Portugal has played an unexpectedly large role in our lives over the past few years.
We first visited during our digital nomad era, when we rented an Airbnb and spent a couple of weeks exploring Lisbon and the surrounding coast. We immediately fell in love with the personality of the country — the tiled buildings, pastel-colored streets, seafood, café culture, and of course the pastel de nata situation, which quickly became a daily habit.
Years later, Portugal took on a different role for us. As we traveled around Europe searching for the right place to eventually have a summer home, Cascais unexpectedly became one of our strongest contenders. We spent several weeks there and loved the balance it offered: elegant without feeling overly formal, walkable, relaxed, safe, and connected to the ocean. The long seaside promenade, the beaches, the café culture, and the overall pace of life all felt very aligned with how we wanted daily life to feel.
In the end, though, a small town on the Croatian coast called Cavtat pulled us in another direction. We eventually bought a home there instead and spent some of the best summers of our lives on the Croatian coast.
But a few years later, after someone made us an offer on our Croatia home, we found ourselves thinking about Cascais again. This time, instead of buying, we decided to rent and spend part of the year living there while balancing our lives in the US.
At this point, our experience of Portugal feels less like tourism and more like daily life. Most days are fairly simple: coffee in the morning, some work, walks along the promenade, homemade lunches and visits to the market. We've explored much of Lisbon, spent time hiking the coastal trails and dunes outside Cascais, taken trips north to Porto, and gradually settled into the rhythm of life there. Jessica also trained for and ran a half marathon in Porto.
One thing that surprised us was how strong the international community was. We quickly met interesting people from all over the world, and there seemed to be a very open, welcoming culture around making friends, sharing introductions, and building community. For people interested in entrepreneurship, remote work, or simply meeting others living internationally, Portugal has developed a really unique energy over the last several years.
What I appreciate most about Portugal is that it manages to feel both relaxed and livable. Some European destinations are amazing to visit but harder to picture as part of everyday life. Portugal feels unusually sustainable in that sense. The climate is mild, the food is excellent, the people are friendly, English is widely spoken, and the overall quality of life is high without feeling overly intense or fast-paced.
If someone asked me for a first European country to slow travel or experiment with living abroad, Portugal would be very high on the list. It strikes a balance that very few places seem able to pull off.