Moving to Portugal: Expectation vs Reality
Hello, my name is Ismail Siddiky, and welcome to Europe Diary. Are you moving to Portugal today? This blog will super helpful for you. Today I’m talking about ” Moving to Portugal: Expectation vs Reality” Let’s started today’s blog.
I moved from Canada to Portugal just before Covid-19 [13th January, 2020] Moving from Canada to Portugal was quite a change for me and I was in for a few surprises when I moved to Lisbon. Even after doing lots of research.
The Weather in Portugal
Day and Night Temperature Differences
The biggest surprise for me was weather surprised. Yeah. I was too. When thinking of Portugal. People imagine, you know, sunny days all year round, nice and comfortable weather, people wearing shorts, going to the beach right wrong once the sun goes down, you don’t basically because it can be really hot during the day and then it can be really cold during the night, especially if you’re close to the water close to the river.
Winter Temperatures and Lack of Central Heating
Get a jacket with you please and if you need to leave your house at 5 PM in winter, you will either be sweating because you dressed up for night weather or you’ll be cold during the night because you dressed up for day weather. When it was +25, sun was shining and now it’s evening and it’s +12 and you’re kinda cold now. The interesting fact is that in the majority of apartments houses there will not be any central heating. Therefore you will need to use heaters, but also you will need to use. De Humidifiers Humidifiers ACS, many different devices.
Winter in Portugal
Experiencing the Cold Indoors
Winters are just different in Portugal. When it’s +15 outside, it’s +15 inside some mornings. I woke up to +16 in this specific office and I was like what is going on and its so freaking cold and the coldest part about it. All are the floors. You literally get off your bed and your feet are frozen and take it from me. I come from Siberia. You know, the frozen part of Russia. I know what a winter is. I’ve spent seven years in Canada and Montreal. Winters are just, you know, they’re like windy and humid.
The Harshness of Portuguese Winters Indoors
The coldest winter I have ever experienced was here in Portugal and I’m not talking about the outside, I’m talking about the inside of your place. Honestly, the first winter here in Portugal was terrible. I think I froze to my bones. So now winters are not that bad. But also I think this winter wasn’t that bad compared to the previous one.
Summer in Portugal
Dealing with Hot Summers
In some regions of Portugal it can go up to zero degrees Celsius, but in Lisbon it was around i don’t know 10-12. But it was still pretty chilly and I wore my winter jacket from Canada. And another thing about weather and climate and temperatures is summer and Portugal it can get really hot. So if there are people telling you. Oh, you will not need an AC. Don’t listen to them the first year we moved to Lisbon. People are like. Oh, you’re okay with just a fan. No, no, you’re not okay with just a fan, it is freaking hot. I mean, it always depends on your apartment, because in some apartments you can close the blind. So it’s pitch dark and it’s not going to be too hot. But in our living room it’s the SUNY side and the temperature there during the summer is easily 30 degrees. I’ve witnessed personally 29 this year and it’s mid-apr. But let’s talk about something else.
Navigating Portugal’s Terrain
The Hilly Landscape and Its Impact
The next thing surprised me a lot, and I knew Portugal was a heavy country. But I think I underestimated it because the heels here they do exist. After a month of navigating of walking and Lisbon, my knees were like Byebye bye, we not functioning anymore because I had a knee injury during playing football when I was younger. So when we moved to Lisbon, the injury was like. Hey, I’m alive. No, you’re not gonna walk those heels. So I started doing sports and now it’s much better. So you get what I’m saying. If you’re planning to walk in Lisbon in Portugal, start working out now you’ll thank me later, and your NIS will thank you later.
Flat Neighborhood Options
And if Google Maps tells you it’s a three- minuteute walk. I’m pretty sure it’s gonna be a walk uphill, so please be ready for that too. However, if. You have kids or you just prefer to live in a flat neighborhood. This option is also available to you. For example, if you planning to move to Lisbon, there is a neighborhood called Para de Soyage which is pretty flat, but also it has nice use. It’s close to the water, which is really nice on a hot summer night.
Healthcare in Portugal
Accessing Public and Private Healthcare
And if your niece for some reason said Bybye, you can always go and see a doctor. And healthcare in Portugal is just amazing, especially if you’re coming from states. Especially if you’re coming from Canada, you will appreciate Portuguese healthcare so much. Portuguese healthcare has been ranked 12 in the world by World Health Organization in terms of overall performance. For example. Canada takes the 30 th place and states. Take the 37 th place. If you have legal status here in Portugal, you can get access to public healthcare, but you can always purchase insurance and get access to private healthcare.
Service Quality and Costs
The service in both public and private hospitals is just amazing and the wait times you’re not ready for this, my friend Marco had to go to the yard, it took him. One hour in and out to get everything done meaning Wait for the doctor, get all the x-rays done. Talk to the doctor again and go back home one hour. In Canada or America, it would be like. Oh, we’re not dying, it’s fine, just wait ti tomorrow. It’s gonna be fine and the best part is he paid 40 years for his visit. With the insurance and speaking of prices, the prices will be determined based on your insurance. In public hospitals, most of the things are free but expect to pay for some extra things like hospital, state or maybe some tests, it really depends on what’s happening to you and where you are.
Costs in Private Hospitals
But in a private hospital, here’s what I pay. So for example, for consultation with a doctor. I pay 15 years fixed. So my insurance basically says we don’t care how much is your appointment. 100 or 30 years. You pay 15 EU fixed for my blood testes. I paid 38 euro for my ECG. I paid one year 15 pop smears, mammograms. Theyre all around like 20 EU. My insurance also covers eyes and teeth. But for the teeth let’s say it only covers 500 eus and only covers 50 percent of your price. So I went to do some x-rays. I paid 80 EU for two x-rays and my insurance covered just a half, so 40 years. So basically get one extra done. Get the second one for free.
Cost of Living in Portugal
Rising Living Costs
And the next thing hit us really hard when we move to Portugal and that’s the cost of living. Before moving to Portugal, we spoke to our friends who’ve been here and they were like. Oh. Portugal and Lisbon in particular are so amazing. The food is really cheap. Everything is so affordable well, not anymore. That was the case ten years ago. Now the prices are just ridiculous. If you want to maintain a living standard from your country, be ready to pay for that.
Housing Crisis
Portugal is currently experiencing a housing crisis and the government even shut down the Golden Visa program because the housing is simply not affordable anymore. The accommodation prices simply do not make any sense even to US foreigners. At this point it is cheaper to rent in Montreal, even in Toronto than in Lisbon. The prices here are just. Crazy housing prices in Portugal have searched over 80 percent in the past 12 years and that is more prominent in major cities like Portu or Lisbon. So if you have a tight budget, you might want to consider living in smallest cities and see for yourself. Here are the prices for apartments in Lisbon when we moved four years ago. We’re like. Yeah, we’ll find a nice, spacious apartment downtown Lisbon for like 800, maybe 1 thousand mas. Yeah. No.
Language in Portugal
Speaking Portuguese: Necessity or Not?
Another expectation that people have about moving to Portugal is that you absolutely must speak the language in order to survive well, not really, even though it is really nice to learn the language of the country you live in, you can easily survive without speaking Portuguese pot Portuguese. But when I go to see a doctor. I speak English because my Portuguese is not there yet.
Dealing with Public Services
But please don’t assume that everyone speaks English. Yes, the majority of the country speaks English, we’ve been to other cities, we’ve been to villages, we’ve been to major cities like lisbon porto and everywhere people would at least try to speak English. But if you need to deal with public services like IMT to exchange your driver license, what the grand so sell where you need to get your social security number there you might need a translator or an interpreter, but you can always ask every time I call somebody or I go anywhere. I literally say. Bon following English English English. Thank you, but it’s important to learn at least some basics.
Lifestyle and Culture
The Portuguese Way of Life
The next thing you should keep in mind is that Portuguese people are generally more relaxed. Of course, this is not true for everyone, but on average people just don’t get bothered as much. For example, if you go to a restaurant or to a bar and order a cup of coffee, you might be expecting that you will get it straight away. But the reality is that the waitress might bring it in ten minutes and she’ll be fine with that.
Festivities and Public Holidays
Another thing that people don’t consider is how much Portuguese people love to celebrate and how many holidays they have. For example, in June you will have Santo António which is one of the biggest holidays in Portugal. It’s a huge celebration with lots of food, lots of drinks, and lots of people dancing and having fun.
Size and Convenience
Portugal’s Geographic Size
Portugal is a very small country which makes everything really close. You can easily get from one city to another in a few hours by car or train.
Traveling from Portugal
Affordable Travel Options
If you’re coming from North America, you’ll be pleasantly surprised by how affordable and convenient it is to travel to other European countries from Portugal. Flights are cheap and you can visit different countries in just a few hours.
Final Thoughts
The last piece of advice I have for you is to try to learn the language, try to integrate into the community, especially if you’re planning to stay in Portugal and call Portugal your new home support Portugal. I wish you best of luck with your move.
Bye!
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Moving to Portugal: Expectation vs Reality Moving to Portugal: Expectation vs Reality Moving to Portugal: Expectation vs Reality Moving to Portugal: Expectation vs Reality Moving to Portugal: Expectation vs Reality Moving to Portugal: Expectation vs Reality Moving to Portugal: Expectation vs Reality
