# Seeking Beach Rental (Oct-Feb) Near Lisbon



## marcl (May 4, 2010)

Greetings!

I am a Master's student seeking a residence near Lisbon for my fall semester. This happens to be the Low Season (Oct-Feb). I would prefer to be by the beach. I seek the wisdom of this forum 

1) Oct-Feb - is the beach the right place to be or is it dead during the low season? Perhaps I am better off in lively Lisbon for the winter. Your thoughts? (I have a car - how difficult is parking in Lisbon?)

2) Where should I search for residences?
- names of beach towns?
- websites to search?

3) If I decide to search beach properties to rent - any thoughts on the discount the owners would provide for renting their property during the slowest time of year?

Thank you for your help!
Marc


----------



## Maria Fenton (Mar 25, 2011)

Hi Marc,

My name is Maria, I am portuguese, and know Lisbon quite well. I live near Batalha, with my english husband.

Beach resorts are dead during the winter season. If you like to get out and about, then Lisbon is the place to be. There's plenty to see and do in Lisbon itself, and the other places to visit near Lisbon, like Sintra, Belém, Estoril, Cascais, are all within half hour's distance and with easy access by public transport.
Having said this, Estoril and Cascais, which are on the coast, are very nice to live in, and you are still only 30 min on the train line that connects Cascais to Lisbon (return ticket should be around 3.40 last time I went in April, could have gone up by now!) Trainson this line, run from 06.30 am to 01.30am, and are on time! There's an international community in this area including a Nato Base in Oeiras (half way between Cascais & Lisbon).

In Lisbon you have the river Tejo (Belém), Estoril & Cascais are on the coast, so you would have the beach near by, anyway. 

I would advise you not to bring a car with you, as it is difficult and expensive to park in Lisbon.
Transport is cheap and, you have underground, buses, trams, boats (if you want to go across the river, and trains to the Estoril coast, Sintra, the rest of the Portugal, and even Europe. There's also a network of coaches going all over Portugal. For example, at the moment it costs 22.00 euros return, between Lisbon and Batalha (where we live), and it takes 2 hours each way.
In Lisbon you can buy pre-paid tickets, and if you are under 25 and have a student card, you should be able to get aditional discounts.

I don't know how much it costs to rent an apartment, but you could also try renting a bedroom with use of kitchen and bathroom, that's usually cheaper and shouldn't be difficult to find.

Websites, I don't know of any, except estate agents, but you would probably pay more this way. I think you could contact Nato Base in Oeiras, there might be someone who works there, and lives in the area, who would like to rent a room?!

If you have anymore questions, please contact me on this website.
Good luck! 
Maria


----------

