Introduction

It is one of the most common questions I get asked by people planning a move here, and also one of the hardest to answer without knowing considerably more about the person asking it.

Portugal may be a relatively small country, but the experience of living here can vary enormously depending on where you choose to settle. Life in central Lisbon bears very little resemblance to life in a small town in the Silver Coast. Cascais offers something completely different to the Algarve, just as Porto and Northern Portugal offer a different experience again.

For that reason, when a client asks me where I think they should live, I never start by naming places.

Instead, I ask questions.

Over the years, I have found that there are eight factors in particular that help narrow Portugal down from an entire country to a handful of areas that genuinely suit the person, couple, or family making the move.

And, quite often, the place they eventually choose isn’t the place they originally had in mind.

1. What sort of setting do you actually want?

The first question is a simple one: what do you want to see when you walk out of your front door?

Do you want to be in the middle of a city? Close to the beach? Somewhere quieter and more residential, but still within easy reach of Lisbon or Porto? Or are you moving to Portugal precisely because you want more space, fewer people and a completely different pace of life?

This sounds obvious, but it immediately rules large parts of the country in or out.

Someone who wants to walk to restaurants, cafés, shops and cultural events will have a very different shortlist to somebody whose priority is a detached house, a garden and peace and quiet.

There is also a big difference between visiting somewhere and living there.

An area that feels perfect during a week-long holiday might not necessarily work as well when you need to do the school run, buy groceries, get to the airport, attend a medical appointment or simply go about an ordinary Tuesday in February.

So I try to move the conversation away from where somebody enjoyed visiting and towards the setting they actually want to live in.

2. What do you want your typical week to look like?

This is probably the most important question of the eight.

Rather than asking somebody where they want to live, I often find it more useful to understand how they want to live.

What does an ordinary week in Portugal look like in their head?

Perhaps they picture walking down to a local café each morning, working remotely for a few hours and heading to the beach afterwards. They might want restaurants and cultural events on their doorstep. They may want to play golf several times a week, surf before work, spend weekends hiking, or simply have more space and a slower pace of life.

For families, the picture can be completely different again. Their week might revolve around school, children’s activities, commuting and having other families nearby.

These everyday details matter far more than whether somewhere regularly appears on a list of the “best places to live in Portugal”.

You aren’t choosing somewhere to spend a holiday. You’re choosing the backdrop to your everyday life.

3. Will you have a car?

Transport is something I think people sometimes consider too late in the process.

There are parts of Portugal where living without a car is perfectly realistic – or even preferable not to have one, for example, if you’re going to be living in central Lisbon without your own car parking space or garage. There are others where I would consider one close to essential.

If somebody tells me that they don’t intend to drive, that immediately changes the areas I would recommend. Being able to walk to shops, cafés and restaurants becomes more important, as does proximity to public transport.

Conversely, if somebody is happy to drive, their options expand considerably. Suddenly, living 15 or 20 minutes outside their preferred town or city might give them substantially more choice when it comes to property, while still allowing them to access everything they need.

This is particularly important when people are deciding between a central location and having more space.

A beautiful villa at an attractive price isn’t particularly useful if every part of your daily life requires a car and you had envisaged walking everywhere.

4. What are your schooling requirements?

For families moving with children, schooling can become one of the biggest factors determining where they live.

The first question is normally what type of education they are looking for: international, private or Portuguese public schooling. Portugal has a large network of public and private schools, but international-school options are naturally concentrated more heavily in certain parts of the country, i.e., areas where there’s a high concentration of expats.

If a family has their heart set on a particular international school, for example, I generally prefer to work out a realistic commuting radius around the school before we start seriously considering properties.

The alternative is finding the perfect house first and then discovering that the daily school journey simply doesn’t work…

For families, I therefore tend to treat the school and the home as two parts of the same decision rather than separate stages of the relocation.

5. What sort of community do you want around you?

Some of my clients actively want to live somewhere with an established international community. Particularly when moving to a new country without knowing anybody, having English-speaking groups, international families and people who have been through the same experience can make settling in considerably easier.

Others want almost the opposite.

They are moving to Portugal because they want to integrate into Portuguese life, learn the language and live somewhere that feels predominantly local.

And plenty of people want something in between.

This is why two places that look quite similar on paper can feel completely different once you spend time there.

It is also something I encourage clients to think about beyond the first six months. An international community can make the initial transition easier, but what sort of environment do you want around you once Portugal simply becomes home?

6. What climate do you actually want?

Portugal is a small country, meaning that people often underestimate just how much the climate changes depending on where you live.

Northern Portugal is generally cooler and wetter, while the south is warmer and drier. Coastal areas are influenced by the Atlantic, while inland Portugal can experience considerably hotter summers and colder winters. Even within individual regions, relatively short distances can make a noticeable difference.

For somebody moving from the UK, the instinct can be to say, “I want as much sunshine as possible.”

But it is worth thinking about what that actually means twelve months of the year.

Do you enjoy very hot summers? Would you prefer somewhere greener? Do you want mild winters? How important is being close to the ocean? Are you happy with more rain in return for a different landscape and cooler summers?

Climate isn’t simply a question of which part of Portugal gets the most sunshine.

It is about which climate you would actually enjoy living in.

7. What sort of property are you looking for?

The property itself really comes into focus once I understand the client’s lifestyle and location requirements.

Apartment or villa?

Two bedrooms or four?

Do you need a dedicated home office?

Is outdoor space essential? A swimming pool? Somewhere for pets? Parking?

The type of property somebody wants can dramatically change where I suggest looking.

A client might love the idea of being in the centre of Lisbon, for example, but if their non-negotiables are a detached villa, large garden, private pool and parking for two cars, there is an obvious mismatch between the lifestyle they have described and the property they want.

That doesn’t mean either requirement has to disappear.

It normally means widening the search and finding the point where the two meet.

And this is where understanding the whole relocation rather than simply searching for properties becomes particularly important.

8. What is your realistic budget?

Finally, the obvious one: budget.

Property prices vary enormously across Portugal, not only between regions but between neighbouring towns and sometimes even between different parts of the same municipality.

One of the things I regularly encourage clients to consider is whether the name of a particular area is actually important to them.

Sometimes moving the search only several kilometres from where somebody originally planned to live can give them considerably more for their money without materially changing their lifestyle. Moving a few kilometres outside of Cascais is a prime example of that.

It could mean an extra bedroom, more outside space, a quieter neighbourhood or simply a better property without increasing the budget.

The aim isn’t to find the cheapest place to live.

It is to find the place where your budget and the lifestyle you want overlap.

There is no single “best place to live in Portugal”

Lisbon, Cascais, Porto, the Algarve, the Silver Coast and Madeira all regularly appear on lists of the best places to live in Portugal.

And they can all be fantastic places to live.

But none of them can be described as the best place for everybody.

Over the years, I’ve worked with retirees, families, remote workers, business owners and people at completely different stages of their lives. One of the things that experience has reinforced is that choosing where to live shouldn’t begin with a list of Portugal’s most popular locations.

It should begin with you.

Your typical week. Your family. Your priorities. Your budget. The compromises you’re willing to make – and the ones you aren’t.

Once I understand those things, it becomes much easier to start narrowing down the map.

Sometimes that confirms the place somebody had in mind from the beginning.

Other times, it leads us somewhere completely different.

And I think that’s exactly how the process should work.

Working with Relocation Simplified

At Relocation Simplified, choosing where to live is typically just one part of the wider relocation process I work through with my clients. From the initial visa and relocation planning, through finding the right area and accommodation, to residency and actually settling into life here, my role is to understand the move as a whole and personally help keep each part of it moving in the same direction.

If you’re considering moving to Portugal and aren’t sure where to start, you can book a free consultation to talk through your plans and the type of life you’re hoping to build here.