Hi there,
To close what was the 5-month stay in Portugal, I wanted to make a post to list the points that seemed most outstanding in the country and, therefore, what I think is important that you consider if you are going on vacation or to live.
As I have already been telling you in previous posts, we were lucky enough to enjoy Portugal in the low season and in the post-Covid period, so we found good prices and few people.
After all the experience, I must highlight:
- Education and hospitality
If you visit from Latin America, the way of being of the Portuguese will surely seem normal to you. After living several years in Spain, the change is from black to white.
The Portuguese are super polite, and they also care about you, they want to help you. They try to speak your language, even if they only know five words of Spanish.
With a few occasional exceptions, every person we met in Portugal was wonderfully polite and friendly.
- Security
It seems to be a safe country, although we do not risk leaving things on the beach. It was noticeable in the houses and in the way of being of the people that they were not afraid of being robbed.
The houses, no matter how isolated they were, had neither high walls nor bars. In fact, the host of the Olhos de Agua accommodation told me that I didn’t need to put the lock to the door.
In the Armação de Pêra‘s club there was no door to enter from the street, no security system, no cameras, nothing, and there weren’t security doors for the apartments either.
- Prices
Everyone has the idea that Portugal is very cheap, but it didn’t seem like it to me if I compare with Valencia, where I lived for a few years.
The food is a little cheaper, yes.
As for tourist accommodation, the difference is that there was more quality. Let me explain: in Spain in the beach areas in low season you can also find good prices, but the accommodations are crap, the typical old and decadent apartments with granny’s furniture. On the other hand, in Portugal for 600 or 800 euros per month in low season you can find new and very well-equipped apartments. I’m talking about tourist accommodation prices. For long-term rentals, it will be cheaper.
In fact, when we were looking to leave Madeira, one of the options was Gran Canaria because there was a direct flight, but we ruled out the option after seeing that all the accommodations were horrible.
In short, considering the qualities, it could be said that accommodation in Portugal is a bit cheaper than in Spain and some European countries.
On the other hand, technology prices were more expensive than in Spain. Diego needed to buy a computer and it was cheaper in Spain. Also, VAT is a bit higher in Portugal. The big difference is the tax system, you pay way lower taxes in Portugal than in Spain, for example.
- Public transportation
In general, public transport is more expensive in Portugal. A train journey that in Italy cost us 5 or 7 euros, in Portugal cost us 13 or more.
In Porto public transport worked well, but in Algarve it was almost non-existent.
In addition, bus journeys in the Algarve were very expensive.
- Vegan options
When it comes to vegan options, Portugal is not bad at all. Especially in the north the vegan restaurants we found were great.
Another thing is that in Porto I was horrified by the way people sunbathed. At noon, they were all oiled up sunbathing. I don’t know how they endured because I was wearing a hat, glasses, sunscreen and walking in the shade, and I was burnt.
In general, I was left with the same good impression that the country left me when I visited it with my dad. People are lovely and that is what I value most.
If we had to select a place to live, I would not choose Algarve because although it is beautiful, there is nothing to do, there is no public transport, and the supermarkets were poorly stocked. I would recommend the north and near a big city. Around the Porto beach area there was a spectacular part of beautiful houses with a park and the promenade; I could live there.