Four more nights of free concerts on Cascais bay, and then it's over
Festas do Mar runs 27 to 30 August across three stages, with five concerts a day and no ticket. David Fonseca headlines Friday, Matias Damásio Saturday, and Sunday closes with the sea procession and the Cascais Symphony.
Four nights left. Cascais opens the second and final weekend of Festas do Mar on Thursday, and it keeps the thing that sets it apart from almost everything else happening around Lisbon in August: every concert is free, across a site that stretches from the bay up through Jardim Visconde da Luz to the Cidadela.
Things get going at 5pm. The main stage, Palco Cascais, runs to three fixed slots a night — 7pm, 8pm and 10pm. Thursday is the most traditional evening on the bill, with Fado à Janela, Diana Vilarinho, Luís Trigacheiro and Em Casa d’Amália. Friday switches register entirely: Lara Afonso opens, João Pedro Pais follows, David Fonseca closes.
Saturday is the lusophone night
Saturday brings Maria León, then Stewart Sukuma, then Matias Damásio — a run that carries the bay a long way from Cascais. Sunday is the odd one out. The procession in honour of Nossa Senhora dos Navegantes, which the council flags as one of the high points of the whole programme, takes over the day; at night Murta and DJ Kamala lead into the Cascais Symphony Orchestra, which closes the edition as it usually does.
Five concerts a day across three stages, one of them programmed for children, plus food and craft stalls spread through the site.
Getting there without the headache
Cascais station, at the end of the Lisbon coastal line, is a short walk from the bay, and on festival nights it beats driving comfortably. Parking in the town fills early and the council signposts overflow areas some distance out. Come by car and expect to walk.
If you missed the summer here, Cascais had already hosted Ageas Cooljazz in July. This is the send-off.
Image: Câmara Municipal de Cascais