Cova do Vapor is our favorit City Beach in Lisbon

Lisbon and Copenhagen top the list of the world's best city beaches

Just before Covid hid the world CNN published a list of the best City Beaches in the world. 

We couldn’t help smiling when we saw two of “our” cities topping the list: Our hometown Copenhagen at #1 and our current City Lisbon at #7. 

Copenhagen does have the best city beaches, on doubt about that. But it also has the most horrible and unpredictable climate with cold, gray and rainy days most of the year. Completely opposite Lisbon where the climate is mild with more than 300 sunny days per year or more.

So we will always choose Lisbon over Copenhagen 🙂

CPH#1
If leaving the city seems like a chore, the sensational harbor baths at Islands Brygge and Fisketorvet are a winning alternative. Daredevils can try out the diving boards while fitness fanatics can plow out laps in the clean, cool water.

LX #7
The railway line from the city center east to Cascais is blessed with vast stretches of sand and turquoise waves.
Worlds Leading news channel cover Lisbon and Portugal
What are the best cities for swimming? Joe Minihane, 10 July 2019:

Lisbon only have one city beach worth going to

Driving slowly into the village reveals a small bay, crumbling miniature houses painted with strong colors, a few miniature shops, miniature gardens…

And suddenly you have the richness of the ocean with the large coastline on your doorstep.
ravel Blog Where Two Go To writes about Cova do Vapor
Sheer bliss in a Portuguese fishermen’s village: Cova do Vapor Where 2 Go To: April 30, 2023

Most of Copenhagen’s beaches are in the city – scattered along the inner harbor. Some of them are less than 100 from the Parliament.  

Lisbon is far from the Atlantic Ocean, and Tejo river is too dirty for swimming. So you have to leave the river to reach the Atlantic ocean. Either by UBER/Bolt or by train from Cais do Sodre to Cascais where the ‘city’ beaches starts from Caxias and ends in Cascais (some guide books even include the fantastic Guincho and even Ursa in Sintra).

We never go there – its too far from the City and too close to the river. If you ask me Lisbon only has one city beach worth going to. And that one is a true hidden gem: Cova do Vapor.

How we found Cova do Vapor.

In 2017 when we opened Tings Lisbon we got our first car. Until then we had used public transportation to go to places. That was how we discovered how long it actually took us to reach all the popular Lisbon beaches between Cais do Sodré and Cascais. 

Back then Lisbon still had tourist-off-seasons where we could rent a car as cheap as € 3 pr. day which made it affordable and easy for us to discover all corners of greater Lisbon – including the part of Tejo river’s southern bank we have seen so many times on our returns from Kathmandu where we spend 6 months of the year. We have hundreds of mobile photos from above: Cristo Rei, The bridge, Tejo River and the sandy strip that separates the Caparica Coast from the river.

Cova do Vapor as seen from the airplane arriving to Lisbon. Our preferred City Beach

Together with Cristo Rei and the bridge the sand strip that separates Tejo River from the Atlantic Sea the first you see from the plain arriving to Lisbon

Cova do Vapor Above – the first beach on Costa Caparica. And the closest to Lisbon. A true hidden gem

Why don’t we check this out? I asked Annette one morning when we felt like going out of town – somewhere we hadn’t been to before. I had just edited photos from the previous months and had Cova do Vaporon the screen (see the photo on the top).

One hour later we parked the car outside and entered the mainroad after the roundabout.

I don’t remember what we expected – but I can assure you that not even in our wildest dreams did we expect to find beaches as fantastic as the ones that greeted us when we reached the end of the main road. The power full and wavy southern beach and the quiet and children friendly northern beach separated by a very long pier where locals killed time fishing.

My surprise got even bigger when we strolled around ‘downtown’ Cova do Vapor with all its small and charming and very colorful fisherman’s houses – the most picturesque fisherman’s village we have seen around Lisbon.

Catarina in the legendary Adega Bate Fundo. Together with Carlos who comes from Cova do Vapor.

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.

But the biggest surprise of them all was a very smiling voice out from one of the doors: Thomas!…. Annette!?? 

We stopped and looked behind and saw a beautiful smiling face: Catarina? What are you doing here?

Back then we lived in a very small flat on the Graça Miradouro – a village in the village where the center of it all was Adega Bate Fundo (where Taberna do Mar is today) – the small Tasca where we had most of our meals together with all the other villagers who had become addicted to the fantastic homemade dishes served with eternal love and smile by CATARINA! It was Catarinas husband Carlos (born and raised in Cova do Vapor) who introduced us to The Gold of Caparica as he called the fresh Sardines he brought in every morning directly from the boats… but that’s another story

Cova do Vapor as seen from Google Earth's Satellite.
Cova do Vapor separates Tejo River and the Atlantic Ocean - as seen from the plane just before landing at Lisbon Airport

Not only did we fall in love with the fish from this small gem. After swimming in our beloved Atlantic Ocean we know so well from Denmark – we could never return to the beaches along the Lisbon-Cascais coast.

Back then we didn’t have a car most of the time. So instead we took the boat from Belem via Pt Brandao to Trafaria and walked 25 minutes to Cova do Vapor – through the colorful African shanty town (another small hidden gem).

We keep returning to Cova do Vapor.

It still has its original charm and we still get the best fish around Lisbon at Transmontano on the main road and at Albatros – the beach bar with the fantastic view to the blue waves and the crowded beaches on ‘the other side’.

It’s definitely worth a visit.

Thomas

Five 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).


Beach destinationBeachesCity BeachCova do Vapor

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Thomas Tingstrup

Blogger, Traveller and Food, Music & Literature lover. Founding partner of Tings Lisbon.

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