Experiences, opinions, and tips from expats in Portugal

My wife and I discovered Portugal about 4 years and fell in love with it.  We explored the country form the South to the North and decided upon the town of Caldas da Rainha on the Silver Coast about one hour North of Lisbon.  The weather here is wonderful!!!  The Portuguese people the nicest you will ever meet anywhere in Europe.  For more info or questions, please send me a private email.

@maxwmitchell1997

Hi- I saw your message about livibg in  Caldas de Raihna. My husband and I are headed to the Silver Coast for a week in March. We are arriving in Lisbon then traveling to Nazare and Coimbra. We are wondering how difficult it is to drive in Portugal so we can check out additional towns or if we should just take a bus. Please let me know your opinion based on your experience. thank you! Jill 

@jmunro   Most cars in Portugal are going to be manual transmissions.. although automatic transmissions are available from car rental outfits, the price goes up.

     very few traffic lights out there.. you need to learn how to navigate roundabouts.

     entitled drivers such as drivers of mercedes, bmw, audi,,, yup expensive car drivers think they own the road. you can be doing the speed limit, yet, they will storm up to your rear bumper..     

     be careful where you drive in the cities.. some streets will be so narrow that you can barely squeek by. remember,,, these streets were created before autos were.

     If your phones map system gives you the option of routing via lesser traveled roads,, by all means.. takes longer... you get to see the countryside.. and save money on tolls.

   Boa viagem.

Driving isn't harder than anywhere else, really.  I mean, I don't like to drive in Lisbon, but it will get easier once you're out.

Alternatives could be interesting in various ways, if you're not encumbered by too much stuff and they're going where you want to go.  At worst you can take a taxi a pretty long ways, though of course that will cost you.  The trains are pretty decent.

Hello everyone,

Welcome on board !

I have created this new thread on the Portugal forum from your posts so that you may better communicate.

All the best

Bhavna

A recon trip is definitely a good idea, because there is currently very much hype about Portugal, which is not really warranted. Portugal is very nice for people with some money who want to live not far from an ocean in a relatively mild climate. Except for real estate and buying cars (which are really expensive and in short supply), the cost of living is very reasonable compared to many other EU countries. Income tax is quite high, and VAT is well.

Don't misunderstand. We like Portugal for what it is. We own our home, have a car and private health insurance. We love to travel all over the Iberian Peninsula. However, there are other countries in the EU that I could easily imagine living in.

We sort of resemble that situation, a little farther from the coast perhaps - 40km.  There are a few Americans we've met, plus one English couple, who live in the area from Caldas da Rainha to Figueira da Foz.

All are struggling with the language, in their own ways.  I doubt that it's possible to live a satisfactory life in some kind of English speaking bubble in this region, so the only question is how fast and how well you want to learn Portuguese.  Some of these folks seem to be really stumped, others picking it up pretty well, and a lot in between - like, maybe hopeless, maybe not.  It's a big deal.  One reads about travelers centuries ago who would be marooned far from home and pick up some impossible aboriginal language in a few months, but somehow those ancestral skills seem to have withered away when it comes to Portuguese, or maybe the typical retiree expat just has more motivational problems.  It isn't a really difficult language in principle, but the way it's pronounced is harder to hear than most European languages, and in practice it's notably hard.

That's one of the advantages some other European countries might have.  I was going to suggest that Italian is an example of an easier language to come to grips with, but it occurs to me that out in the country (I've never been there) you could encounter regional dialects that are practically different languages.  That's one good thing about Portuguese, it's really one language.  Even Brazilian Portuguese, for all that it does sound very different.

All are struggling with the language, in their own ways.  I doubt that it's possible to live a satisfactory life in some kind of English speaking bubble in this region, so the only question is how fast and how well you want to learn Portuguese.     

    -@donn25

I couldn't agree more. The problem is that most people would/could probably achieve a solid A2 level, which is enough to go by the day to day life. But it isn't sufficient for a work environment of small talk with the locals.

On the other hand, only a few locals are actually looking for new expat friends. The locals usually have a very busy life and lots of family they have to take care of. Other immigrants are much more likely to want to make new friends. At least this is my experience from over 30 years of expat life around the globe.

Hi and Welcome.

This post may be cut short as waiting for an bus.

   Bring as little as possible to carry, have a phone with 2 sim slots so an local sim (available in airport) can give you a Portuguese phone number, have some simple "buisness" cards with your basic info so people don't have to guess your name, email address etc. and space to write your new number. With the assumptions that you are reasonably fit and able to walk a distance I'd suggest something like split your trip into a public transport part and  driving part. Pick say 3 towns you may be interested in say  Coimbra, Caldas da Rainha, Tomar   all of which are have mainline train stations, From Lisbon airport terminal 1, straight out front door, keep going straight (1km?) then before you reach the river you'll find mainline train station and bus/coach station.  having previously checked some page like Rome2rio you'll know when train departs and platform etc, also having booked some "local" accommodation at the destination on some type of AirB*B site ( I do not recommend AirB*B) as then you have contact with local plus their family and friends, ask them about everything.  Spend several days walking round town, go to Tourist office, there are not many maps but tourist office should have local area, ask for where there's free WIFI as often council have set it up outside so can sip a cold beer under tree and surf,   go into several LOCAL estate agents (not one of the chains) and ask for their help advice an almost any subject, generally as locals they have vast knowledge of the area and happy to talk,   collect printed property details,  say what you monies you may have available and ask what you get for that, or ask for rentals stuff. they will find an English speaking person. Make sure you have checked for public holidays as things do close. Most towns have an Chinese Emporium so any stuff you didn't put in your luggage  should be available even if the quality is different. Take notes, notebook n pen do work well. Maybe if there are two of you then split up sometimes or you'll form (an English speaking bubble) where you obviously just speak to each other.  Try to learn the pronunciation of the place names  as helps to get bus tickets. Buses link most of the towns and villages but can be a bit "local".   Then hop on a train to your next town, there are local trains which go to the beach, if you look on GoogleMaps then "street view" also works on some local train lines.  After your towns you maybe hire a small car to check out some more rural parts, you'll have seen how people drive by then.  Have a look at some site like Argus which will trawl the carhire sites to give you idea whats available, I just checked and a small automatic in February was less then 70 euro a week for us older people. Cheaper to book car online then collect rather then just go to car hire desks. Car hire need a big deposit held on credit card so often less worrying to have one own's insurance (my hire deposit cover about 40 euro a year for anywhere in EU), there's automatic tolls on motorways so an active dongle on the car screen can be added to rental and tolls taken from credit card.  There's a lot of car hire places associated with the big airports so that's where they are cheapest.

My bus is arriving.

Good Luck.

PS  Try and find an "History of Portugal" to read as, compared to many places the history is everywhere, also helps to understand what some people here have been through in the recent past.

@Strontium

Thank you!!!!