Retiring to Portugal?

[CandidOP]

Ok, so my sister and her DH are thinking about retiring to Portugal but have lots of questions and some reservations about the feasibility of this. I wondered if any Mnetters have done this and would share their experiences good and not so good about how it's going. A bit of background. My sis and DH have spent a large portion of their adult life living and working in different countries/continents and have been back in the UK since 2020. They have added to their NI buying up years they missed and have been paying full NI since 2020 but will still be unlikely to have a full state pension at retirement. They should just about have enough income to qualify for Portugals retirement visas.
They know the Algarve will be too expensive property wise but want to be near the coast for beach access and also because the heat won't be so bad by the sea. They have looked at the silver coast which appears to be a bit more affordable but can find relatively little info on retiring there. So - anyone who has? Which areas? Are the beaches OK for swimming or are they really surfing only. What are summer temperatures like? How is the healthcare? They are both ready to learn the language (and have already started) but wonder how vital that is to living there? Is travelling back to the UK pretty affordable?
The alternative would be to find somewhere by the coast in the UK and if necessary use equity release to provide money to escape the worst of the winters.

Any reason why your sister doesn’t just join mumsnet and start a thread herself?

Thanks for your helpful post

No problem

A family member retired to the Silver Coast about 25 years ago. They have a four bed property and it’s around quarter of the price of what you’d get in the South of the UK. I’d say speaking Portuguese or learning to speak it was crucial as they have no British neighbours and the town they live in is mostly locals . They live near Caldas da Rainha, not too far from Peniche and approx a hours drive from Lisbon with no traffic. Weather can be beautiful but it can be cold, windy and dreary too. We have visited four or five times and never had amazing weather even in June/September, it really can be changeable. No idea about healthcare I’m afraid .

Flights to and from Lisbon are not cheap. We paid £2000 for a family of four for flights only a few years ago which is outrageous even in the summer holidays .

If you don't get much response on this board, OP, you could try posting on the Living Overseas board.

Many thanks.

One of my siblings lives in Southern Portugal, near to the Spanish border a little way inland from the coast. They “semi retired” there rather than waiting until they retired but partner was able to work remotely from Portugal so one job followed them.

They bought what here would be called a smallholding. They worked hard to learn the language and engaged with locals rather than sticking to the local Brit population (which is sizeable but can be insular). Locals are happy that they are cultivating the plot rather than turning it into a huge retirement garden/wilderness (some do) and have been immensely welcoming.

They love it and I doubt they will ever return to the UK but they put the work into the language and integrating. They also employed a bilingual solicitor (these are common in Portugal) to guide them through the local processes (which are slow and paper driven but do get there). They also got to know the region before they bought this property and took local advice.

There are some good groups of Facebook. There’s a chap that will help navigate the visa process. I’d tell them to get on with it as many eu countries have changed their visas to restrict in comers recently and they do t want to miss out.

My parents did this and live comfortably on a modest pension. Now they are getting older and need more healthcare, it’s all getting quite complicated and they are too far away from siblings and me to help them 😞