{"id":44253,"date":"2019-08-13T17:19:23","date_gmt":"2019-08-13T17:19:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lamarescapela.pt\/living-in-portugal-told-by-an-american\/"},"modified":"2019-08-13T17:19:23","modified_gmt":"2019-08-13T17:19:23","slug":"living-in-portugal-told-by-an-american","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lamarescapela.pt\/en\/knowledge\/visas-and-residence-permits\/living-in-portugal-told-by-an-american\/","title":{"rendered":"Living in Portugal: told by an American"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The International Living (IL) website recently wrote an article describing the life of a United States citizen living in Portugal, presenting some strengths and weaknesses.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Tricia Pimental, the IL correspondent, has lived in Portugal with her husband for several years and began by describing the country as &#8220;modern but keeps his traditions. People are friendly. Family and friends are important, and people know their neighbors and the local merchants.&#8221;<br \/>\nThe cost of living in Portugal is one of the most affordable in Western Europe. &#8220;A couple can live comfortably in Lisbon for about $2200 a month, in the city&#8217;s typical neighborhoods and only a half-hour walk from the main tourist areas. In the smaller cities of the country, a couple&#8217;s monthly budget is about $1700.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2>Strengths and weaknesses of living in Portugal<\/h2>\n<p>According to Tricia Pimental these are the strengths and weaknesses of living in Portugal:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Climate<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Strengths: In general, the climate in Portugal is hot, temperate and humid, with rainy winters and dry summers.<\/li>\n<li>Weaknesses: In the north, in winter it rains about half the time, and temperatures in some areas are negative. Coastal areas can be extremely windy.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div><strong>Cost of living<\/strong><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<div>Strengths: Expats usually find that their expenses in Portugal are about one third of what they were in the United States.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div>Weaknesses: Electricity, gasoline, automobiles and large appliances such as washers and dryers are more expensive in<\/div>\n<div>Portugal than in the US.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Safety<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Strengths: The Global Peace Index considered Portugal as the 3rd safest country in the world (read more here). The Portuguese are peaceful people and seek to avoid conflict.<\/li>\n<li>Weaknesses: Small thefts exist in every major city. In Portugal is no exception.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Medical care<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Strengths: The average cost of private health insurance in Portugal is $46 per person per month. Medical services, public or private, are available nationwide.<\/li>\n<li>Weaknesses: If you want to schedule surgery on public services, it can take months.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Proximity to the US<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Strengths: Portugal has three international airports that have several airlines. If you plan your trip in advance, you can find seven-hour nonstop flights for under $700.<\/li>\n<li>Weaknesses: As this is a long trip, anyone coming to visit will want to stay longer to enjoy.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Leisure activities<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Strengths: In coastal areas you can do water sports: surfing, windsurfing, diving, boating and much more. For the land-loving, you can opt for golf, tennis, horse riding, hiking, cycling or exploring the Roman ruins. In addition to all this, there are museums, shopping centers and other cultural activities.<\/li>\n<li>Weaknesses: None.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h6 style=\"text-align: right;\">Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/internationalliving.com\/countries\/portugal\/\" rel=\"noopener\">International Living<\/a><\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The International Living (IL) website recently wrote an article describing the life of a US citizen living in Portugal, with some strengths and weaknesses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":2029,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2079],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-visas-and-residence-permits"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lamarescapela.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lamarescapela.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lamarescapela.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lamarescapela.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lamarescapela.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lamarescapela.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44253\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lamarescapela.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lamarescapela.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lamarescapela.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lamarescapela.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}