, EUR 96.60 at 15 to 18 metres, EUR 146.15 at 20 to 25 metres, EUR 198.45 at 25 to 36 metres and EUR 253.55 at 36 to 45 metres. In low season the same bands are EUR 46.90, EUR 54.00, EUR 66.15, EUR 90.95 and EUR 115.75. There is a short visit rate of up to six hours, EUR 31.50 at 12 to 20 metres and EUR 105.00 at 20 to 36 metres, which is a genuinely useful line for a lunch stop. Everything is quoted before VAT, and VAT is added at 23 per cent.

The long contracts are where the marina differs from its neighbours. There is a 270 day column, explicitly dated October to June or July to March, which is the winter contract dressed as a nine month term, and it is cheap against the day rate: EUR 16,195 for a 20 to 25 metre boat and EUR 28,045 at 36 to 45 metres. A full 360 days is EUR 22,490 and EUR 38,940 for the same two bands. The separate resident price list adds a three year rate, EUR 47,240 for a 20 to 25 metre boat, roughly EUR 15,750 a year, but with quarterly maintenance fees on top where the 360 day rate includes them. Those maintenance fees are published, though on the older sheet: the residents' table in force since 1 January 2024 gives EUR 2,241.32 a year before VAT at 20 to 25 metres and EUR 3,200.00 at 25 to 36 metres, and the marina has not reissued it alongside the 2026 card. A three year contract also carries 720 hours a year of car parking, seven days a year of hardstanding in the technical area and 15 per cent off marina services. Anything longer than 365 days is not priced at all and goes to the office.

The concession, and what it does not tell you

The marina is operated by Marcascais, Sociedade Concessionaria da Marina de Cascais, S.A., a company with EUR 20 million of share capital registered at the Casa de Sao Bernardo on the marina itself. Its right is a concession to build and operate the marina as a regular and continuous public service, granted by contract with ENATUR, the state tourism company, acting for the Portuguese State, signed on 21 September 1995 under Decree-Law 335/91 of 7 September as amended by Decree-Law 14/94. Every published tariff sheet carries the line that it is issued pursuant to Clause 21 of that concession, which is a good indication of how tightly the pricing is bound to the contract.

What is not published anywhere Yotters could reach is the end date. The marina's own site, the regulation and the tariff all reference the concession without stating its term, and the decree-law text was not retrievable. For a buyer that is a real gap, because a berth here is not freehold: the regulation defines permanent berthing as a temporary transfer of an exclusive right of use for periods over 365 consecutive days, and transferring that right to a third party for money requires prior written authorisation from the concessionaire. The tariff even prices the paperwork: a mooring let costs EUR 150 up to 90 days, EUR 300 up to 180 and EUR 500 up to 359. Anyone treating a Cascais berth as an asset should ask for the concession expiry in writing before signing a three year contract, let alone paying for a longer right.

The nortada, the swell and the quadrant that is open

The wind here has a name and a season. The nortada is the summer wind of the Iberian west coast, blowing mainly from June to September out of the north-northwest, generated by a thermal low over the peninsula against the Azores High offshore and reinforced by coastal upwelling of cold water that keeps the pressure gradient alive. It is amplified locally by terrain, and one of the classic places where that happens is Praia do Guincho, which is the next beach round the corner from Cascais. Long-run station data for Cascais gives a dominant direction of north-northwest, a mean of 10 knots and mean gusts of 29 knots across 2015 to 2026. That is why the racing is here: a reliable, building, sea-breeze-reinforced northwesterly most summer afternoons, with flat water in the lee of the land and open Atlantic a mile out.

For a boat sitting on a berth rather than racing, the nortada is mostly noise and windage in the rigging. The exposure is the southern quadrant. Cascais Bay opens south and southeast, and the Sea-Seek cruising entry states plainly that the marina is protected from every wind except a strong southerly or southeasterly, which can make access to the harbour difficult, and recommends anchoring east of the marina where the protection is best. That is the winter problem: an Atlantic depression tracking through puts wind and a long ocean swell straight into the bay from the south and southwest, and there is no second entrance and no lock. The marina's own regulation gives the harbourmaster the power to order a boat moved from one berth to another when bad weather makes it necessary, which tells you something about how the basin behaves in a blow.

The racing, and what it does to your berth

Cascais is a race venue with a marina attached, and an owner planning a season should read the calendar before booking. The town hosted the 2007 ISAF Sailing World Championships for dinghies and racing yachts, and the Clube Naval de Cascais has kept the standard since. In 2025 alone the club ran the Rolex TP52 World Championship, won by American Magic Quantum Racing in July, and the Finn Gold Cup in September. The regular fixtures are the Cascais Vela regatta at the end of August, the Clube Naval de Cascais Invitational Cup in September, the Cascais J/70 Winter Series which doubles as the Portuguese National Championship, the SailCascais J/70 Grand Slam in October, the Maria Guedes Queiroz Trophy, the Trofeu de S.M. Rey Juan Carlos, the Mirpuri Foundation Sailing Trophy and a Christmas regatta. The club billed its July 2025 J/70 Summer Cup as the first qualifier for the 2026 World Championship.

Two practical consequences follow. The first is that a large fleet regatta fills the pontoons, the hardstanding and the crane, and the marina prices a separate events pier for exactly that reason, so a cruising owner who wants a quiet week in September should check the club's schedule rather than the marina's availability page. Note that the fixtures named above are the 2025 season: the club's 2026 and 2027 calendars were not published at the time of writing, so go and look rather than assume this list is current. The second is that the technical and support trades here are calibrated to racing yachts: sail repair, rig work, crane time and quick turnarounds around a race series, which is a different competence from superyacht refit. If your boat is a raceboat or a fast cruiser, this is one of the best-served marinas in Iberia. If it is a 40 metre displacement motor yacht, the yard is not aimed at you.

Fuel, the yard, and the ceiling on the hoist

There is a fuel pier on the marina map, on the way in near the reception pontoon, and no pump price is published. Portugal is inside the EU excise area and its tax-free marine diesel scheme is written for licensed fishing vessels, so a private yacht bunkers at full duty. Noonsite's entry, which dates from 2010 and should be treated as dated, adds that the fuel dock did not take credit cards, which is worth confirming before you arrive with a large order. The yard runs a 70 tonne travel hoist and a 3 tonne crane, with shore storage, general repairs and sail repair, and the marina's technical pier and hardstanding sit behind it.

The tariff shows where the yard stops. The travel lift table is priced by class only as far as class VII, 20 to 25 metres, at EUR 342.30 per 30 minute operation in low season and EUR 488.10 in high season, with additional half hours at EUR 242.55; there is no lift price for class VIII or IX. So the hoist realistically serves boats up to the mid-twenties in metres and nothing above. The rest of the service tariff is published in the same detail and is worth reading before you commit: hull cleaning at EUR 202.10 for a 20 to 25 metre boat plus a EUR 52.00 water charge; shoring at EUR 176.00 for the first seven days; pump-out at EUR 25.00 an operation; waste collection at EUR 8.90 up to 50 litres, EUR 11.00 to 100 litres and EUR 16.50 above that, noted as applicable to third countries; towing at EUR 70.00 inside the licensed area and EUR 160.00 outside it up to 5 miles; crew services at EUR 28.50 an hour; and a laundry wash at EUR 5.00 and a dry at EUR 6.50.

Lisbon, the working river and what is on the quay

The commercial port next door is not a backdrop, it is a live operation. The Port of Lisbon moved 11.5 million tonnes of cargo and 481,396 TEU in 2025, and on the cruise side it processed 206,226 turnaround passengers across 121 turnaround calls, of whom 105,900 embarked, with a further 499,211 passengers in transit, and its container and cruise terminals sit along the north bank of the Tagus with the shipping channel running past Cascais Bay four miles to the east. In practice that means commercial traffic crossing your track on every arrival and departure, a working traffic scheme rather than an empty coast, and, in the yachtsman's favour, a full-service commercial port with real engineering capacity a few miles away when something breaks that the marina yard cannot fix.

Ashore, the marina is a working promenade rather than a resort strip: around twenty restaurants, bars and cafes on the quay, among them La Brasserie for French grills, Marisco for shellfish, Nikoletta and Gordinni for Italian, Yam for Asian, Valerio for tapas, Trium for Brazilian and Portuguese, Pateo do Guincho as the lounge bar, and a run of specialty coffee and brunch rooms that keep the place alive out of season. The old town of Cascais is a short walk through the pedestrian access past the Cidadela, and Estoril with its casino is the next stop up the line. For guests, Humberto Delgado airport in Lisbon is 35 km by the A5, roughly 25 minutes and EUR 40 to 55 in a taxi, and Cascais municipal airport is 14 km away for private aircraft. There is a 600 space underground car park on the site.

Para quién es: An owner making the passage south, or racing a fast boat, who wants a properly priced, race-grade base four miles from the Tagus and forty minutes from central Lisbon, and not an owner who needs a guaranteed long-term superyacht berth with a published depth, a known concession term and a hoist big enough to lift her.