Portugal’s GV is one of the most sought-after golden visas in Europe. It offers residency in return for an investment starting at 280,000 EUR and only requires you to spend an average of seven days per year in the country.

To pursue the Portuguese Golden Visa via the residential property investment route, the biggest change since January 2022 is the non-eligible areas that are highlighted in our map, above in grey.

Portugal is considering ending the golden visa program as it seems to have fulfilled its intended purpose. Antonio Costa said: “There are programs that we are currently re-evaluating and one of them is the Golden Visa program, which has probably already fulfilled its function and for which there might at this point no longer be any justification for keeping it.”

Some of the local etiquette that I wanted to share include tipping or not, what to do when ordering water, along with things like the bread basket before your meal.

Seniors living in Portugal

How do you picture your Golden Years?

If there’s friendly people, sunshine and amazing wine in your mind, consider Portugal.

Rafael and I have taken note of some common differences over the years when our clients are buying in Portugal vs. other places. For this post, we are going to focus on North American differences in terms of property buying as we have quite a few American and Canadian clients.

There are lots of sites that can explain this topic way better than I can surrounding the mundane details of transfer taxes, transfer stamps, sales taxes, property taxes, and capital gains taxes, so with this post, I only wanted to point out a few things from our experience with our foreign buyers.

Fixer Upper vs. Turnkey: As we continue to highlight our renovation projects in our social media channels, we realize it's important to balance off the debate with some reasons why turnkey properties should be considered, as well as fixer uppers, by sharing what our clients have taught us.

Excluding the archipelagos, just the main continent has almost 1000 kilometres of gorgeous coastline, nearly 300 days of sunshine and warm temperatures. This picturesque, westernmost European country is a hop, skip and a jump away from other European hot spots like London and Paris, making travel around the rest of Europe short and sweet.

In Lisbon, we don’t just appreciate the food with our mouth, we are also able to feast with our eyes. Check out some of these places that have unique visual appeals along with delicious food!

Plan a scouting trip in Portugal!

Going on a scouting trip may help solidify what are your “nice to have” and “must haves”.

When visiting the Douro Valley, take your time and pick out a few vineyards to visit, sample the gastronomy that compliments the wine, take a river cruise in Peso da Régua and hike around the vineyards of Pinhão.

We want to share our experiences with you in our newly launched blog. This is where you will find deep dives on important information, shared from a more personal perspective. Check it out!