Lidio

When I was in the property business I used to hear this all the time "walking distance to village" I think its a mistake as you won't walk because it is too hot or raining and therefore won't meet the locals as you hoped.

Try renting on the outskirts of a village first and get the feel of local life.
It is the best way of not being an outsider and reliant on foreign friends/people you have just met and may have nothing in common with.

chris and steve hedges

Very good advice, thank you 😃

GeniB

Sorry Lidio cannot disagree more!! We have lived 'within walking distance ' of our chosen village for almost 5 yrs and I can count on one hand the no of times we HAVEN'T walked our dog to the village!!! heat at 8 am isn't usually a problem.and rain? whats that?

Ukkram

That is the very reason why I chose the North. Most Brits would want sun and heat with the crappy UK weather so they go South.
Big mistake. Now you are stuck in the heat with aircons at full blast and cannot go outside due to the sun blaring on your heads.

EMR

Unless you actuall do come south then you do not knowe what you are talking about.Yes it gets hot but we certsinly only need our aircon on for few hours at night. A few weeks a year.
Inland may well be very different but a few K from the coast not as you believe.
I will swop this apalling uk summer for 30 degrees in the Algarve at a moments notice.

GeniB

I think you actually have to experience a place before you can comment Ukk

30 deg with a cool Atlantic breeze and very low humidity is entirely different from the same i inland or a city centre with high humidity.(just experienced that in NL) We do not have Air-Con..Our bedrooms all have ceiling fans and the builder of our house had the good sense to build it upside down.ie bedrooms downstairs.Heat has never therefore been a problem for us.

EMR

We do not like upside down houses, but agree with you regarding building design.
None of our Portuguesecneighbours have their houses built south west or east facing with large windows and glass doors..
Having said that we move into our north facing bed room in the summer and back into one that gets the sun in the winter.
There is a new vogue here for glass walls which we arecseeingbon what we call bingo villas being built by those with more money than sense.
They then have to add exoensive screens and airconditioniing systems.
If you want to know how to live in Portugal where ever you are look at the designs of older properties, not those built for tourists or expats.

GeniB

Altho the odd modern villa is .for me .attractive to look at and I suspect very nice to live in.I would hate to see it become a big trend here.It reflects nothing of the Portuguese personality. Could be anywhere.A bit like Shopping centres

Have to say modern building methods would tackle the problem of too much heat from the expanse of glass . Very clever stuff being developed that takes the heat out and transfers it to create hot water systems for instance. Watching a new build go up at the moment .I like it because it's round.instead of a concrete block

captainflack

Having lived in Dubai for 8 years prior to Portugal, I think I can safely say that the Algarve is not anything like Dubai.

Cliffs for a start, Dubai has flat sand, and not a lot else.

The weather in the Algarve is comfortable, even in the height of summer I used to go to my grandparents villa in the 80s and 90s and had no aircon, and it was fine. I was also surprised last time I was there how much greener it was than I remembered, especially after living in proper desert for so long.

The sea is cool, unlike the Persian Gulf which in summer turns into a hot bath, although you cannot go to the beach because it's simply too hot to walk on.

I have only been up to northern Portugal once. We went to Porto and inland into the hills. Was a nice trip, but the weather was overcast and rainy, even though we had sun in Lisbon before we left and after we returned. Maybe it was just a little too much like the England we had no desire to go back to!

Ukkram

In the winter months, it rains 20 out of 30 days up here in Viana. Well worth it if you want greenery.