Portugal is often portrayed as a perfect place by YouTube influencers and bloggers on the internet a place with Incredible tax incentives for expats and foreign investors but is this the reality and what is it actually like living in Portugal today we find out it seems like every other week there is an article from CNN or the Los Angeles Times claiming that Americans are moving to Portugal in droves these articles claim that Americans are driving up housing prices kicking Portuguese people out of their homes and there is growing resentment amongst Portuguese that hate Americans and want
to stop letting Americans in but this hasn't really been my experience at all now there are many reasons to hate American culture foreign policies reality TV shows and terrible pop music that sounds like it's been hijacked by douche Lords that have no musical Talent whatsoever also the America is the best country in the world thing just makes us look like a bunch of everywhere we go you see people in Europe speak multiple languages they're used to multiple cultures coexisting together and they actually know about World Geography where do you think Portugal is located South America
so do I have to pretend to be a Canadian so people on the streets of Portugal won't hate me I'm so sorry about the Americans I'm just a Canadian eh not even close outside of Lisbon and Porto sometimes I'm the first American that anyone has met especially at my age which I'm 32. in fact the entire year that I've lived in Portugal I've only ran into two Americans but don't worry the majority demographic of Americans coming to Portugal are left liberal commies that have a long list of don't Do's to better fit into your culture
I live in Portugal now and I'm an expert in drinking wine my Portuguese friends love me oh wait I don't have any does my pool boy count but the reality of Americans immigrating to Portugal is much much smaller than you would imagine in fact Americans make up less than one percent of the Immigrant population in Portugal as you can see from the immigration statistics in 2021 on Portugal's government SEF website there's not even a high enough number of Americans to make their list but the reality of Americans leaving the number one country is a pipe
dream for most first off let me start by saying that I absolutely love living in Portugal I am learning something every day about the wonderful Portuguese culture but I think it's important to talk about the reality of moving to Portugal as more than 50 percent of Americans that move to Portugal end up leaving so without further Ado let's get into it number one the climate the weather in Portugal is one of the most sunny climates in all of Europe especially in places like the al-gad of or Madea there is no shortage of sun rays and
many people have been immigrating around Europe from places like the United Kingdom and Holland to live in a more fair weather climate for decades however it is important to note that Portugal is cloudy and it gets quite a bit of rain in the winter time Portugal is about as far north as Maine so if you're looking for a Southern California or Florida type climate it really doesn't exist unless like I said you are in Madera because even the Algarve in the winter can get quite windy and feel a bit cold but if you're from somewhere
like Southern California or Arizona the Cloudy weather might come as a little bit of a shock but the summers in Portugal have always been pretty tame without getting too hot until recently that is as the climate is changing regions that never got above 80 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer are now hitting heat waves well into the hundreds then there is the humidity especially along the coast of Portugal humidity can come up to as much as 98 in the winter time which makes even 50 degrees Fahrenheit feel really cold the kind of cold that sticks to
you and makes your sinuses ache in fact most Portuguese houses are actually not built for how cold it actually gets and the houses can get quite damp a lot of the time inside these houses it is colder than the temperature outside with tile floors and stone walls this can get quite uncomfortable during the winter months November December and January of course this is all based on the position of your house the sun exposure how well the house was built and tricks to help mitigate the cold and humid cave-like houses or apartments I'll be honest I
don't love the long gloomy Winters here in Portugal but man when the springtime comes it is oh so beautiful and everybody coming out of their seasonal depression it is quite a sight to behold beaches are full birds are chirping and it's a beautiful time to be in Portugal number two the culture Portugal in a general societal sense is more Community Based than the United States the importance of making sure that the community is thriving seems to be much more of an important goal than the independent individual versus the United States where the sovereign individual attitude
is much more of a norm in Portugal it is generally looked at as what you can do to lift your family and Community where it is more based on individual achievements and success I'm not saying that one is better than the other it's just how it is number three the bureaucracy now this is a fun one and you're going to hear a lot about this when it comes to Portugal the bureaucracy and interpretation process here can sometimes seem a bit unfair and unorganized even for the Portuguese citizens sometimes you just have to know a guy
who knows a guy to get it done I know a guy who knows a guy who can get it done for use guys this does leave some expats and immigrants coming to Portugal at the mercy of the bureaucratic process which can sometimes feel like waiting in purgatory luckily so far I have been really lucky with these processes and it has gone fairly smooth with only a couple hiccups along the way make sure to always plan ahead and anticipate a couple visits when going to state government offices number four the slower pace when it comes to
the slow pace of life that everyone always talks about there is no doubt about Portugal and most of southern Europe has a different sense of time the constant urgency in the United States to go go go go go go is not really the mentality here for most and so things like going to the grocery store eating lunch at a restaurant or cafe or waiting months for an official document like your driver's license can sometimes be unclear or uncertain I definitely have to say that after living in Portugal my Pace has slowed down a little bit
and if I went back to the United States I think people would think I'm a lot more relaxed than I was before I left but there are definitely worse things number five the language in my opinion speaking Portuguese here goes a long way if you really want to be happy and integrate into the culture and really start to feel what it's like to be in Portugal then you should definitely learn to speak Portuguese when I first got to Portugal I found an amazing online Portuguese Master course the link is in the bio below if you
are interested if you are planning a visit or moving to Portugal I highly recommend learning Portuguese as it will definitely make your experience so much better number six the food now I absolutely have grown to love the Portuguese Cuisine and quality of ingredients here like many cultures in the world Portugal does not waste any part of the animal for picky eaters and vegan vegetarians this can definitely be a bit undesirable and the seafood here is one of the best in the world but I do know vegans and vegetarians here that are loving the amazing fruits
and vegetables grown in the super fertile lands of Portugal where the soil is incredible if you are not in the cities like Lisbon and Porto your options can sometimes be a little bit limited if you're from a major Metropolitan city in the United States you're used to having many different options like Thai food Chinese Indian Korean Etc Indian food is very common in Portugal and it is very very good however some other things on this list can be hit or miss and difficult to locate if you are outside the bigger cities and if you're looking
for authentic Mexican food in most cases you will be out of luck because the Mexican restaurants I have been to serves what looks like a Walmart starter pack from Old El Paso and anyone from Los Angeles or close to the Border will cringe at the site now I'm sure there are a couple great Mexican restaurants located somewhere in Portugal but most of them that I have been to are just not even close and I wouldn't bother in Portugal the timing of eating is also very different than in the United States breakfast is usually a piece
of bread and a piece of deli meat and cheese then lunch is eaten between the hours of one to three and this is usually the biggest meal of the day in Portugal and one of the longest that can last up to two to three hours as opposed to the quick 30 minute on the go lunch that we usually have in the United States and then dinner is usually eaten much later than in the United States around 9pm on average it's also very hard to find a good deli sandwich now if you go to the grocery
store of course you get bread and some amazing deli meats but it's not a very common thing to see a shop that will make you a deli style sandwich what I love most about the Portuguese food is that it's very simple it's not over salted there's not a ton of sauces and creams and things that make it really heavy they use a lot of olive oil and a lot of stuff that's really healthy and if you are a green thumb type person you can have your own garden here there are many things that grow very
well in Portugal and the soil is very fertile number seven the taxes now this is one that many people are concerned about and probably have a lot of questions on I have an entire video about the taxes in Portugal that get into the specifics the link will be in the bio below but many people are concerned about the high tax rates on income and the 23 value added tax called Eva but there are tax regimes that give you generous tax breaks like the non-habitual tax regime that lasts for 10 years but after 10 years you
will be taxed the normal rate here in Portugal which is taxed on a sliding scale of up to 48 percent for people that make over 80 000 Euros annually but honestly after comparing the cost of living in America and Portugal Portugal still for me ends up being less when you factor in things like health insurance which is significantly more affordable in Portugal nowhere is perfect but if I was dying of cancer I would much rather be in Portugal than concerned about how large the hospital Bill and treatment is going to be in the United States
it's sad but very true number eight dilapidation in Portugal there are a lot of abandoned structures and I'm not talking about the old Charming ruins there are many dilapidated structures peppered all throughout the country and with laws and lack of funding that can make it very difficult to remove these structures some are very beautiful and should definitely be preserved but there are a lot of abandoned structures that could improve the area if they were taken down you will find these in neighborhoods mixed with very nice houses and businesses in almost every city there is also
quite a bit of tagging and graffiti almost everywhere sometimes you will be looking at a beautiful field and you will see an old dilapidated building completely tagged and graffitied up so if you're not a fan of this I'm sorry Portugal has tons of this but Portugal has no shortage of some amazing street art and murals ad fuel is one of my favorites where it looks like Portuguese tiles are being ripped underneath the outside of buildings I personally do not watch TV at all so this doesn't matter to me the standard television shows in Portugal can
come as quite a culture shock to people from United States as the shows are quite different than what we are used to in the United States which like I said before I don't watch TV so it doesn't matter to me now streaming services like Netflix and HBO Max may be missing some of the shows that you love in America so what can you do about that I use a VPN called surfshark the link is in my bio below if you want three months free click the link in the bio below so as you can see
Portugal is a very amazing place but it is definitely not for everybody so I'd recommend doing your due diligence before coming to this wonderful country maybe come for a couple months if you can afford to and see if it really fits you if you want to see more videos about Portugal make sure to hit the like And subscribe button this is Dave in Portugal and we'll see you next time [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music]
