Why Portugal? 10 reasons why we moved our french-american family to Portugal

When we had to move from our house in France in 2021, we quickly decided that we would not look for a similar rental in the same area, but instead we would try to make our dream of living in the countryside come true. As we knew that our dream would be impossible to achieve in our area at this moment because of the price of properties, we thought “ok, where can we make it happen?”.

And as you know, we moved to Portugal! So here are the 10 main reasons why we chose to move to Portugal:

1. Property prices

   By looking through hundreds of listings online, in different countries, we saw that we could probably be able to buy a house in Portugal, at least in the cheapest regions of the country. We had small savings that could help us build a down payment for a mortgage.

2. Safety

   Portugal is a very safe country overall, and we definitely wanted to raise our children in a place where we would not be scared to go out.

3. People

   From aaaaaaall the feedback we received in our decision making process, whether it is through friends, family, articles, youtube videos, etc… everybody would say how much helpful, welcoming and kind the portuguese people are.

4. Climate

   Even though climate is specific by regions, the weather in Portugal is very nice overall. Winters are milder than in Geneva area where we were living, and there is a lot of sun!

5. Nature

   Portugal is a stunning country (at least from what we have seen online as we have never been to Portugal before moving! :D). Beautiful landscapes and a great diversity of ecosystems.

6. Birds

   Portugal is a fantastic country for birders! Especially the south of the country, as the regions of Algarve and Alentejo are incredible birding destinations. There are many iconic species in Portugal (such as the Spanish Eagle, the Iberian Magpie, the Eurasian Golden Oriole, the Eurasian Hoopoe, etc..) and a great diversity of birds, with more than 550 species seen in the country.

7. Gastronomy

   Portugal is known for its delicious food and great wines. It is also reknown for its restaurants where the food is most of the time home made, with high quality ingredients, copious, and affordable. That was definitely a good point for us.

8. Culture

   We definitely wanted to move to a country where we could easily connect with the local culture.

9. Geographic location

   Portugal is part of Europe, and not too too far from France and Swizerland where we have family and friends. By plane, is it a 2/2,5 hour flight from Lisbon. By car, the drive from our house to Geneva is about 17-18 hours long.

10. Inspiring stories

    We have read and watched so many stories of foreigners moving to Portugal, and all of them being happy of their choice. This was reassuring to us to see that so many people had the same inspirations as ours, made the move, and gave a very positive feedback. This is the beauty of internet :) and that is also one of the reasons why we now share our story. If it can help other people, we are very happy about it.

So if you have any questions about Portugal, moving to Portugal, living in Portugal… feel free to contact us!