Date: October 16, 2021
liveandinvestoverseas.com ranks Portugal’s Algarve region as #1 best place to retire in 2021
internationalliving.com ranks Portugal as #5 best place to retire in 2021
Portugal is ranked highly due to it’s “Old World charm, miles of golden sandy beaches, green, rolling hills, some of the best healthcare in the world, low cost of living, and safety. . . . the best part about living in Portugal is the people.” – International Living. These comments and rankings are what drove us to consider Portugal for our retirement. In addition was the feedback on many surf beaches and breaks which is important to me personally.
Let’s explore the rankings and comments a little:
Old World Charm – According to Wikipedia, “Portugal is the oldest nation state on the Iberian Peninsula and one of the oldest in Europe, its territory having been continuously settled, invaded and fought over since prehistoric times.” This history is clearly apparent in many of the towns with old castles, fortifications, aqueducts, old churches, and museums. Portugal was at times occupied by the Celtic people, Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Visigoth/Germanic people, and Moors. Portugal was also a major colonial empire heavily involved in the spice trade and having colonies all over the world from Africa to Brazil. – TRUE
Golden Sandy Beaches – Portugal has a huge coastline and the beaches are very picturesque. Many have soft limestone cliffs that have eroded away leaving unique arches and rock formations. The beaches are nice but also collect a significant amount of seaweed at times depending on the direction of wind/swell/etc. Surf Notes: The most consistently surfable beaches are on the west coast from Sagres all the way north past Lisbon and Ericeira. The southern beaches also get surf but it is VERY inconsistent. It is not true that Lagos/ Portimao are great places to live if you want to surf daily unless you are interested in driving west to Sagres regularly. – TRUE but not great for Surfers unless they go the the West Coast of Portugal
Green, rolling hills – TBD. This is not true in the southern Algarve region which is mostly a desert landscape. I imagine this note is applicable to the northern portion of the country. DEPENDS ON THE REGION
Healthcare – The healthcare system is socialized meaning there is a free public system if you are a citizen/ permanent resident. We have tested the public system so I can comment on it’s efficacy. We were told it can be slow and you may have to wait significant periods for service. For minor health care issues, our experience was very positive. See the details of the visit here. The visit was to the emergency room when Bi sprained her ankle. We only had to wait 15 minutes in the lobby and the service was friendly, timely, and inexpensive. The visit cost 91.30 EUR and included inspection of the ankle, x-rays, wrapping, and a prescription for anti-inflammatory/pain medication. For more significant health care issues, like when I broke my cheekbone into 3 pieces and needed CAT scans and facial surgery, the experience was less positive. See the details in the article posted here. For this issue we had to visit multiple hospitals and wait in crowded waiting rooms for many, many hours with little communication. We were told to drive between the hospitals ourselves because the ambulances are slow. The eventual surgery was positive and professional (as far as I can tell) but the pre-surgery was a terrible experience. On the positive side though, the cost was very low. So far we were only billed 182.51 EUR plus another 17.09 EUR for prescriptions. The hospital in Lisbon said they may or may not send another bill in the mail. It has been 3 weeks since the surgery and, so far, we have not received any other bills.
If you do not feel comfortable with the public system, there is also a Private Healthcare network. It is inexpensive so most of the expats have Private Health Insurance which we also have purchased. Example of the costs as quoted to us by Medis for the Private Health Insurance are below for 2 people 45 yrs/ 39 yrs old in good health. They quote 3 options with different levels of coverage Option 1 – 15k EUR/ Option 2 – 50k EUR/ Option 3 – 1M EUR hospitalization. We did Option 2 so that is 111.27 EUR/Month for 2 people or about 55 EUR/Month per person. One note of caution though is that the private hospitals may not have all of the same capabilities as the public hospitals so you may be transferred to a public hospital anyway. I was told that for my broken cheekbone I would have been transferred back to the public system even if I initially went to a private hospital. – PARTIALLY TRUE – GOOD, INEXPENSIVE HEALTHCARE OPTIONS FOR MINOR ISSUES BUT POTENTIALLY LONG WAITS IN DINGY WAITING ROOMS WITH LITTLE COMMUNICATION FOR MAJOR ISSUES OR OPERATIONS.
Low Cost of Living: This depends heavily on where you are living in Portugal. Most of the best places to retire listings reference the Algarve region which is the southern portion with sunny warm weather. Lagos is the most popular town in this region and the costs in Lagos are very different depending on the season. Rent is 2-4x as much in the months of April to October vs. November to March. Our specific apartment in the city center is 600 EUR/Month + Utilities for Nov/Dec/Jan/Feb/Mar. Our landlord said she charges this much Per Week in the summer months and something in between for the Spring and Fall.
Winter Rent: (600 EUR/Month + 200 EUR Utilities) X 4 Months (Nov/Dec/Jan/Feb) = 3,200 EUR
Spring/Fall Rent: 1,200 EUR Total X 4 Months (Sept/Oct/March/April) = 4,800 EUR
Summer: 2,800 EUR X 4 Months (May/June/July/Aug) = 11,200 EUR
Total Annual Rent: 19,200 EUR for Lagos Downtown
Assumptions: Above is my estimation based on the fact that we are paying 600 EUR/Month + Utilities for Nov/Dec/Jan/Feb/March and that we are paying about 1200 EUR/Month for October. The summer month pricing is based on feedback from our landlord. You can get cheaper accommodation for smaller spaces (ours is a 2 bed/ 1 bath) or for a place further from downtown or further from the beaches. Note that even a Private Room in a Hostel is 50 EUR/day so that would be 18k EUR/year. A Dorm room in a Hostel is 11 EUR/day so 4k EUR/year.
I have not directly compared Groceries but so far, they seem fairly similar to the US depending on which store you go to with SPAR being the most expensive, then Pingo Doce, and finally the discount stores ALDI and LIDL as the least expensive but also with the most limited selection. Restaurants/ Bars – Meals out are significantly less expensive with a main dish typically being 13-19 EUR. Drinks may be between 2.5 EUR for a beer to 5-6 EUR for a mixed drink but it depends on the Bar/Restaurant. This is cheaper than most cities in the US but probably similar to smaller town prices.
In my estimation, living in Lagos or a similar popular tourist town would likely cost something closer to the below for a Couple (2 People) living in the downtown central area. This is a rough estimate based on our experience so far.
Internationalliving.com 2021 review indicates “you can live on about one-third less here. A couple can live comfortably, but not lavishly in Portugal on $2,500 per month. If you want to live in Lisbon, Porto, Cascais, or the Algarve, you should bump that number up to $3,000 or more.” Based on our assessment so far, the “or more” is the critical comment. In my view, based on what we have seen so far, the statement is inaccurate. Unless you are living in the countryside somewhere and not traveling around, you would have a hard time living on $30k-$36k USD/year as a couple – MISLEADING/INACCURATE
Safety – So far, we have not experienced any issues with theft, cons, etc. We had one issue with a misleading “free” tour but I would consider that very minor. Basically, the tour operator pushed us for a larger donation than we felt was reasonable or appropriate. We have heard some reports of road rage that became physical. In addition, I did experience direct violence myself during a surfing incident. In my assessment, the area is relatively safe but incidents do happen and many go unreported. – MOSTLY TRUE
People (Friendly) – In the Algarve region, the people for us have been friendly and English is widely spoken. We have had no issues with communication or getting around and reception has been very pleasant. There is a very large expat community as the rankings have noted which is helpful as well. – TRUE
So, overall, the rankings are generally accurate in my view except on the cost basis which I feel is misleading or inaccurate. The surfing is very good with many great beaches and breaks but anyone interested in having consistent waves should look on the west coast not the southern coast.
Other random things to be aware of:
- Food/Restaurants: This was important to my wife and the food is good in our opinion. The Portuguese restaurants have great seafood, the Italian restaurants have been wonderful, the juice bars/healthy food has been good, and the burgers have also been tasty. There are a wide variety of restaurants and so far we have been happy with them.
- Bug Notes: Flies are prevalent in some areas. I am not sure if that is unique to this year or this season. They do not bite but can be annoying. On a positive note, there are very few mosquitos so far.
- Most apartments do not have Air Conditioning or Heat
- Most apartments do not have Dryers so you have to hang your clothes outside to dry
- Many of the buildings are very old and mold is a concern so insure good ventilation and/or use a dehumidifier especially in the bathroom
- Dogs are common and many people allow them off leash. Dog feces on the street or sidewalk is something to watch out for and is more common than it should be. We know of several instances where unleashed dogs have bitten people.
- The beaches get a very significant amount of brown seaweed at times. It builds up quite a bit such that it lays like a carpet on the sand and you would not even want to go to those beaches until the seaweed is washed away. See the dark brown areas in the photo below. That is all seaweed.
