# Relocation suggestions sought please



## thouofaninch (Apr 13, 2012)

Hi all
I’m looking for some input – suggestions – for a possible relocation to Portugal.

Presently I live in a northern Italian industrial town, c.170k population and I teach English in a private language school.

I am looking to relocate to somewhere coastal, or within a few miles of the coast.

I’m not really thinking of a tiny town neither somewhere like Lisbon.

Some of the criteria I’d like to meet in a move include, as far as possible, the following:
A decent selection of affordable rental and sale properties.
Some decent, clean beaches, preferably with some diversity of coastline –cliffs/rocks.
A town with a degree of cultural activity : cinemas (with films in English, ideally); art exhibitions, occasional visiting musical artists or concerts.
A least one private language school where I could possibly pick up some English teaching work – my main employment for the last ten years.
Fairly decent infrastructure including reliable and quality local health system, and rail connections.

Also some other desireable factors: low crime rate, a non-too-old average population, nice selection of cafes/bars/shops. Also an English speaking ex-pat community would be nice (at first, at least) but not critical.

I have done some tentative research but before posting my ideas I’d like to hear what you suggest

So, over to you. Can you suggest somewhere which can satisfy these criteria to a greater (preferably) or lesser extent, maybe citing the examples which make your case?

Thanks for all input.


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## canoeman (Mar 3, 2011)

Coimbra in my book would be the closest to your wish list, except for diversity of coastline i.e. cliffs and rocks which only figure in very very few places of Portugals coastline, if that was an issue then Caldas de Rainha as a secondary location although there is a rocky headland at Fig de Foz


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## thouofaninch (Apr 13, 2012)

thanks for that Canoeman. Coimbra looks nice and seems to fulfill most criteria.
The coastal cliffs/rocks preference is only really secondary, ideal environment scenario. The beach is however essential.
The second place you mention, Caldas de Rainha, doesn't feature a language school unfortunately (at least according to my list of towns with private language schools. Maybe it's not absolutely comprehensive)


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## canoeman (Mar 3, 2011)

Coimbra has great beaches to the North & South of Fig de Foz, also river beaches on the Mondego, Caldas de Rainha seen a couple of language schools in centre of town


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## MrBife (Jul 26, 2009)

I would also consider Cascais and around - it seems to fit all your requirements and is within easy travel distance of Estoril and Lisbon which opens up a lot of options on your list


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## steve01 (Dec 8, 2010)

Hi, 
the Algarve, specfically the Area between Portimao and Albufeira, or maybe Faro town
am looking to relocate to somewhere coastal, or within a few miles of the coast.
all of the above

I’m not really thinking of a tiny town neither somewhere like Lisbon.
Lots of choice in the area above

Some of the criteria I’d like to meet in a move include, as far as possible, the following:
A decent selection of affordable rental and sale properties.
The algarve is now superb value for both
Some decent, clean beaches, preferably with some diversity of coastline –cliffs/rocks.
Everything West of Albufeira meets your criteria
A town with a degree of cultural activity : cinemas (with films in English, ideally); art exhibitions, occasional visiting musical artists or concerts.
Lagoa/Carvoeior/Ferragudo - Art galleries/cutural events/vinyards as well as everything else you'd expect
All cinemas here show movies in their original language,as does Portuguese tv.

A least one private language school where I could possibly pick up some English teaching work – my main employment for the last ten years.
International school close to Lagoa + other possibilities locally
Fairly decent infrastructure including reliable and quality local health system, and rail connections.
all of those rail to Lisbo n 45 minutes to faro airport, A22 / Ic1, easy to get to Spain.
Personally we've had great support from the local health system - doctors here still care.

Also some other desireable factors: low crime rate, a non-too-old average population, nice selection of cafes/bars/shops. Also an English speaking ex-pat community would be nice (at first, at least) but not critical.

All of the above.

Before the anti-Algarve ***** get in - its a great place 
Wishing you the best of luck


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## thouofaninch (Apr 13, 2012)

Thanks Steve for Algarve rec. I like this stretch of coast - in theory, warmer waters than Atlantic coast, etc, lots of expats. Are you saying that a property in the listed Algarve towns compares with Coimbra and surrounds in terms of price?. I could probably buy something straight out in Fig de Foz or Coimbra - but comparable property on Algarve? 
In Faro I have one private school listed (Wall St. - whose pedagogy I'm not too keen on) but maybe there are others I don't have listed.

Also, thanks MrBife for Cascais rec.- There are several lang schools it seems. Such a vicinity to Lisbon leads me to think that properties aren't so affordable. I might check out the place when I visit Lisbon next month. Do you have any info contacts there?

Thanks all.

Any more?


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## steve01 (Dec 8, 2010)

you're welcome, 
we househunted over much of Portugal in the past.
It really depends on what you want.
We looked at Coimbra snd surrounding area - its nice, but typically Portuguese and very few properties for sale.
Cascais to Sintra is hugely expensive - much more so than most of the Algarve.
the big difference is ther won't be much property for sale around Coimbra, co people more or less ask what they want, whereas the sheer volume of property for sale on the Algarve dictates sensible prices at the moment.
The algarve offers choice - small apartments from 50k through 10million+ mansions , same as your day to day living choice , cheap meal (but good) from 5 euros including a drink through Michelin star restaurants.
Property varies hugely a small villa with a pool can cost from 150k on the west coast to ££££££ in Vilamoura. - 100k buys a nice apartment, 2-300k will buy a nice small villa with pool, and most of the locations are great - The Algarve is also very small only 3-4 hours end to end, so cummuting is rarely a problem.
Check out the international school in Lagoa for work +Portimao +Albufeira (many colleages) are an easy commute.


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## canoeman (Mar 3, 2011)

"the big difference is ther won't be much property for sale around Coimbra, co people more or less ask what they want, whereas the sheer volume of property for sale on the Algarve dictates sensible prices at the moment."

must be a while since you looked like all of Portugal there are thousands of property for sale in Coimbra or surrounding areas at prices considerably less than Algarve, like Algarve driven by the need of many homeowners to actually sell.

One of my reasons for suggesting Coumbra that being a major University city it does present opportunities for employment but also that it has a varied, vibrant social and cultural life, something that I've never found the Algarve can offer except for the tourist


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## thouofaninch (Apr 13, 2012)

Thanks . Just a query:

Could someone suggest a more precise search term in the phone directory pai.pt - I have google translated 'Private Language schools' and got 'Escolas de idiomas particulares'. I searched in the towns of Portimão and Albufeira, for example, and got various results everywhere but these places, Lisbon etc.
What should one type to get listing of private language schools? Thanks


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## steve01 (Dec 8, 2010)

Carvoeiro/Lagoa is a very small place it has a golf society, irish society, walking club, ex-pat society, Portuguese/ex-pat meetings, dinner clubs, bridge club, religiuos groups, vinyards, diving club, one of the algarves major Art venues, art society +all of the cultural events at the Fatacil + all of the usual things in life, restaurants, bars, fado evenings, Major musis venues, walks, beaches, scenery, fishing + fantasic weather year round.
I'm sure Coimbra being a medical / university historic town also has a lot going on, but equally sure most of it is aimed directly at Portuguese speakers.
Silly to knock the algarve really - i found 5 days in Coimbra enough to last me a lifetime and i liked it

p.s i don't live there - i live in the Alentejo - just telling it like it is in response to the question


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## thouofaninch (Apr 13, 2012)

Thanks. These places cited seem very agreeable and nice ( Lagoa pop. 24k; Carvoeiro ≤3k pop.), but maybe not quite large enough to support the kind of activities I mentioned and am used to. Also, I'm not so intimidated by the town being biased toward Portuguese population/speakers: I live in Modena which isn't exactly expat/tourist central, nothing like Florence or even Bologna.


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## steve01 (Dec 8, 2010)

Sorry the main point was that the Algarve is small from end to end and so it really doesn't matter where you live - there's a lot going on all over it.
For example living in Lagoa/Carvoeiro - within 30 minutes maximum you can reach Albufeira/Guia/Amercao / Pera/Silves/Portimao/Ferragudo, and many others , some have 50k+ populations and all have a huge variety of things going on year round for all Nationalities (the Algarve is very inclusive - i have many more non-UK friends there than UK)

Best idea is to come and stay for a month or more and visit all of the places that are of interest to you.


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## steve01 (Dec 8, 2010)

p.s - i just looked at property for sale in Coimbra - i didn't find it cheap - same as the Algarve, cheap by exception , not rule, and most of the cheap properties are for a reason , 25km out of Coimbra on those bloody awful winding roads in the middle of nowhere.

also just to get back to the original question - Coimbra is huge - certainly doesn't fir the criteria the poster specified - its one of the largest cities in Portugal with and i'm doing this from memory around 500,000+ permanent residents + a huge student population = coincidentally - the same population as the whole of the permant residents of the 150km streatch of the Algarve = around 500k


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## thouofaninch (Apr 13, 2012)

Yes, thanks - I think the tour idea is the best idea to get feel for a place.

I have a repressed urge to buy a renovation property to do up to my taste over several years.


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## canoeman (Mar 3, 2011)

Not everyone advertises openly or in Yellow pages a lot would advertise English Language as primary draw rather than private language schools


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## forgeman (Jul 22, 2013)

I supposed Coimbra would figure highly -- but I'd also suggest 'the Venice of Portugal' -- Aveiro is worth a look at. It's well positioned, is a nice city (atmosphere, bars, restaurants, proximity to beaches), and appears to have a host of language schools -- I searched on 'escola de idiomas' and found agood range of results -- or you could try just: 'escola ingles'


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## steve01 (Dec 8, 2010)

i'd agree with Aveiro.

I'd also have a look at Setubal (pop 100k), just south of Lisbon, really nice city and easy access to Lisboa and some of the best beaches in Portugal


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## rutebrito (Jun 17, 2013)

I second that (Aveiro and Setúbal) and you may wanna look into Barreiro as an option. 

Cascais has everything you asked for (I'm biased though), including lots of international schools but it's a bit pricey.

Search for "escola de línguas" or "instituto de línguas".
I don't know if you consider it an option but there is a reasonable demand for private english tutoring in major cities. 




steve01 said:


> i'd agree with Aveiro.
> 
> I'd also have a look at Setubal (pop 100k), just south of Lisbon, really nice city and easy access to Lisboa and some of the best beaches in Portugal


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## thouofaninch (Apr 13, 2012)

Thanks for latest recs.
@ rutebrito: yes, i would consider taking private students - better rates for teacher - no school middleman.
I like the other places. Setubal - I could check out during my Lisbon visit in Sept.

The search terms were more effective, too. thanks.


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## rutebrito (Jun 17, 2013)

You're welcome.

For private tutoring try searching for "explicações de inglês" 

Hope you enjoy your time in Lisbon. 
If you need anything just ask. I'm from Lisbon and lived in the Cascais/Oeiras area for 26 years before coming to Dubai last month.



thouofaninch said:


> Thanks for latest recs.
> @ rutebrito: yes, i would consider taking private students - better rates for teacher - no school middleman.
> I like the other places. Setubal - I could check out during my Lisbon visit in Sept.
> 
> The search terms were more effective, too. thanks.


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