# Mildest Climate in Portugal



## FrankTheTank (Feb 7, 2011)

Having a Portuguese girlfriend, I'm feeling the pressure to the learn the language and I reckon the only way I can really get to grips with it, is to spend time in the country itself. 

My girlfriend comes from a village near Porto so that seems like the obvious destination. I'm a real outdoors person myself and climate can really affect my quality of life (therefore things ain't great for me in Ireland, for obvious reasons!!!)

Would Lisbon be a better option climate wise? Is it a city which suffers from extremes in summer and winter? Are there better options which would provide expat work opportunities like teaching English?

I tried to search other treads for information in relation to this matter but couldn't really find anything substantial.

Muito Obrigado
Frank


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## Mr.Blueskies (Feb 24, 2009)

Hi Frank,
I am surprised that your portuguese girlfriend cannot answer these questions for you ? She would be far more knowledgable about these matters than any of us I would imagine . Unless of course she has her heart set on returning to Porto to be near her friends and relations and this is why you are looking for an independent opinion.


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## FrankTheTank (Feb 7, 2011)

Climate is something I place a huge amount of importance on so I'd like to get as many opinions as possible (and yes - I'm a bit anxious as to the reaction of my girlfriend if I were to mention Lisbon!!!!)


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## -mia- (Dec 23, 2009)

The mildest climate in Portugal I would guess would be on the Azores. I don't think your girlfriend will want to move there either. lol. Porto i lovely. I'm sure you'll like it there.


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## Mr.Blueskies (Feb 24, 2009)

I'm certainly no expert Frank. I do believe that the weather all over can be generally relied upon to be dry sunny and hot pretty constantly from April to October. Naturally it will be hottest furthest south and in the Algarve. I think that your main area of concern should be the differance in winter tempatures and conditions between Nov - March from north to south. The further north the worse the winter weather will be for both rain and cold. 

Having said that, it can vary from one year to the next. The last two winters here (silver coast) were pretty miserable and much wetter than normal. It seemed to rain constantly between Nov - April and I did seriously wonder if I had brought the irish climate here with me ? This year has been a very big improvement with much reduced rainfall and cloud and it has been really nice for most of January and all of Febuary and so far March is also good. I don't have any stats though or exact winter tempature figures or differances that are likely to be experienced in say Porto, Lisbon or Faro.


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## canoeman (Mar 3, 2011)

Suggest you have a look at Redirection the National weather site. Plenty historical weather there, problem with graphs etc they only show an overview.
Having lived in 3 areas of Portugal, I would discount the Eastern Alentejo as beening too extreme hot summers, cold winters. The North certainley more seasonal spring, summer, autumn, winter rain yes, certain areas cold, but not the circle of VdoCastello-Caminha-Valenca-Arcos-Ponte Lima-VdoCastello. Central normally short winters, but think like everywhere global warming is having an effect and the weather patterns have been very different over the last couple of years. 
Must admit not really sure what your looking for when you ask about the mildest climate and outdoor?


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## FrankTheTank (Feb 7, 2011)

canoeman said:


> Suggest you have a look at Redirection the National weather site. Plenty historical weather there, problem with graphs etc they only show an overview.
> Having lived in 3 areas of Portugal, I would discount the Eastern Alentejo as beening too extreme hot summers, cold winters. The North certainley more seasonal spring, summer, autumn, winter rain yes, certain areas cold, but not the circle of VdoCastello-Caminha-Valenca-Arcos-Ponte Lima-VdoCastello. Central normally short winters, but think like everywhere global warming is having an effect and the weather patterns have been very different over the last couple of years.
> Must admit not really sure what your looking for when you ask about the mildest climate and outdoor?


Many thanks for the info canoeman. When i think of the weather in many continental European cities, I automatically think of extreme hot in the summer and extreme cold in the winter. This sort of climate does not appeal to me so I was hoping to discover a place whereby I could spend more weekends than not outdoors doing simple things like playing football in parks or going for walks by the sea, without being excessively hot or cold. (when I say outdoors, I don't mean hunting dangerous wild animals with automatic weapons!!!!!!)

I did go for a very nice walk by the sea in Dublin over the weekend but it's still cold over here right now and I needed to cover myself with layers of clothing, something I hope to avoid in a different country.

I hope I don't sound like a complete 'pussy' (as my old rugby coach used to say - 'there's no such thing as bad weather, just soft people!!!!!!) but the combination of constant grey skies and all year round cold can be demoralizing. 

Many thanks
Frank


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## FrankTheTank (Feb 7, 2011)

Mr.Blueskies said:


> I'm certainly no expert Frank. I do believe that the weather all over can be generally relied upon to be dry sunny and hot pretty constantly from April to October. Naturally it will be hottest furthest south and in the Algarve. I think that your main area of concern should be the differance in winter tempatures and conditions between Nov - March from north to south. The further north the worse the winter weather will be for both rain and cold.
> 
> Having said that, it can vary from one year to the next. The last two winters here (silver coast) were pretty miserable and much wetter than normal. It seemed to rain constantly between Nov - April and I did seriously wonder if I had brought the irish climate here with me ? This year has been a very big improvement with much reduced rainfall and cloud and it has been really nice for most of January and all of Febuary and so far March is also good. I don't have any stats though or exact winter tempature figures or differances that are likely to be experienced in say Porto, Lisbon or Faro.


Many thanks for the help. I'm certainly leaning towards Lisbon at the moment since I reckon, given the cities central location, it could provide a relatively happy medium - winters not as cold as the north and summers not as hot as the south.

My girlfriend (who is from a town near Porto) did mention that she actually preferred Lisbon so if I was to definitively decide on the city, I don't think it would be a problem.

For all Dublin's bad weather, in fairness there are some very nice parks and walks by the sea (Dun Laoighre being a good example) which I presume are replicated in Lisbon.

Cheers
Frank


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## JPQ (Mar 16, 2011)

As far as the climate is concerned I think you've got the answer in the above posts. Winter in Lisbon is not as harsh as it is in Porto. 

I don't know if you are just coming for a few days, weeks, months or years but if you'll be looking for sometype of job being near Porto or Lisbon is an advantage.

Finding portuguese teachers or language schools in these areas should also prove quite easy. Hope it helps.

Best regards,
João


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