GOING OUT FOR DINNER?
Dinner at Penalva da Graca
WANT TO GO FOR A SWIM?
A busy day during the high season.
WE LOVE RIDING THE TRAM 28
Lisbon's popular Tram 28 is only 3 minutes from Tins Lisbon. Here is all you need to know.
Cova do Vapor is our favorite City Beach in Lisbon
How we found Cova do Vapor.
Cova do Vapor as seen from Google Earth’s Satellite.
When we opened Tings Lisbon in 2017, we finally got our first car.
Until then, we’d relied on public transport to get around, which gave us a real sense of how long it took to reach all the popular beaches between Cais do Sodré and Cascais.
Back in those days, Lisbon still had off-seasons for tourists, and we could rent a car for as little as €3 per day. It was affordable and easy to explore every nook and cranny of greater Lisbon, including the southern bank of the Tejo River—a place we’d seen countless times from above on our return flights from Kathmandu, where we spend six months of the year.
We’ve got hundreds of mobile photos from those flights: Cristo Rei, the bridge, the Tejo River, and the sandy strip that separates the Caparica Coast from the river.
Cova do Vapor Above – the first beach on Costa Caparica. And the closest to Lisbon. A true hidden gem’
“Located where the Tejo River meets the Atlantic, Cova do Vapor is a quaint fishing village with a vast sandy beach and an authentic, laid‑back atmosphere.”
The sandy strip that separate Tejo River and the Atlantic Ocean is our small city-beach-paradise. And it just opposite Belem
For years we had looked down at this strip of sand from the plane on our flights between Lisbon and Kathmandu: Cristo Rei, the bridge, the Tejo and the pale line that separates the river from the Caparica coast.
One morning, with Cova do Vapor on the screen while editing photos, we finally said “Why don’t we check this out?” and drove across the bridge. Less than an hour later we turned off the roundabout, rolled into the village and ended up on a beach that was much more than we had imagined: a powerful, wavy southern side, a quieter, kid‑friendly northern side and a long pier full of locals fishing.
Catarina in the legendary Adega Bate Fundo. Together with Carlos (in the back) she told us all about Cova do Vapor and why we should forget about eating Sardins for St Antonio and wait until the catch the in Cova do Vapor.
We wandered through ‘downtown’ Cova do Vapor, past small, colorful fisherman’s houses and the most picturesque lanes we’ve seen around Lisbon, when a voice suddenly called out: “Thomas!… Annette?!”.
It was Catarina from our old Graça tasca days, now living here with Carlos, who grew up in Cova do Vapor and introduced us to what he calls the “Gold of Caparica”: fresh sardines straight from the boats to the grill at Transmontano and later at the beach bar Albatros. Between swims in “our” Atlantic, grilled fish, and that tiny‑village feeling, Cova do Vapor quietly became the place we return to whenever we want the sea but don’t want to leave Lisbon behind.
We didn’t always have a car. Back then we often took the boat from Belém via Porto Brandão to Trafaria and walked about 25 minutes through the colorful African shanty town to reach the village—another hidden gem on the way to the beach. That slow approach still feels like one of the best ways to arrive here if you like turning a beach day into a small adventure.
Getting there & costs
From Tings Lisbon we usually reach Cova do Vapor in about 30–40 minutes by car, depending on traffic.
When we don’t drive ourselves, we typically use Uber or Bolt; prices to the village are often in the 15–20 € range one way, which becomes very reasonable if you share the ride.
The alternative is the Belém–Porto Brandão–Trafaria ferry combination and then a 20–25 minute walk through the neighborhood towards the sea, which takes longer but adds a very local flavor to the day.
Once you are there, Cova do Vapor still feels more village than resort: a proper city beach with soft sand, good waves for bodyboard and surf, a long jetty and a couple of simple places for grilled fish and a drink.
For us, that mix of easy access, local life and Atlantic ocean is exactly why Cova do Vapor is our favorite city beach in Lisbon and one of the places we love to send guests who want something different from the usual Carcavelos‑and‑Cascais route
5 reasons why we don’t go the ‘popular’ beaches.
#1 Water quality: Because of the coast’s proximity to Tejo River the water isn’t as clear as the beaches directly at the Atlantic coast
#2 The Crowd: All guide books highlight these beaches – and during weekends and holidays all Portuguese goe there. So they are too crowded. Especially during the high season.
#3 Privacy: The closer you come to Cascais the smaller they get AND the more exposed they are. Who wants to sunbathe with a crowd watching above you?
#4 Time to reach: You can reach the beaches by train in 30 min. But when you add the time it takes to reach the train station AND the time it takes to reach the beach from the train station it’s much faster to reach ‘our’ preferred beaches.
#5 Cost of transportation: Thanks to apps like UBER and Bolt it’s almost as cheap as public transportation to reach our preferred beaches by car. Especially when the main apps do promotions to get new customers (ADVICE: Download both UBER & Bolt).
More about our Lisbon Beach Life
If you like how we do the beach here in Lisbon, you might enjoy the other stories from our Lisbon beach life series:
Lisbon is Europe’s best beach destination – Lisbon beach holidays from Tings Lisbon.
Beach or City Life? Lisbon Has the Best of Both – how we mix beaches with food, culture and family‑friendly Lisbon.
Cova do Vapor – Our Favorite City Beach in Lisbon – the small fisherman village where we feel far from town in under an hour.
Troia Beach – 30 km of Bounty Sand Near Lisbon – our “special day out” with dunes, dolphins and long walks.
Our Day at the Beach – one of our typical Caparica beach days, done as if we were guests at Tings Lisbon.
