I Will Come Again and Conquer You Because as a Mountain You Canã¢â‚¬â„¢t Grow but as a Human I Can

Allow's face up it, nowhere is perfect.

There are a lot of pros to life in Portugal: the weather is not bad, the cost of living is depression, the beaches are beautiful…I could get on. This website has hundreds of articles, and about all the articles except for this one focus on the pros of living in Portugal. But, information technology's not all pros. There are a few cons too.

Many other manufactures don't mention the downsides – just the upsides. But, it's of import to become the full movie earlier you movement somewhere which is why this listing exists. That way, if you read this and yet decide to move to Portugal, y'all'll have advisable expectations.

Information technology's also important to bespeak out that this is a list of the downsides of Portugal primarily from the betoken of view of an outsider (although Portuguese people often agree with many of the things on this list). It'south also non a list of things that Portuguese should change, and it'south definitely not a list of things that Portugal volition change.

Portugal is Portugal, and you lot shouldn't come up hither hoping for change or expecting modify. Moving to any country and wishing it was different is but a recipe for disappointment. Instead, weigh up the pros against the cons and then, being honest with yourself, determine if Portugal is right for you.

In no particular gild, here are some of the downsides to life in Portugal. A special thanks goes out to all of the Portugalist readers who submitted their grievances to this listing (many comments couldn't be approved and some of the ones published barely made information technology through). While they probably paint a much more negative picture show of Portugal than the reality, they also testify that some people really struggle with sure aspects of Portugal, and that y'all should do your enquiry and determine if it's right for you before moving.

And then, And then Much Paperwork!

Attempt to get anything done in Portugal, whether information technology'southward starting a business or applying for planning permission, and you'll come across a little affair called "bureaucracy." In that location's a lot of it in Portugal.

The hardest part of bureaucracy isn't the bureaucracy itself. Nigh people know that bureaucracy exists in Portugal, and aren't surprised when they come against information technology. The hardest part is that you never know which course you need or which person you lot demand to speak to. And, it's quite rare that anyone always tells you. You normally have to effigy these things out for yourself.

Thankfully, at that place are a lot of Facebook groups and forums where you tin inquire questions and hopefully speak to other people who've had a similar result.

This isn't unique to Portugal, but Portugal does accept hierarchy to a new level. Ane solution to avoiding Portuguese bureaucracy is simply to pay someone else to practise it for you. Whether information technology'due south taxes, NIFs, visas, or anything else, there are companies out there than tin can help.

Common cold, Gray, Clammy Winters (In Places)

Although most people acquaintance Portugal with beaches and sunshine, a lot of Northern Portugal tin be very damp and wet in the winter. Some fifty-fifty say that the North of Portugal has worse conditions than Republic of ireland in the winter, and that'south saying a lot!

Portugal is a long land and regions similar the Algarve and Alentejo accept dissimilar climates. Fifty-fifty Lisbon can be quite mild in the wintertime, and information technology's not unusual for the Due south of Portugal to get temperatures in the high teens and occasionally even hit above the low twenties.

That'southward exterior, of course! In the house is another affair entirely.

This isn't unique to Portugal. Well-nigh of Europe is cold in the winter – much, much colder than Portugal.

But Infant it'south cold INSIDE!

Portuguese houses can be extremely cold in the winter. Most properties don't accept central heating, or sometimes heating of any kind, and then you lot may notice yourself wearing a jacket and gloves inside to keep warm. That's non an exaggeration.

You can notice warm properties. Some are lucky that they grab the winter lord's day and stay warm. Others have a burn down of maybe even have a heating system of some kind. But many are but common cold.

This is because Portuguese houses are designed with summer in listen: they're designed to stay cool rather than warm up. Many backdrop are also build quite cheaply, particularly apartments.

And just considering you've bought a cold business firm, that doesn't hateful you're going to be cold forever. You tin improve the insulation or install something similar gas primal heating or an effective pellet heater. All of that costs money, obviously, but it'south near definitely be worth it.

This isn't unique to Portugal, and it's quite common across Southern Europe. Houses here are more designed for summer rather than winter. Thankfully, there are one or two things you tin can do to stay warm inside.

Making Friends is Hard

In Portugal, the Portuguese and non-Portuguese often run in dissimilar circles. Fifty-fifty people who have lived in Portugal for years will usually be able to count the number of close Portuguese friends they accept on one hand.

Information technology takes two to tango, though. While the Portuguese tin can be quite closed, even to people from other parts of Portugal, very few expats carp to learn Portuguese which really is essential for integrating into Portugal. It's quite likely that a lot of Portuguese assume that these expats don't want to integrate, then information technology all becomes a bit of a vicious bicycle.

But, even ignoring the language aspect, many people who've lived in other countries prior to Portugal would say that integrating can be difficult.

This isn't unique to Portugal. People who've moved to other Southern European countries like Kingdom of spain and Italian republic, to Scandinavia, or to Eastern Europe often report the same experiences.

Some Things are Expensive

A lot of people think that just because food and wine are cheap in Portugal, everything else is. Unfortunately, that's non true.

Electricity and petrol are 2 good examples of things that are really expensive in Portugal. Per kilowatt, Portugal is 1 of the most expensive countries in Europe. It'due south besides one of the most expensive countries for fuel, which leads to a lot of people who living most the Spanish border driving across to fill.

Other things that are expensive include anything second hand, cars, furniture, electronic appliances, books, banking, branded international foods and household products (e.g. cereals), and cosmetics and toiletries.

Taxes

Portuguese taxes, particularly when combined with social security payments, are high — at least in their simplest form. Portugal doesn't accept the highest taxes in Europe, only it definitely doesn't have the lowest taxes either.

That said, the Portuguese authorities does take several revenue enhancement regimes and schemes which are designed to simplify tax payments and to make Portugal more than appealing to outsiders. The almost famous is the NHR tax regime, which is designed to reduce the amount of revenue enhancement you pay in Portugal for the starting time ten years and, in many cases, allows you to pay your revenue enhancement elsewhere.

Workplace Culture

Sexism, micromanaging, not existence allowed to show whatsoever initiative — talk to a Portuguese person well-nigh the downsides of living in Portugal and one of the main things they'll mention is workplace culture. Information technology'southward not every company, obviously, just it is something that gets mentioned frequently.

It'southward a downside that many foreigners moving to Portugal get to avoid as many bring their own jobs here, work for a foreign visitor, or move to Portugal for retirement.

Learning Portuguese Language is Challenging

For some people having to acquire Portuguese to alive in Portugal is a fact of life. To others, information technology'southward a big downside.

It isn't then much that people don't want to acquire Portuguese (although some don't), but rather that information technology's a large stumbling block that prevents you lot from integrating into Portugal. It doesn't take besides long to larn plenty Portuguese to get by in daily life, and even in more hard bureaucratic situations, but information technology does have a long fourth dimension to acquire enough Portuguese to actually integrate.

Portuguese is nowhere nearly as difficult every bit Chinese or Arabic, or maybe even German, but information technology's one of the well-nigh hard romance languages.

This is plain unique to Portugal in that Portuguese is seen as harder than another European languages, particularly Spanish. That said, it's probably not whatever more difficult than German.

Dogs

Depending on where you're living in Portugal, dogs can cause bug.

Poop is the about common trouble, followed by racket. In the countryside, dogs barking through the nighttime can be an consequence and, even in residential areas, information technology's not unusual for people to get out their dogs on their apartment balconies during the twenty-four hours.

This isn't unique to Portugal, and it common in some neighbouring countries like Kingdom of spain.

Corruption is (Unfortunately) a Fact of Life

Ask a Portuguese person what the biggest downside to life in Portugal is and almost all will say corruption.

Backhanders can permeate every area of life, from your local quango right up to the college echelons of government. It's but seen every bit a role of life or a tax for getting effectually bureaucracy.

According to Transparency International'due south 2019 Corruption Perceptions Alphabetize, Portugal was ranked 30th out of 198 countries for corruption.

This isn't unique to Portugal.

The Boring Pace of Life

The slow pace of life is one of the chief reasons that people move to Portugal, just that deadening footstep of life can also exist a downside. When y'all have something that needs doing, all of a sudden you find yourself wishing that ho-hum pace of life wasn't a thing in Portugal.

Even in elementary tasks like going to the supermarket, yous'll discover yourself queuing for a lot longer than you would in countries that don't have a slow stride of life. It all depends which you value more: the tiresome pace of life (for when y'all do want it) or constant efficiency.

This isn't unique to Portugal, but common across most Southern European or Mediterranean countries.

The "Glass Half Empty" Mentality

The Portuguese mentality can be frustrating for a lot of people, particularly for entrepreneurs and go-getters. If America has a "can practise" mental attitude, Portugal often sits at the other side of the spectrum with a "tin't do" mental attitude.

At that place are a lot of reasons for this divergence, particularly historical and cultural reasons, only regardless of them, some people will withal find it difficult to deal with.

This isn't completely unique to Portugal, but it does seem to be more mutual in Portugal than in neighbouring European countries.

The Lack of Customer Service

Customer service, the art of solving customers' problems and keeping them happy, is an artform merely it'southward not an artform that's particularly popular in Portugal.

You may not like the American model of client service where everyone is overly overnice, smiley, and helpful. Y'all might recollect it'southward fake and, being honest, it is. Just, when you're trying to go a problem solved, you lot'll wish that Portugal had adopted this approach.

This isn't unique to Portugal. Many readers living in countries like French republic, Germany, and Spain have said the same affair.

The Job Market

Portugal traditionally attracts much older expats, particularly retirees. There'due south a reason for that, and that's that people don't ordinarily come to Portugal to work: salaries are low by European standards, and in that location are a express number of jobs here.

The good news is that, even though salaries are all the same a long way from catching up with other Western European countries, there are an increasing number of task opportunities in Portugal. Many people as well bring their work with them — either starting a business concern here or working remotely for clients exterior of Portugal.

This isn't totally unique to Portugal: Beyond Southern Europe, job opportunities are fewer and salaries are lower when compared to Northern Europe. That said, Portugal does have some of the lowest salaries in Western Europe.

The "Who You lot Know" Attitude to Business

To get alee in a lot of industries in Portugal, it's all about who you lot know. This maxim is true in a lot of countries, of course, just it's especially truthful in Portugal.

In a lot of English language-speaking countries, like the UK and U.s.a., who you know opens doors but it doesn't brand information technology impossible to break into certain industries. In Portugal, non knowing the right people tin can go far incommunicable to do concern in a lot of industries that you could break into in other countries.

This isn't unique to Portugal, and is quite common across well-nigh of Europe.

The Driving

Whether it's people flashing their lights considering they're desperate to overtake, potable driving, or only leaving a gap of about an inch between your car and their's, driving in Portugal is bad.

Indicators are rarely used, touch parking is common in the cities, and in rural parts of Portugal people ofttimes park diagonally across two or three spaces.

Unfortunately, it's just i of those things about Portuguese life that yous have to get used to.

The Rising Price of Living

The cost of living in Portugal is on the rise, particularly when it comes to property prices. This is obviously more of a downside for the Portuguese living in Portugal who typically have less buying ability on average, only it's still a downside for expats too.

Business firm prices are rising throughout Portugal, but particularly in Lisbon and Porto and the Algarve.

The Common cold Ocean

A lot of people move to Portugal for the beaches and are surprised past merely how common cold the water is. Yeah, it can be very cold because it's not the Mediterranean Bounding main, it'south the Atlantic Ocean.

It isn't a big deal for a lot of people, as nearly simply go to the beach in summer, but information technology can make a difference if you were expecting to spend a lot of time in the water.

This is unique to Portugal. Other Southern European countries like Spain, Hellenic republic, Italy, and Republic of cyprus are all on the Mediterranean Sea so commonly have warmer waters. France

The Overtourism

queues at pasteis de belem — Queues for Pastéis de Belém regularly extend into the hundreds

In the by few years, tourism has boomed in Portugal. Lisbon, in particular, has get i of the hottest destinations to visit and it has attracted millions of tourists from all over the world. Porto, and the Algarve, as well, have seen a huge increment in tourism as well.

Unfortunately, Lisbon and Porto are much too modest to handle the sheer volume of tourists that are visiting. The streets are narrow, and the cities themselves are quite compact and small. Historical attractions similar the Torre de Belém in Lisbon or the Clérigos Belfry just weren't designed to cope with queues of hundreds of tourists.

It's also led to other problems in the local housing market, and put a strain on public transport and other services. Unfortunately, information technology doesn't look like over tourism is going to decrease anytime soon and, with no real solutions to the problem, it may just become something that people take to accept. In that location'southward that Portuguese "tin't do" attitude creeping in!

This isn't completely unique to Portugal. Lots of other cities like Barcelona and Amsterdam are struggling with overtourism.

Getting things delivered

Many people who move to Portugal come from countries where online shopping is extremely developed, to the point where they tin get their orders the same day. That's not the case in Portugal, especially as nearly online shopping is done with international companies.

Equally an example, if you want to shop at Amazon from Portugal, you ordinarily shop at Amazon Spain or perchance Amazon Germany.

The challenge of getting things delivered, whether an online shopping society or a letter from overseas, is a abiding complaint amount expats. It is something you become used to, though, and, similar many of the other things in this listing, is a minor toll to pay for what yous make it return.

Community

While nosotros're on the subject of shopping, it's worth mentioning Portuguese customs. Merely nearly every country has a community system which accuse import fees on products purchased abroad. That'due south abrasive, but reasonable. In Portugal, however, the fees charged for anything imported from outside the EU are so high that it's not unusual for import charges to equal the value of the product purchased (and sometimes they're even more). Even gifts that are conspicuously handmade past family unit members are stopped, valued at much more than they could ever be worth, and slapped with big import charges.

And, even if y'all concord to pay these charges or they take been prepaid, it can accept days, weeks, and even months to get your deliveries released from Portuguese customs.

Noise levels

If you live in an flat in Portugal, it's non unusual to hear your neighbours watching Television, talking or arguing, listening to music, or just nigh everything else. And, if they live above yous, y'all'll probably hear them walking around equally well.

Noise levels in Portugal are nowhere near equally high equally in neighbouring Spain where everyone seems to walk around their apartments in clogs, only it will take some getting used to if yous're from a country where things are a fiddling bit quieter.

Non all apartments take racket problems, especially the more modern ones, and you lot can insulate an apartment to reduce dissonance levels, merely it is something to exist aware of.

The Smoking

While smoking is on the style out in many countries, smoking is still quite common in Portugal. Information technology'southward something that you volition get used to with time.

But, even though you'll get used to walking into a deject of fume every now and and then, there are definitely times when it tin be a downside.

Portugal definitely isn't the just European country where smoking is common. It's similar in France, Kingdom of spain, and Frg.

Comments Policy: This commodity attracts a mixture of comments: some people who believe the pros of living in Portugal outweigh the cons and others who are frustrated with life in Portugal and want to vent their anger. While comments pointing out the negative sides of Portugal are allowed, in that location's a diplomatic and a effective fashion of doing this and there's a way that'south unhelpful and but negative. Comments that are negative and without whatever substance will be removed.

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Source: https://www.portugalist.com/portugal-downsides/