This walk starts at the Dunas da Cresmina Interpretation Centre and heads towards the beautiful Atlantic coast, with breathtaking landscapes. From Guincho beach to Praia da Grota, we'll get to know all the beauty of this area and on the way back we'll take the opportunity to use lesser-known rural paths and trails. Not to be missed are the panoramic views of Guincho Beach, Cabo Raso and Abano Beach, with its fort on the seafront.

The Abano Fort:

Forte do Abano, also known as Forte do Guincho or Forte das Velas, is located between Praia do Abano and Praia do Guincho. It is very close to Cascais, Sintra and Lisbon, strategically facing the sea, close to everything, but almost hidden... which gives it a special magic!

The fort was built around 1642, during the reign of King João IV, to guard and protect the coast. It was part of a group of fortresses built to defend the Cascais coast.

It is rectangular in shape, with a central courtyard; the area facing the land served as accommodation and the seafront housed all the necessary artillery.

After its defensive functions, during the last century it served as a support centre for campers and water sports, and there is a project launched by the Cascais City Council to turn this monument into an interpretation centre for the Sintra Natural Park.

It is currently unoccupied and falling into disrepair, but without losing the characteristic charm of an imposing historic building by the sea!

North of Abano

From Abano beach and for about 1 kilometre to the north, there is a succession of limestones and marls between 160 and 145 million years old. These sedimentary rocks show geological structures resulting from the evolution of the region at a time when the North Atlantic Ocean was beginning to expand. As well as faults and submarine landslide structures associated with this tectonic activity, the effects of the intrusion of magmatic rocks (Sintra Igneous Complex) into these layers, which occurred around 80 million years ago, can also be seen, namely a network of lodes with diverse geometries, as well as the effects of heat and fluids that gave rise to phenomena of low intensity metamorphism.

- Cresmina Dunes - Guincho Beach - Abano Fort - Abano Beach - Grota Beach and Cove - Biscaia - Ponta da Abelheira - Arneiro - Forno de Cal - Natural landscapes -