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Updated: 12/10/2026
Museums & Art GalleriesLisbon and surroundings

Museu do Mar Rei D. Carlos

A museum in Cascais devoted to the sea, with natural history, underwater archaeology and the fishing community of the town.

The King Carlos Sea Museum in Cascais

In Cascais, where the town meets the Atlantic, the Museu do Mar Rei D. Carlos explores the many ways in which people and the sea are connected. Its collections cover marine natural history, underwater archaeology and the fishing community that has shaped the town for generations.

A museum of the sea

The museum was created by the municipality in 1976, in the former building of the Sporting Club of Cascais, founded in 1879 by Prince Carlos, later King Carlos I, a keen oceanographer. It opened officially in 1992 and takes its name from the king whose scientific work gave the museum its original inspiration.

What to see

  • Marine natural history, with preserved specimens from the Atlantic.
  • Underwater archaeology, a field in which the museum was a Portuguese pioneer.
  • Ethnography of the fishing community of Cascais.
  • Temporary exhibitions on the sea, science and the environment.

Visiting the museum

The museum is at Rua Júlio Pereira de Mello, 2750-407 Cascais, near the citadel. It is open Tuesday to Friday from 10:00 to 17:00, and on Saturdays and Sundays from 10:00 to 13:00 and 14:00 to 17:00; it is closed on Mondays and public holidays. Admission is free.

Visitor information: museumar.cascais.pt.

Image credit: Museu do Mar Rei D. Carlos, Cascais, by GualdimG, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.