Anyone considering moving?

[hereiam39]

I had been tracking that. We just spent a week in Barcelona...off season and it really is overrun by tourists.
In our case it's a little easier to blend in. The Spanish accent sticks real quickly.

Honestly I'm more drawn to secondary cities like Corona, Bilbao, Valencia, Sevilla, etc.

Yes, that is one of our favorite cities, but it can be insane. I wholehearted agree to the secondary cities. High on my list is Malaga. Hits almost every mark on as a place to both visit or live. I seriously think about moving there if I ever tire of Portugal (which I doubt, lol).

 

[Bigs23]

North (Porto & Braga), middle (Lisbon) or south (Algarve)?

All contenders but affordability is the top priority.

 

[hereiam39]

All contenders but affordability is the top priority.

If you are trying to explore all three areas in a week, you are wasting your time. You will spend a great deal of time in just transportation. It is 3.5 hours from Porto to Lisbon, and then another 4.5 hours to the Algarve area. And an average of 2 days in each area won´t give you a good feel of the locality. At best you will get the tourist feel, but have no idea if it would be a place to live. I would suggest digitally exploring areas first (Youtube, Rick Steves, online travel books, etc especially from an expat point of view). Already have a budget in mind before you look. In 2018, ours was $3000 per month and we already knew that we couldn´t afford the Lisbon and the Algarve areas, so why waste time exploring there, especially when we could visit later? Have other factors already decided too, like weather as both the Algarve and Lisbon areas are much warmer than the north. Walkability. Algarve area is mostly small towns and villages and can be difficult to get around without a car. Lisbon has wonderful mass transportation, but is spread out and very hilly. Porto is smaller, and good transportation but also very hilly. Braga is very walkable and mostly flat, but the international airport is a 45 minute bus ride away.
Before our exploratory visit in 2016, we had already decided an northern Portugal or southern Spain. We planned on a week in northern Portugal and 4 days in southern Spain. After three days in Braga, we knew we had found our new home and spent the rest of the time actually learning the city and then just touring Spain a little. But we had basically already settled on two places before we even arrived through our research. I suggest that you do the same.

 

[Bigs23]

If you are trying to explore all three areas in a week, you are wasting your time. You will spend a great deal of time in just transportation. It is 3.5 hours from Porto to Lisbon, and then another 4.5 hours to the Algarve area. And an average of 2 days in each area won´t give you a good feel of the locality. At best you will get the tourist feel, but have no idea if it would be a place to live. I would suggest digitally exploring areas first (Youtube, Rick Steves, online travel books, etc especially from an expat point of view). Already have a budget in mind before you look. In 2018, ours was $3000 per month and we already knew that we couldn´t afford the Lisbon and the Algarve areas, so why waste time exploring there, especially when we could visit later? Have other factors already decided too, like weather as both the Algarve and Lisbon areas are much warmer than the north. Walkability. Algarve area is mostly small towns and villages and can be difficult to get around without a car. Lisbon has wonderful mass transportation, but is spread out and very hilly. Porto is smaller, and good transportation but also very hilly. Braga is very walkable and mostly flat, but the international airport is a 45 minute bus ride away.
Before our exploratory visit in 2016, we had already decided a northern Portugal or southern Spain. We planned on a week in northern Portugal and 4 days in southern Spain. After three days in Braga, we knew we had found our new home and spent the rest of the time actually learning the city and then just touring Spain a little. But we had basically already settled on two places before we even arrived through our research. I suggest that you do the same.

We probably won’t hit Algarve.
We plan on renting a car.

It’s our first time there so it’s as much a vacation as a home search. We have a couple of years.

 

[superrific]

Our eventual dream is to split time between CR and Europe (Spain most likely).

Out of curiosity, how is your spoken English? Your written English is fluent, and my guess is that your spoken English is at least pretty close. Do you have a recognizable accent when speaking English? Like would I be able to tell you lived most of your life in CR? Some people can speak English as a second language with remarkable ease. I had a student who was from Sweden and I couldn't tell at all because she had no accent whatsoever. Parents were both Swedish; lived in Sweden all her life; was just able to speak English like Americans.

 

[CRHeel94]

I like to think I have no accent; all my schooling has been primarily in English. At home I mostly speak English with my kids.
I have found that sometimes I fumble with searching for the right word from Spanish, usually because of technical or professional words (just because most of my work experience has been in Spanish). My college roommate told me on this last visit that for the first time ever he noticed an accent on the first day we were together (something international, but can't really place it)...but by the third day we were together it was gone. After a week back in NC, I even get a bit of a southern accent going. I am totally bi-cultural, and my writing and reading is much stronger in English.

In the past we have toyed around with spending that month (or some time ) in the States (NC, NYC, DC, or Miami). Would still consider under the right circumstances, but Europe has more of my interest lately. Want something urban with things to do and a pedestrian lifestyle.

 

[Zoo_View]

I like to think I have no accent; all my schooling has been primarily in English. At home I mostly speak English with my kids.
I have found that sometimes I fumble with searching for the right word from Spanish, usually because of technical or professional words (just because most of my work experience has been in Spanish). My college roommate told me on this last visit that for the first time ever he noticed an accent on the first day we were together (something international, but can't really place it)...but by the third day we were together it was gone. After a week back in NC, I even get a bit of a southern accent going. I am totally bi-cultural, and my writing and reading is much stronger in English.

In the past we have toyed around with spending that month (or some time ) in the States (NC, NYC, DC, or Miami). Would still consider under the right circumstances, but Europe has more of my interest lately. Want something urban with things to do and a pedestrian lifestyle.

Having lived in Manhattan and read your posts, you should live in Manhattan at some point for 3-6 months. Based on your posts, I’m guessing you can afford Manhattan; especially after the kids are out of college.