Lisbon

Where Estoril carries decades of wartime intrigue, Lisbon's own casino is an entirely modern proposition: a glass-and-steel pavilion built in Parque das Nações for the 1998 World Exposition, standing among the district's other Expo-era landmarks along the Tagus waterfront. It gives visitors based in the Portuguese capital a contemporary alternative to the half-hour trip out to Estoril's older, more storied rooms.

Parque das Nações itself has grown into one of Lisbon's more modern, planned neighbourhoods, with the Lisbon Oceanarium, a cable car along the riverfront, and the Vasco da Gama Bridge all within view of the casino's own waterside terraces.