Portugal is an absolutely gorgeous country with a stunning coastline and a relatively low cost of living. Lisbon has been one of the hottest digital nomads spots for a few years now and there are many people working remotely from other parts of the world in Portugal.
Portugal is attractive to remote workers for the lifestyle that it offers. You have many sunny days (especially in the south of the country) and a relaxed pace of life. The cost of living was low a few years ago but places are becoming more expensive as more and more people move to Portugal.
Let’s get into what you need to know for working remotely in Portugal
Visas and Eligibility
The first thing you need to check is if you have a visa and are eligible to work remotely in the country. Portugal offers a variety of visas for people outside the E.U and for people who are from the E.U, it is easy to get residency.
For people outside of Europe there are 4 main types of visa you should think about:
- Tourist Visa
- Golden Visa
- D7 Visa
- Digital Nomad Visa
The Tourist Visa allows most travelers to spend 90 days in Portugal. The Golden Visa is an investment visa but is currently under review and may close shortly. The D7 visa is a passive income visa and you must have more than €8,000 euro per month in passive income to apply. The Digital Nomad visa is new and the details are vague at this point in time.
Pros and Cons of Living in
Portugal is an amazing country to live in but it does have some downsides. I will list my pros and cons for remote living in Portugal here:
| Pros | Cons |
| 💰 Low cost of living in compared to Northern Europe | 💵 Things are getting more and more expensive very quickly |
| 🌳 Beautiful scenery, from the amazing coastlines to the national parks in the north. | ⏳Can be complicated to get things done (go to the hospital, get a visa, etc) |
| ☕Great wine and healthy food | 🚗Transport between places can be complicated and patchy at weekends |
| 🤗 Very lively startup culture(especially in Lisbon) and dynamic country | 🏡Housing is a real problem in popular locations like Lisbon and the Algarve. |
| 🎨 Plenty of Culture(Live music, museums, etc) | 🤹 Some of the plays and live shows might be in Portuguese only. But films at the cinema are not dubbed! |
How to get to Portugal
Portugal is a very accessible country with the main international airport in Lisbon being the most popular transport hub. There are direct flights from many cities in the U.S and you can also fly directly to Porto from New York City.
There are plenty of flights to Lisbon from most of Europe. The Algarve is served mostly by the airport in Faro and most flights there come from the U.K and Ireland. Unfortunately traveling by train is usually not a possibility to other countries but you can travel by bus.
Best Places to live in Portugal
There are many, many great places to live in Portugal. Three of the best places are Lisbon, Cascais and Lagos.
- Lisbon
Lisbon is a magnificent choice if you want to work remotely in Portugal. There are so many things to do and festivals happening all the time. The city is quite hectic but not as busy as somewhere like London or New York. What I like most about Lisbon is how the city is transforming and how many remote workers are moving there.
- Cascais
Cascais is a lovely seaside town about 30 kilometers outside Lisbon. The great thing about Cascais is that you get everything a beach town has to offer but you can also pop into the city when you need to. The town is very popular so expect prices to keep rising.
- Lagos
Lagos is a small town in the Algarve in the South-West of the country. Plenty of remote workers are moving here to take advantage of the weather and stunning beaches. The downsides are that it is getting expensive and there aren’t many places to live (like many popular places in Portugal).
Is Lagos, Portugal, a good place to live?
We have been living in Lagos for two years now and we’re very happy living here. We moved to this town in January 2021 when restrictions were still in place. However, as soon as everything went back to normal we started enjoying life by the beach.
The Algarve is a great area for foreigners to live since almost everybody speaks English, from cafés, restaurants, shops, to public offices and hospitals.
You’ll find young people that work remotely as well as retired people that decided to move here to enjoy the sunny days and warm weather.
There are many events and meetups happening every week, like beach volleyball, quiz nights, digital nomads meetups, salsa dancing, football among others.
If you plan to move to the Algarve permanently there are many expats lawyers, accountants and estate agents that can help you get settled in.
Where to find Accommodation in Portugal
You can find accommodation for short stays
🏨 Options to find an apartment for short-term in Portugal
For longer term accommodation, I would recommend checking our Idealista and joining a few Facebook groups. We found our place on Idealista but it is also a good idea to join groups like “long term lets in Portugal” on Facebook and you will see plenty of people advertising their apartments for rent.
What Area to Stay In Lisbon/Lagos/Cascais
Lisbon
There are many great places to stay in Lisbon.You could base yourself very centrally in Chiado or my particular favorite area which is anywhere near the street “Rua de São Bento”.
The area around Rua de Sao Bento is full of artisanal businesses and there are also good coworkings nearby. The area is still close enough to all the main sights without having to deal with the problems of the center (eg. noise in Bairro Alto)
Lagos/Cascais
Both Lagos and Cascais are small enough towns so you can really live anywhere and walk around the towns.
We prefer Lagos since it has more cultural events and places to go. However, Lisbon is nearer Cascais if you want to go to the city more often.
Where to Work in Lisbon
There are three main possibilities of where you can actually get work done while you are in Lisbon.
Co-working
There are tons and tons of co-working spaces in Lisbon. Check out Unicorn coworking which is located in the “baixa” neighborhood which is a great location to work as you have many cafés and restaurants near your office.
Cafés
The Outsite cowork café is the best café/cowork in Lisbon and daily passes cost €15. Many cafés in Portugal are not really set up for working(small, no plugs) so if you want to get a few hours work done, Starbucks is probably your best bet. Rebel café is a good café if you want something a bit different.
Pro Tip! The Municipal Library of St. Lazarus is cute little library where you can stick on some headphones in and get a bit of work done
My advice to you is that you should join a co-working space in Portugal. They are great places to meet people and get work done. The only café in Lagos that is good for working is the Coffee studio and even there, there is very limited space to get some work done.
Internet
The Internet in Portugal generally works well and Portugal has good internet compared to other countries. In our experience the speed is good but it can be patchy (starts and stops)
Mobile internet is another story altogether as that can be hard to obtain. Vodafone only offers a sim card that lasts a month so you need to get a new sim card every month. MEO is a better company and offers better deals.
Final thoughts
Portugal is an amazing country to work remotely and the glorious sunshine attracts remote workers from all over the world. Lisbon has become more and more popular over the past few years and there are lots and lots of like-minded people working remotely in Portugal.
Before you decide to move more permanently, I recommend visiting the different areas, like the Algarve and Lisbon and spend some weeks there to get an idea of what it would be like to live there.
From our experience, we preferred to live in a smaller town like Lagos. Even though it gets very busy during the summer months, it’s great throughout the whole year and very relaxing.
Despite being a town it has many cultural events and meetups and you can meet people from all over the world.
