# where to live?



## topofthenorth (Sep 11, 2019)

I have visited Portugal a few times, north, middle and south. I am hoping to move to Portugal within the next year and will travel around a bit to find out where is best suited to settle. I just wondered if people could give an idea of an area that they've settled and enjoy. Obviously maybe not the town, but an area they live and why they enjoy living there.


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## ericvoholo75 (Oct 3, 2019)

I lived in Porto for half a hear and I completely fell in love with the city! It has everything you need and isn't thaaat big. You have a river with beautiful ribeira and bridges, you have ocean just there if you are into winter sports you can even go surfing there. There are a lot of nice cafes, shops and restaurants. Also a lot of universities, so there are a lot of young people and it makes the city really alive  The access to anywhere else around Portugal is also great (you have airport, train station, bus station) so in my opinion it's just a perfect place to live


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## topofthenorth (Sep 11, 2019)

ericvoholo75 said:


> I lived in Porto for half a hear and I completely fell in love with the city! It has everything you need and isn't thaaat big. You have a river with beautiful ribeira and bridges, you have ocean just there if you are into winter sports you can even go surfing there. There are a lot of nice cafes, shops and restaurants. Also a lot of universities, so there are a lot of young people and it makes the city really alive  The access to anywhere else around Portugal is also great (you have airport, train station, bus station) so in my opinion it's just a perfect place to live


Thanks so much for your reply. Where do you live now? I haven't visited Porto as I waned to live bit further south, not the Algarve. 

I'm hoping to visit Portugal again early December or January, I will make sure we visit Porto now. Everything depends on Brexit though, if we leave without a deal, I'm stuffed in terms of moving there.


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## dancebert (Jun 4, 2015)

topofthenorth said:


> I haven't visited Porto as I waned to live bit further south, not the Algarve.


If you know your geographical restrictions, might be useful to start a new thread with those in the title. As for where to live, this is my advice from 12 years an expat living in 3 countries and 5 different towns:

Start with a list of the characteristics of the city where you now live that you would miss greatly if the next town didn't have them. Add to it characteristics that would be deal breakers if any city didn't have them. The hard part is the third list. These are characteristics that, without knowing, are such an expected part of life you wouldn't verify they're available elsewhere. For example, prompt and reliable package delivery. Then when you ask about where to live, include the first 2 lists. After you've narrowed down the possible towns, then ask about the third list.


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## topofthenorth (Sep 11, 2019)

dancebert said:


> If you know your geographical restrictions, might be useful to start a new thread with those in the title. As for where to live, this is my advice from 12 years an expat living in 3 countries and 5 different towns:
> 
> Start with a list of the characteristics of the city where you now live that you would miss greatly if the next town didn't have them. Add to it characteristics that would be deal breakers if any city didn't have them. The hard part is the third list. These are characteristics that, without knowing, are such an expected part of life you wouldn't verify they're available elsewhere. For example, prompt and reliable package delivery. Then when you ask about where to live, include the first 2 lists. After you've narrowed down the possible towns, then ask about the third list.


It was just a sketch I was looking for not a detailed analysis. 

For instance, if people choose to live in the country for walking and peace, or others might prefer a city for the night life. It may be that someone thinks an area is just not very good to live in at all.


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## Strontium (Sep 16, 2015)

Portugal has many different areas, mountains, lakes, ancient buildings, beaches, two different coast lines, forests, cities, tiny hamlets. 25% of the population are in Lisbon and 20% in Porto (numbers vary) the rest are scattered about. The reality is only you can pick where to live and you must experience places for yourself to come to some decision - what I think about a place is not the same as what others think about a place, also what someone did on their holiday in Algave last year does not translate in to the experience you will have in the same place. I'll try to add a couple of vids/pics to demonstrate, this is the same place but different people had different experiences. Additionally what you think are absolute necessities may not be when you see others living here without them. Ie a coffee machine as in town (or village) as most people just pop out for coffee made on a real machine. You do really need to spend time here in different places at different times of year and make up your own mind for your self, strangely enough this time of year we rent cars for 7euro a day and find places to stay for about 12euro, have just spent several days going along the Silver coast looking at any accessible beach and some non accessible ones and the nearby villages over a 100km of coast.

Nazare summer and winter

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...=zwpX1kwW9Ys&usg=AOvVaw3tvpHPNRzhzCEMRHbD4Uxl

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...=p63NEdTbaCM&usg=AOvVaw04jT15HjKdmdVUTwJ7Zkxw


The other place to look at is Gois which is a charming little town with a charming little river.
But this happens in August

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...=9xnIE7_y7E0&usg=AOvVaw2sG5FVR7ae8EO9P4LZV4WJ


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## topofthenorth (Sep 11, 2019)

I'm not really asking people to tell me where to live I was just wondering what other people's experiences were and what they like about where they lived. It was just a flavour of the country from people who have lived there for a while.


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## Strontium (Sep 16, 2015)

Also you'll find public transport very variable as in some places brilliant trains but not an extensive network, a good coach service between some towns but strangely missing others, then some railway lines privately owned with a couple of trains a day which don't always stop at stations (silver coast). Stations not in the town they are named after (Fatima being a very amusing one as it gets mobbed by pilgrims) in a village with no facilities 20km from the town.


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## dancebert (Jun 4, 2015)

topofthenorth said:


> I have visited Portugal a few times, north, middle and south. I am hoping to move to Portugal within the next year and will travel around a bit to find out where is best suited to settle. I just wondered if people could give an idea of an area that they've settled and enjoy.


'Where to live' is one of the 2* basic newbie questions that are almost never stated with enough information to even begin providing a useful answer. Not stating the basic characteristics of such a place makes it easy to treat you (whether it's true or not) as someone who hasn't thought about what they want. That means any response could be a waste of time.



topofthenorth said:


> I haven't visited Porto as I waned to live bit further south, not the Algarve.


So you have thought about it, but didn't include it in the OP where it would have been much more useful. However, that sentence can easily be interpreted to mean that you thought Porto was in the Algarve, though the best possible interpretation is that you want to live south of Porto and not in the Algarve.

*The other one is 'How much does it cost to live there?'


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## dancebert (Jun 4, 2015)

topofthenorth said:


> It was just a sketch I was looking for not a detailed analysis.


It appears you completely misunderstood my post. It suggested you do a detailed analysis. Why? In every town I've lived outside the US, I've encountered expats who were dissatisfied with where they'd settled because it wasn't what they wanted, expected, or read about. They didn't do their homework before deciding where to live. In some cases, they'd never visited the town.


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## Stovies (Sep 3, 2019)

Following on from this thread. I know it would be foolish to buy straight away but I was thinking of renting for 6-12 months first to make sure this would be the right place to live in. I know there are eastate agents but are there places to rent or not. I don't want to pay the silly prices for holiday rents.


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## Mforster (Mar 27, 2019)

topofthenorth,

Our reasons for moving to where we are now:
Less people, more land/space, no close neighbours, climate (very important), landscape and cost of living.
The criteria on our lists was divided into 3 columns, (must have, nice to have, must not have), were ticked off each place we visited. We were hunting around for about 5 years. Combining holidays with some house viewing. At the end of the day, (this might be a woman thing...) it's all about how a place feels.


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## Strontium (Sep 16, 2015)

Stovies said:


> Following on from this thread. I know it would be foolish to buy straight away but I was thinking of renting for 6-12 months first to make sure this would be the right place to live in. I know there are eastate agents but are there places to rent or not. I don't want to pay the silly prices for holiday rents.


Just going on assumptions of you are not looking for a "golden visa" or gated expat community it is best to spend time in different places as trying to decide without being here you will not get a full picture from other peoples experiences. Physically going into estate agents offices and talking to them in the best way to get an ideas of what is available locally, places to rent are not always advertised, those in the window are not necessary available. You'll not necessary get an answer from sending an email but if you meet them they will take you seriously (they expect people to look at a rental which means you are physically not virtually there) and there are agents who are not internet based as local things here are on a person to person level. There are also places to rent which are not on their books but local agents will ask and put some effort into it if they think you are serious, part of the lack of listings is lots of people rent and the places are available by word of mouth. 

if you look at this link there are a lot of places listed but maybe not available.
https://www.olx.pt/imoveis/


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## Stovies (Sep 3, 2019)

Thanks. No no golden visa. Not for that much money lol. The plan is to go over and have a little look but don't want to buy and find out we don't like it. So that's why thought about renting for a while.


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## Deblett (Feb 6, 2019)

*Reason sto like Portugal*

I am suprised that so many of the replies to your initial post have been quite so unhelpful!
I moved to the North of Portugal (very North) because it is so unspoilt. Very few tourists compared to Central and South. No pubs, noisy bars, drunks, booze cruisers, hen parties, stag do's etc. It is very peaceful! The weather is mild, rarely too hot and rarely a frost and certainly no snow. The resaurants are typical, I did once notice a chinese restaurant open up but it didn't stay open very long. I live in a hamlet a few miles inland from a small fishing town with a lovely beach. Apart from August, it is peaceful, most of the tourism outside of August is the packs of pilgrims heading North to Santiago. I am English and didn't speak a word of Portuguese when I moved here full time 2 years ago, but am gradually picking it up and find that everyone is very patient and helpful when I talk with them and English is the 2nd language now so most of the younger generation speak extremely good English anyway. I have a small holding and keep chickens and goats and grow all of my own fruit and veg, grapes and olives for olive oil. My neighbours always pitch in and help with the grape harvest or the olive picking or shucking corn, none speak English but they have all accpeted me in our little community, even creating a human chain with buckets of water for 3 days during the bad fires year before last, my woodland was on fire and getting dangerously close to the house! My daughters come and stay a couple of times a year and love this as a holiday desination because it is peaceful and relaxing, whereas their friends all head off to the Costa's for the party atmosphere. I have a wealth of people in the village to help me, whether its electricians, plumbers, carpenters, mechanics or I just need a chicken slaughtered (I can't bear to kill them myself) and I return the favours with whatever I can bring to the table, often just helping youngsters with their English homework! It really is a co-operative! Those are my reasons for loving the far North, hope that helps


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## topofthenorth (Sep 11, 2019)

Deblett said:


> I am suprised that so many of the replies to your initial post have been quite so unhelpful!
> I moved to the North of Portugal (very North) because it is so unspoilt. Very few tourists compared to Central and South. No pubs, noisy bars, drunks, booze cruisers, hen parties, stag do's etc. It is very peaceful! The weather is mild, rarely too hot and rarely a frost and certainly no snow. The resaurants are typical, I did once notice a chinese restaurant open up but it didn't stay open very long. I live in a hamlet a few miles inland from a small fishing town with a lovely beach. Apart from August, it is peaceful, most of the tourism outside of August is the packs of pilgrims heading North to Santiago. I am English and didn't speak a word of Portuguese when I moved here full time 2 years ago, but am gradually picking it up and find that everyone is very patient and helpful when I talk with them and English is the 2nd language now so most of the younger generation speak extremely good English anyway. I have a small holding and keep chickens and goats and grow all of my own fruit and veg, grapes and olives for olive oil. My neighbours always pitch in and help with the grape harvest or the olive picking or shucking corn, none speak English but they have all accpeted me in our little community, even creating a human chain with buckets of water for 3 days during the bad fires year before last, my woodland was on fire and getting dangerously close to the house! My daughters come and stay a couple of times a year and love this as a holiday desination because it is peaceful and relaxing, whereas their friends all head off to the Costa's for the party atmosphere. I have a wealth of people in the village to help me, whether its electricians, plumbers, carpenters, mechanics or I just need a chicken slaughtered (I can't bear to kill them myself) and I return the favours with whatever I can bring to the table, often just helping youngsters with their English homework! It really is a co-operative! Those are my reasons for loving the far North, hope that helps


Yes it does, thank you very much.


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## Maryy (Oct 31, 2019)

I've been to Tavira and Alvor, so I say south is sooo wonderful, beautiful cities and the best weather!


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## topofthenorth (Sep 11, 2019)

Maryy said:


> I've been to Tavira and Alvor, so I say south is sooo wonderful, beautiful cities and the best weather!


Did you live there?


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## grandwazoo (Apr 12, 2011)

I've lived in Alvor on and off for the last 10 years, it gets hot and touristy in August but the rest of the year is fine. The (single) street of bars is dead over the winter, but there's plenty of more local places for food and drink, and Portimao ( a couple of miles away) is distinctly non-tourist - very Portuguese - with all the shopping, cinemas, football etc. you could want.

ps long-term renting has become almost impossible, and house prices are getting silly.


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## topofthenorth (Sep 11, 2019)

grandwazoo said:


> I've lived in Alvor on and off for the last 10 years, it gets hot and touristy in August but the rest of the year is fine. The (single) street of bars is dead over the winter, but there's plenty of more local places for food and drink, and Portimao ( a couple of miles away) is distinctly non-tourist - very Portuguese - with all the shopping, cinemas, football etc. you could want.
> 
> ps long-term renting has become almost impossible, and house prices are getting silly.


We may have to live further north because of the house prices.


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