Retiring to Portugal and Soaking up the Sun

Because of its fantastic climate and excellent standard of living, Portugal is one of the top destinations with Britons looking for a retirement destination abroad.  If you’re searching for a place that will offer you a low cost of living, a healthy lifestyle and plenty of things to do and enjoy, Portugal could be your number one choice.

In this article we’ll look at the pros and cons of retiring to Portugal and soaking up the sun…

The best-known area for British retirees in Portugal is the Algarve.  This is in the south of the nation and serviced by Faro airport into which many cheap flight and main air carriers fly daily and all year round.  The appeal of the Algarve is manifold and includes the climate, the number of golf clubs and the fact that hundreds of Brits have already made their home in Portugal in this part of the nation.

The Algarve is also a very beautiful part of Portugal with its stunning coastline and pretty countryside.  The only real downside to the region is the price of properties.  Because of the popularity of the region as well as the fact that it is a top ten summer holiday retreat for people from around the world, real estate in the Algarve really does come at a premium.

If you’re looking for more affordable property, the best rules of thumb to apply to your property search are move away from the coastline, head north from the Algarve and even consider buying a house or an apartment inland.  You will be retiring to Portugal and living there full time, so a short trip in the car on the days you want to go to the beach will be no real hardship surely.

You can still get stunningly located and well priced property in Portugal on the Silver Coast or even in the mountains overlooking the sea…or in the rural interior where you will be overlooking olive groves rather than the Atlantic Ocean perhaps?

Once you have found a place to call home you can start living in Portugal!  You can remain in the country for up to 180 days before you need to make your residence permanent.  To do so you will have to battle through swathes of seemingly interminable paperwork and visit lots of governmental departments to make your residency official!  But bureaucracy is just par for the course in most nations in the world.

The only real downsides of retiring to Portugal are the language – and to get the most out of your retirement you should at least learn some rudimentary Portuguese.  And then there’s the health case system.  As a Brit you can be eligible for subsidised healthcare in Portugal, but because the public system is overloaded like the British NHS, most Brits take out some form of private health insurance…you might like to look into this.

Finally, as a retirement hotspot Portugal certainly does tick all the boxes…it is warm and sunny in the summer and has at least a temperate climate all year round, the cost of living is relatively affordable, the standard of living is excellent, the countryside and the coastline are beautiful and then there are the golf courses that Portugal is famous for!  If the nation sounds like the sort of place you could happily consider living in retirement, think about taking an extended break in Portugal and get to know the nation and its people before you completely commit.