[12] Throughout the civil parish there are scattered remains of these early communities — Phoenicians, Romans and Arabs selected this area for its strategic place in Western Europe.

[12] There are remains of Roman villas in the parish that push back the history of the region to the first millennium, when the settlements of the coast were dependent on the fishing ports.

[12] Owing to its strategic location, the region was intimately linked to the Portuguese Age of Discovery and all the dynamic social and cultural upheavals that it originated.

The many forts that dot the coastline are symbols of the resistance and battles that secured Portuguese independence and national interests.

Following his death, the building was donated to Cascais Council under the name of Verdades Faria and now houses the regional Museum of Portuguese Music.

[12] During that time, several dignitaries and exiles came to Estoril: Miklós Horthy, the regent of Hungary (lived and died in exile after the Second World War); the Infante Juan, Count of Barcelona (father of Juan Carlos I of Spain) and the King resided in the territory, as did Umberto II of Italy and Carol II of Romania.

[12] Former King Edward VIII the Duke of Windsor, briefly resided in an Estoril villa as more direct and reliably safe routes to London from France for his escape were cut off by Blitzkrieg during the invasion.

Christine McVie, from the band Fleetwood Mac, wrote a song called "Nights in Estoril" for their album Time.

[16] True to the high-end living in the area, there are schools for tennis [2], art [3], and intensive academic training from age five through college [4] [5].