Karmal123

Hello we are a family with 2 teenage boys moving to Cascais in July this year.
Would love some advice from anyone who has kids at one of the international schools about schools and anyone living in that area or around of any age.

We will be visiting in February and it would be really nice to meet up with people who have experienced the whole moving thing.

captainflack

We lived in estoril, walking distance from Cascais, for a year. Lovely place, really enjoyed it, but we moved down south of Lisbon couple of years ago as bought a house (pricier in Cascais, we wanted a garden, etc. for the kids).

Our kids were very small and speak portuguese and english at home (my wife is brazilian) so they just went to local kindergarten, and daughter is now at portuguese primary school, so I don't have any knowledge of international schools. I have some friends coming over in spring who might be in a similar situation though daughter a little younger, so would be interested to know how it works out for you.

Karmal123

Hi thanks for replying. what was your experience of Estoril, the casino puts me off but did you find people friendly, im looking in this area too. What are the main differences between the areas. Where do you live now?

captainflack

It was great. We lived in an apartment just behind the casino, with a view overlooking it towards the sea. I have a wife and two small kids, we used to go out at night sometimes for dinner in a restaurant in the road down the side of the casino. It's a very safe area and not noisy. Sometimes they have musical acts on in the casino and have some crowds, but we never got disturbed, and it's mainly older people there and coach parties, and you can't hear the music from outside. The casino has a big park area in front of it, I think it's probably a bit noisier towards the sea, most of the bars etc. are towards the front. I used to go out on my own at night, walk down to the sea front and then go for a run to cascais and back, never saw any trouble or anything to make me feel unsafe. It's a nice area in my experience.

There's lots of foreigners in the area, people are generally pretty friendly. We loved living there.

We rented there for a year, but were looking to buy a house as we have two small kids we wanted a garden and a bit more space, so we ended up in Azeitao, south of Lisbon near to Setubal. We can get to lisbon in about 35 mins and to Cascais in a little under an hour. It's quieter here, nice for the kids, safe area too and nice schools and so on. But we do miss it being a little more lively and international in Cascais, and having the beach walking distance away. If it was just the two of us, we would have bought an apartment there I think.

Karmal123

Hi it's sounds nice. Could you recommend any agents that you thought were particularly good for letting and for sales and could you recommend a good solicitor to do the work.

My kids are going to try the 2 international schools out around Cascais and I can let you know what go for if that would help your friends.
I need some advice on what to do about cars should we buy them from another European country and drive them in as I hear they are do expensive in Portugal no point in bringing ours over as they are RHD even though we have owned them for over 1 year.

Thankyou so much for your help

macliam

Personally, I prefer Estoril to Cascais, but it depends what you want. Most solicitors will speak English, so better to find a competent local one.

Portuguese education is good - and if you're here long-term your kids will need to speak the language, so I'd check carefully before committing to an "International School" which are often aimed at parents here for a limited time.

Any car with a non-Portuguese registration can only be kept for a maximum of 6 months before re-registering it, so it's not really a long-term solution. Best bite the bullet and buy or lease one here.

captainflack

My wife's a lawyer if you need some help in that respect, but I'm not sure you will for just signing a lease.

Regarding cars, it's tempting to bring them in from outside because of the costs here. We came in from Dubai, and looked at bringing our 4-litre Landcruiser Prado in with us. But it looked like a headache, could take a long time to get through the import process and get it certified for PT roads, and would be due to pay the huge tax on a sliding scale if we sold it within 5 years. In the end we knew we'd need something immediately so we sold it in Dubai and with the same cash bought a 2 year old VW diesel golf here on arrival. Maybe that car is the only thing I miss about Dubai, but the golf really is more practical and of course cheaper to run. Plus I kind of like blending in and not drawing attention to myself too.

Karmal123

Hi Thankyou so much for your feedback. I will need a lawyer to read the lease so i may come back to you on this.

The_weeze

We have just moved here last year (also from Dubai) and looked into the whole car thing extensively as I had a lovely sports car in Dubai. The trouble is that any car will be taxed as if it was new and my 8 year old car would have been paying the highest band of annual tax, going up each year.

Meant it was unviable, even though I could have got the exemption for the initial registration

The trouble with buying a car in another EU country is that you have to prove residence and ownership of the car for at least a year prior to importing it, other than that the registration fee (really an import tax but they aren't allowed to call it that, because EU) is ridiculous and frequently is more than the value of the car.

Virtually the only car worth importing is under 1200cc and 5 years old, or a motorcaravan for some reason they are not penalised as much