New Here?
Welcome to Moving to Portugal!
This blog has been around since a while before November 2009 when we began our life in the sun. It may help you to learn some background about how we started our adventure, so I have compiled this list of key moments and popular posts to ease your journey through the site. Please be sure to check our our sister site, Food and Wine Portugal.
Praia da Rocha in Portugal's West Algarve
Thinking of Moving to Portugal?
If you are planning a move of your own – it may help to begin with some practicalites – I recommend these posts!
Finding Work in Portugal – Investigating the employment situation in Portugal
Portugal Web Directory – A huge list of sites that have helped us.
Our Journey to Life in Portugal
Before we Arrived in the Algarve:
So Why Portugal? – exploring why we chose Portugal
Broken Britain – An angry rant from before I left London (was I really so angry all the time?)
Early Days in Tavira:
The First Day, and the night before – Our first 24 hours in our new country
Cultural Differences – Our initial learning experiences
What Do We Miss (and Don’t We Miss?)
The Weather Outside is Frightful - When our honeymoon period ended and things got difficult
Getting Settled:
Moving Swiftly On – Moving to our new modern apartment
Learning Portuguese – Our first attempts to learn how to speak Portuguese
My Wife’s View – My wife’s take on her new life in Portugal
Red Tape Rant – Bureaucratic Frustrations
Life in Portugal
Six Month Review – A report of our first six months in the Algarve
Positive Life Changes – Some of the good things about life in Portugal
Getting Residency – A less good thing about Portugal, and a MUST read
Books
Anyone truly serious about a move to Portugal should be researching obsessively! The following books are titles we found extremely helpful:
Live & Work in Portugal
Au Revoir Angleterre: Making a Go of Moving Abroad
Buying Property in Portugal
You may also be interested in my book on Moving to Portugal which contains a narrative from my wife on our first couple of years, as well as a host of useful information, much of which is not available anywhere else:
Moving to Portugal: How a young couple started a new life in the sun – and how you could do the same
US readers can find it at Amazon.com
Your website is helping me a lot! Thanks for all the useful information you provide
I will be moving to Portugal myself very shortly, and am looking forward to it very much (even after reading the article about how hard it is to get residency)
Hi Isabelle,
Glad you are finding the site useful. If I can help you with any questions just let me know.
Best wishes,
Ben
Hi
just found your site and find it very useful with practical advice from someone on the ground
We too are thinking of making the move to cabanas early next year
your problems in the cabanas apartment sounds like you are in the duja royal cabanas golf complex ?
or are there other buildings with similar problems
Thanks Jeff
Hi,
Thanks for the great blog, there are some really useful pieces.
I am due to move to Lisbon for work for 5 months and I wondered whether it would be a good idea to open a bank account over there? Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks.
Hi Jeff,
Thanks for reading! I think you’ll find there are plenty of developments in this area with similar issues, but the problems at Cabanas Golf are all resolved now.
Best wishes,
Ben
Hi Macca,
Welcome and thanks for reading the blog. Sorry for the slow response.
I would say that opening a local bank account would be extremely useful. Lots of things here are done using the Multibanco (cashpoint) system – everything from booking train tickets to paying phone bills, crediting mobiles and ordering fishing licences. You’ll find it all a lot easier if you have a Portuguese account.
Enjoy your time in Lisbon.
Best wishes,
Ben
Hi everyone,
we are an international couple located between Faro and Albufeira. We are looking for some positive national/international people in their 20s and 30s for freetime activities, drinks, going out, exploring the Algarve, hiking, trips, trying now things, an odd coffee…
So far we have met either people who stay at home and/or are around retiree age and/or complain a lot. Where are the positive and fresh ones who are here to enjoy life and want to connect?
Contact us at: sunnylife@gmx-topmail.de