28 Things We Wish We Knew Before Moving to Portugal

Portugal is a beautiful country with UNESCO World Heritage sites, terraced vineyards, beautiful beaches, and bustling cities. Before we moved here, we visited several times, toured potential schools for our kids, and stayed in various neighborhoods. We did our best to research what life would be like in Portugal, as well as the logistics of making the move happen.

While we are very happy with our choice to move here, there are many things we only learned once we arrived. From how day-to-day life works to how to navigate the healthcare system, we are still learning all the time.

Here are some of the things that we wish we had known before moving to Portugal. Some of these are positive, some negative, but all would have helped us have a better understanding of life here. Many of these are our personal experiences and perceptions; others may disagree.

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What We Wish We Knew (and Want to Share)

These are the things we want to share that people usually don’t think to ask about. These are things we didn’t know to ask, but will help explain what life is like here, and may reduce your culture shock.

We also asked the kids how they feel about life in Portugal, some of their answers surprised us.

We’ve written a basic guide to moving to Portugal that outlines the steps to move here. Don’t miss our FAQ about moving to Portugal, and the more general FAQ about living in Portugal.

If you are planning your first visit, don’t miss our best travel tips!

1. Portuguese People are Friendly

This is one of the best things about Portugal. Overall, the people here are friendly- that lady on the street, the post office worker, the doctor. Even the people processing our immigration paperwork were friendly.

This is not a country where people are looking for a “gotcha” to not process your papers or mail a package. If there’s a problem or question, they will genuinely try to help you.

Portugal has historically been a poor country, and helping one’s neighbor or community is part of the Portuguese culture.

2. There is Anti-Immigrant Sentiment

There has been a political shift to the right, with the rise of the Chega party, which is particularly strong in the Algarve. This translates to a “Portuguese First” mentality. The party has been censored for specifically targeting Roma people.

There is a bit of grumbling that the government is making it too easy for people to come, that immigrants are driving up housing prices, and not making enough of an effort to integrate.

However, despite these political leanings, we have never personally experienced manifestations of this in Northern Portugal. Most of this is aimed at specific populations who come over looking for work, rather than digital nomads or retirees.

We always make an effort to attempt Portuguese and apologize for not speaking better than we do. We often find people are curious about our experience or want to talk about world politics. Especially Uber drivers!

This is very different from the anti-tourist sentiment, which has been rising in places like Spain. The Portuguese are very aware that their economy is dependent on tourism, with tourism topping more than 20% of GDP in 2025, and many actively work in tourism. Tourists, especially kind and open ones, are definitely welcome here.

3. Learning Portuguese is Hard

Yes, it’s best to learn Portuguese to integrate into society. The government offers free classes for job seekers and new residents. We have both taken 150 hours of Portuguese classes to attain an A2 level, and are now continuing with a B1 class.

However, learning Portuguese is hard. The written language shares many similarities with Spanish, but spoken Portuguese is difficult to understand, as many syllables are dropped when spoken. This is even more true in the North, where the accent accentuates this.

The good news is that the Portuguese are very aware of this, and as soon as you attempt Portuguese, they will sympathize with you about how difficult it is.

You will need certification of A2 language level for permanent residency or citizenship. This can be done easily with government classes; if you do these, you do not need to pass a separate exam. We had many retirees in their 70s in our Portuguese class, and all of them were able to pass the class.

Our children are learning Portuguese in school, and can both understand and speak better than the adults in the family. We do supplement with Preply tutoring sessions for both kids as needed. We also put them into summer camps with predominantly Portuguese kids to work on their skills.

4. A Lot of Patience is Required

Getting many things done in Portugal takes patience. Many administrative tasks take three tries. Sometimes all you can do is wait. Sometimes you need to come back and try again another day.

Three tries to get registered on the private hospital app. Three appointments to open a bank account. Three tries to get a vaccine. Anything that happens in less than three attempts we consider a big win!

5. Portuguese are Rule Followers

The Portuguese, for the most part, are rule followers. I have been yelled at by strangers (always men) for random things that “break the rules”. However, many rules are not well defined and are up to interpretation. Including the tax code. Often, the answer to many questions is simply “it depends” or “it just is”.

We have found that this tendency to follow rules, combined with the desire to be helpful, means that if you ask once, they will tell you, “No, it can’t be done”. If you accept this, don’t argue, be polite, ask how you should proceed, and if possible, make small talk; there’s a high possibility they will suddenly decide “maybe they actually can help you”.

6. Fresh, Local Fruit is Amazing

Seasonal fruit in Portugal is amazing! Cherry season is a celebrated time of year! You’ll notice when bright green figs appear, oranges from the Algarve, and more. We eat very seasonally here, gorging on fruit when it’s in season and then moving on to the next crop.

The Cherry Festival in Resende is one of our favorite annual festivals.

7. Banking is Digital

No one here uses paper checks; banking is done digitally. Bills arrive with an entity number and a reference number that you put into your banking app to pay the bill.

MBWay is a separate app that is connected to your bank account and acts a bit like Venmo- you can use it to pay a store, pay a friend, or send money to the PTA mom for teacher presents.

8. Relationships are Everything

Portugal is a relationship-based society. You must meet your realtor for a coffee and a chat. One of the biggest complaints from expats is that emails are often not returned. You have to call to get someone’s attention, or go in person.

I don’t like making phone calls, but we have found that WhatsApp is often a great tool. It allows each party to translate as needed, and many times works well for making appointments and setting up meetings.

9. Cobblestones are Hard

Cobblestones are pretty, and we love the famous calçada portuguesa (the black and white stones that are dry set into patterns), but they are hard. Waker learned this the hard way when he fell on them during a bike accident and shattered a bone.

They are also slippery when wet and often uneven. Wear good shoes and respect the stones!

10. There’s a Lot of Cheese

There’s so much delicious cheese! Most is made with unpasteurized milk. Some is hard, while some is so creamy you have to scoop it out of the rind. Cow cheese, goat cheese, and mixed. Many of the cow cheeses are from the Azores, with some delicious sheep cheese from Serra da Estrela (the only place in Portugal that consistently gets snow!).

There are 13 cheeses with Protected Designation of Origin (PDO). We are still learning about Portuguese cheese as the names are often very similar.

11. There is no Amazon Portugal

You can receive Amazon deliveries in Portugal, but you’ll need to order from Amazon Spain (amazon.es) or Amazon Germany (amazon.de), which often have additional shipping charges. We generally expect items to arrive 3-10 days after ordering.

12. Deliveries Are Made in Person

You can choose to have deliveries sent to a locker (locky.pt is a common choice) or a local delivery point. If you have packages delivered to your home, you’ll need to be home to receive them. Some deliveries require a PIN that is texted to you that morning, while others will require an ID.

In all cases, someone needs to be home; packages are never just left on a doorstep or the front porch. This includes anything from the postal service (CTT) that is too large for your mail slot or that requires a signature.

13. Beware Returning Products

Do not assume that you can easily return products! We have had no problem returning Amazon products. Other companies have been another story.

Many online shops say “returns guaranteed”, but don’t tell you upfront that you will need to email for a return authorization, and then pay for the return package yourself.

In one case, it took a dozen emails and several pickup attempts to return a defective piece of furniture. This is not uncommon.

For furniture and appliances, be sure to inquire if the item is currently in stock in the warehouse. We often hear stories of people ordering expensive items, only to find out they won’t ship for three months, and then to have that date delayed multiple times for additional months.

14. Settling in Takes Time

Somehow, I thought we’d arrive, get an AIMA appointment, and settle in quickly. In reality, after more than a year here, we were still waiting on residency cards. It took a full school year to understand the annual cycle of activities.

A year and a half after arriving, we have completed most of our paperwork, but are still waiting to be registered at our local public health clinic. We now have to navigate paying Portuguese taxes.

Some of this is mindset- we have talked to retirees who felt fully settled in six months, and other expats who say it took them three years to feel fully “home”. Personality, language skills, and the community you create here are all factors.

15. Portugal is Not Full of Americans

We saw so many stories in the media about Americans moving to Portugal, we expected to find a lot more of them!

The reality for us in the North is very different. One of our kids has no other Americans in her 100-person grade at school, and our other child has one in her class.

We have met quite a few American retirees, but only a handful of families. We have met lots of British, Brazilian, South African, Israeli, and Korean families.

Foreign residents account for about 15% of Portugal’s population. Over 30% of these are Brazilians, followed by Angolans. In 2024, just under 20,000 Americans were living in Portugal, totaling just over 1% of the immigrant population.

16. The Water is Cold

The beaches in Portugal are fantastic, but the water is cold. We see surfers out on the water all year round, but they are wearing wetsuits.

In August, the warmest month of the year, the average water temperatures are:

Matosinhos (outside Porto): 64°F / 17.6°C
Cascais (outside Lisbon): 66°F / 18.7°C
Algarve: 72°F / 22.4°C

Compare this to the water temps in LA in August, which average 67.8°F / 20°C. By contrast, the water on Florida’s East Coast beaches averages around 85°F/ 30°C in August.

17. Portuguese Bread is Fantastic

When we spent a year in Asia, we really missed bread. Portugal has so much delicious bread. Maybe because they eat so much soup! Soup every day for lunch, and soup to start dinner. You’ll find sourdough, whole wheat, baguettes, and lots of different rolls and buns.

A traditional breakfast in Portugal is a coffee with torrada com monteiga. This is a soft white bread sliced thickly, toasted, buttered on all sides, and cut into thirds. Delicious!

18. Strikes Happen (Politely)

Transportation strikes are the most common strike we’ve encountered in Portugal, though these get the most press as they are likely to affect the most people. There was a nurse’s strike, but I only knew about it since I happened to have an appointment scheduled.

When strikes occur, they are very orderly. The media announces when they will start and when they will end, so you can make plans around them.

19. Train Connections are Limited

Currently, train connections with the rest of Europe barely exist. Spain and Portugal have different rail systems, but are working on revising this. There is a planned high-speed rail from Lisbon to Porto, and another that will connect Lisbon and Madrid. For now, the best way to hop around Europe is with budget airlines.

For day trips, there are several towns up and down the coast that you can visit via train, others require booking a tour or renting a car. Before you head out on the road, make sure you understand the rules of the road.

20. Taxes are High

Yes, taxes are high. Prior to 2023, there was a tax scheme called NHR that capped taxes for foreigners at 10% for ten years. This was a great incentive, but it’s now gone.

Tax rates are progressive, so you pay the first rate until you hit the ceiling, then pay a higher rate on the next bucket of money, etc. This means that even if you hit a higher tax bracket, you aren’t paying that percent on your entire income.

Tax rates start around 14% and top out at 48%. Capital gains are taxed at a flat 28%. We highly advise talking to a tax professional before you move.

21. Festivals are the Biggest Events

Festivals are a huge deal here. There are traditional festivals at least once a year in each village, usually revolving around the patron saint of the town.

Don’t skip our guide to the biggest festivals in Porto and surrounding towns, organized by month.

There are festivals around harvests (cherry festival, blueberry festival). There are festivals celebrating the patron saint of fishermen and sardines.

Here in Porto, the biggest annual festival is the Festa de São João do Porto, held every June 23rd. Everyone gathers to eat, drink, and party. Plastic hammers are used to hit friends and strangers on the head (a change from the traditional wild garlic stems).

At midnight, fireworks are set off above the Dom Luis I bridge, and candle-lit paper lanterns are released into the sky. The party lasts until morning, with the heartiest partiers making the traditional walk from downtown up the coast to Matosinhos for dawn.

The airspace above Porto is cleared to allow for the balloons, and all businesses are closed for this holiday.

22. Everything is Replaceable

When you arrive, you will miss certain conveniences from home and wander supermarket aisles looking aimlessly for replacement items, with no idea what those items are called here. You will make mistakes and buy the wrong thing.

The reality is that almost everything is replaceable; it just takes time to find the right item and the brand that you like. Brown sugar, molasses, cold medicine, and even hot sauce. You will slowly find items here that are close to what you are used to, and then you no longer miss the originals quite so much.

When we first arrived, we had a list of items that we would ask guests to bring over for us from the U.S., from Advil to baking soda in the special fridge box. As we’ve acclimated, that list has grown smaller and smaller. It just takes time.

23. Baking is Tricky

I love to bake, and I had no idea how tricky baking would be in Portugal with my U.S. recipes. The simple U.S. brownie has humbled me. Our chocolate chip cookies looked like tortillas. Simple recipes take adjustments, and I have given up on tackling more complicated recipes for now.

Those Food & Wine recipes I clipped with hard-to-find ingredients in the U.S.? Recipes that call for cans of things that don’t exist in that size or flavor here? Incredibly difficult.

Flour is different (with fewer chemicals), butter has more fat, and baking powder is single-acting. Baking chocolate as we know it in the U.S. does not exist. Brown sugar is of a different strength, eggs are of a different size and breed. One of these changes is enough to throw off a baking recipe; add them all together, and you have chaos, and possibly tears.

There are baking groups online to help you through this; they will help you find substitutes for buttermilk and other difficult items. Still, you’ll have to try each “tried and true” recipe before knowing if it will work here.

We have found that if you cut the butter by at least 10% and special-order double-acting baking powder, you have a shot at success. I now annotate my recipes with oven temps in Celsius, and reduced butter in grams for EU baking.

24. Meals Take Hours

The Portuguese do not believe in rushing meals. Unless you are eating at an “order at the counter” fast-food restaurant, assume every meal will take at least two hours. Lunch at a small cafe? Two hours. Indian restaurant for their lunch deal when no one else is there? Two and a half hours. Most places don’t start to prepare your meal until you order. They assume you are there to relax and enjoy your time.

To that end, they will never rush you out. Once you sit down, you are welcome to stay and chat or linger over coffee for as long as you like. They will not bring the check until you ask for it. To bring it before you ask would be considered quite rude.

Coming for the food scene? Scope our the best places for authentic Portuguese, then add in a few places that are modern or less traditional to round out your experience.

25. Closed for Lunch

Many stores close for lunch. The local paper store, the home goods shop, the tabac down the block. Large chains stay open, but smaller stores will post lunch hours and close from around 12:30 to 2 pm. This includes our local CTT postal office.

On the other side, restaurants that are open for lunch usually close at 3 pm and reopen for dinner at 7 pm.

Our local bank does not close for lunch, but closes for the day at 3 pm, and is not open on weekends. These are very standard bank hours.

26. Good Coffee is Everywhere

The Portuguese love a good coffee. A cafe normal is a single shot of espresso, though we find it is generally less acidic than Italian espresso. A duplo is technically a double, but has more water and less acid than a double espresso.

There are cafes everywhere, but you can also get a decent coffee in supermarkets and home improvement stores. Most places that allow you to take a break and have a coffee and a pastry have decent coffee. Lattes and other milky drinks are also available.

We explain coffee culture in this article, and have also shared our favorite cafes in Porto.

27. Electronics and Toys are Expensive

While most things are less expensive in Portugal, electronics and toys are the exception. An iPhone is several hundred euros more expensive in Portugal than in the U.S. Laptops are more expensive (and will ship with Portuguese language keyboards).

Toys are more expensive here, and U.S. brands can be hard to find. My kids will compare Amazon.com to Amazon.es when looking for a particular doll or toy, and the American version (even when allowing for currency conversion) is usually significantly cheaper.

Some of this is due to import fees and the fact that our kids gravitate towards familiar U.S. brands. The reality is that U.S. toy brands dominate the market. Barbie is still the queen over Nancy and other, more local brands.

28. Great Wine is Inexpensive

Portugal not only makes fortified port wine, but also a lot of traditional wines as well. They export a lot of that wine to France, with the United States coming in second, and Brazil third. While about 40% of the wine produced in Portugal is exported, 60% is sold here in Portugal.

Portugal boasts more than 250 indigenous grape varieties. Add to this many microclimates, and you have wines that are labeled by region, rather than by grape.

When we arrived, we were told that if we take the cost of a bottle of wine in the United States, and divide by five, that would tell us what to expect in quality in Portugal. So, a $20 bottle of wine in the US is comparable to a 4€ bottle of wine here. We often buy bottles of delicious wine for 2€.

There You Have It

These are some of the things we wish we knew before we moved here to help us understand Portuguese culture and everyday life. From arranging our meals around when restaurants are open to embracing the many festivals that happen around us, these things define our experience here.

Did you check out our guide to moving to Portugal? We also go into more details in our FAQ about moving.

For more general thoughts about life here, read our FAQ about life in Portugal. Don’t miss the kids’ perspective on life here.

Coming to Porto? Start with our 1-day itinerary to understand the top sights. For more about Portuguese culture, check out our top travel tips for visitors.