The best things to do in Cascais in September

Chefs on Fire is back for what promises to be its biggest edition yet, bringing together dozens of chefs, plenty of flames, live music and a relaxed open-air atmosphere. So you do not miss a thing, we recommend taking a look at our complete guide to the festival that, over two days, turns Parque Marechal Carmona into the country’s gastronomic epicentre.

Carcavelos Beach hosts the inaugural edition of Cascais Fest, a festival promoted by the municipality under the motto “For Peace”. Celebrating Cascais as European Capital of Democracy, the event has Padre Guilherme – the famous, hugely viral DJ priest – as its headliner and ambassador, bringing together the energy of techno and sacred music. The line-up is completed by performances from HMB, Gospel Collective and DJ Disi. The festival is free to attend, with a reserved area for Viver Cascais cardholders.

Mercado da América Latina is back for its ninth edition, taking over the FIARTIL site in Estoril from 11 to 13 September 2026. Organised by Casa da América Latina and Cascais City Council, the festival brings together transatlantic food, music, dance, crafts and family activities. The event also focuses on sustainability, inviting visitors to bring their own reusable cup to help reduce plastic use.

Cinema Cruzeiro, at Auditório do Cruzeiro, dedicates its September to science fiction, with free screenings. The programme travels through milestones of the genre: the pacifist classic The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), the space comedy Dark Star (1974), the action of Aliens (1986) and Tim Burton’s vision in Planet of the Apes (2001).

Estoril Classics returns to Autódromo do Estoril from 18 to 20 September to celebrate historic motorsport. The event brings together international teams and collectors, with races from Peter Auto, Iberian Historic Endurance, Sports Cars, GTs, Touring Cars and classic Formula 1 competition, featuring single-seaters up to 1986.

Wine Affair is back at Sheraton Cascais Resort doing what it does best, with around 200 still and sparkling wines, petiscos, live music and a DJ set in the late afternoon on 19 September. Curated by Paixão Pelo Vinho magazine, the fifth edition of the event for wine lovers – serious or otherwise – promises a journey around the country by the glass, with wines from several Portuguese regions, producers in attendance and the chance to personalise a corkscrew with Coutale Portugal.

Fundação D. Luís I and Cascais City Council present O Último Carnaval da Coreia, an exhibition of photographs by Bruno Figueroa, a diplomat and current Ambassador of Mexico to Portugal. On show in the chapel at Centro Cultural de Cascais until 11 October 2026, the exhibition brings together images captured in the Itaewon neighbourhood of Seoul on the eve of the October 2022 tragedy. The photographs preserve moments of celebration, freedom and individual expression among 159 young people who would lose their lives just hours later.

The hotel practically on top of Praia da Poça is hosting Evolution Party Season, a programme set to liven up late afternoons and warm nights. The calendar brings together music, food and cocktails.

+ Hotels you need to know in Cascais

The Exemplary Girls was written by the Countess of Ségur in 1858. The children's book by the Russian author—who wrote this and many other adventures about well-born girls who behave terribly—now lends its name to the new exhibition at Casa das Histórias Paula Rego. Curated by Catarina Alfaro, it features the female figure, both in childhood and adulthood, as the protagonist and presents, for instance, the hand-coloured lithographs The Salmon-Coloured Dress and Communion, inspired by poems by Adília Lopes. The exhibition, which is open until the end of January 2027, also includes works from the "Jane Eyre" (2001-2002) and "Pendle Witches" (1996) series, influenced respectively by the work of Charlotte Brontë and Blake Morrison, as well as the six prints of "Female Genital Mutilation", a 2009 series that denounces practices of gender-based violence affecting girls in various parts of the world.