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Home Comparison

Should You Retire In Spain Or Portugal?

Portugal Vs. Spain— Two Retire Overseas Titans Face Off

Sophia Titley by Sophia Titley
Sep 09, 2022
in Comparison, Portugal, Spain
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Portugal to the right and Spain to the left. Comparison image
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Portugal’s Algarve region checks every box on the would-be retiree’s list: great weather, high-quality health care, turn-key residency options, beautiful beaches, welcoming expat community, and low cost of living… What more could you want?

We have trouble finding an answer to that question, which is why we continue to rank the Algarve as the world’s number-one place to live or retire overseas. But it’s not the only sunny, sandy option in Europe…

Another much better-known choice is Spain’s Costa del Sol, the southern coastal area of Spain’s Andalucía region, sandwiched between Nerja and Marbella, with Málaga as its centerpiece.

How do these two regions compare? Let’s take a look…

The Pros

PortugalSpain
PROS
  • High-quality health care (ranked the world’s 12th best by the WHO)
  • Offers the Portugal Golden Visa program
  • Schengen-member country
  • Residency is easy to acquire (the D7 option only requires proof of income of about 1,200 euros monthly)
  • Roman and Moorish patrimony
  • Excellent food and wine, with an emphasis on fresh seafood
  • Excellent beaches
  • Oldest country in the Old World, with history that dates to 1139 B.C.
  • Offers tax incentives for foreigners
  • English is widely spoken
  • Safe, welcoming, politically peaceful country (sixth-safest in the world)
  • Well-positioned for travel around the Continent
  • High-quality health care (ranked the world’s 7th best by the WHO)
  • Offers the Spain Golden Visa program
  • Schengen-member country
  • Roman and Moorish patrimony
  • Excellent food and wine, with an emphasis on fresh seafood
  • Excellent beaches, with Atlantic and Mediterranean coastlines
  • Europe’s fourth-largest country, with a varied geography including islands, mountains, rivers, deserts, etc.
  • Diverse lifestyle opportunities, from cosmopolitan to vineyard to offshore island
  • Spanish is an accessible language
  • Well-positioned for travel around the Continent
CONS
  • Old-World bureaucracy
  • Restrictions to the Golden Visa Program (limitations on where you can buy property to qualify)
  • Bracing Atlantic-water temperatures at Portugal’s beaches—no Mediterranean coastline
  • Portuguese is difficult to learn
  • Portugal’s health system is over-stretched with long wait times for care
  • Old-World bureaucracy
  • High taxes with a complicated tax system—Spain is best as a lifestyle play, not an investment one
  • Less politically peaceful: strikes, marches, protests, etc. are common in cities
  • Crowded beaches during peak season, over-development in some areas

Accessibility

Spain

It’s easier to access the Costa del Sol than the Algarve through Málaga Airport. It has flight connections to 60 countries (including one direct flight to North America by way of Montreal, Canada) whereas the main airport in the Algarve, Faro International Airport, only connects to 16 countries.

Cost Of Living

Spain

The Algarve and the Costa del Sol have been transformed over the past 20 to 30 years. No longer rustic seaports and fishing villages, towns in these regions have seen major growth and development, with infrastructure upgrades to support the changes. With this has come an increased cost of living, as well.

The Costa del Sol is touristy, so it can be more expensive than parts of the Algarve, but generally speaking, life in Spain comes at a lower cost than life in Portugal.

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Cost Of Real Estate

Portugal│Spain

Property markets in both the Costa del Sol and the Algarve are hot. A recent spike in foreigner buyers has led to a severe lack of inventory in both markets.

Climate

Portugal│Spain

What qualifies as perfect weather is subjective, so it’s impossible to pick a winner in this category…

The southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula boasts the best weather in Europe, and the climate in these two regions is very similar. Both get 300-plus days of sunshine a year and minimal precipitation. Summers are dry and hot, and winters are mild and wet in both.

If you want higher temperatures and more sunshine year-round, go to the Costa del Sol. It’s warmer, influenced by the Med instead of the Atlantic. In July-August, the daily mean is over 78°F (26°C) versus the Algarve’s 73°F (23°C).

Winters are proportionately cooler in the Algarve as well… This might be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on your preferences.

Quality Of Life

Portugal│Spain

Again, it’s impossible to pick a winner…

Expat offerings in the Algarve versus the Costa del Sol are neck and neck. Both offer stunning coastlines with world-class beaches, welcoming expat communities, golf courses, hospitals, charming historical villages, and more…

Both cultures are strongly family oriented, and in the small towns that dot the hillsides, a simple, traditional village lifestyle dominates. Both destinations offer laid-back lifestyles—the opportunity to take your foot off the pedal when it comes to pace of life.

Ease Of Residency

Portugal

Portugal is the easy winner here… It offers the D7 or Passive Income Earner visa, which you can qualify for quickly and easily with about 1,200 euros of monthly income.

Spain’s equivalent to this program, the Non-Lucrative Visa, has more onerous requirements, including a higher qualifying amount for income (about 2,150 euros per month).

Spain and Portugal both offer Golden Visas programs. For Spain’s, you need to buy property worth 500,000 euros. For Portugal’s, the qualifying amounts range between 280,000 euros and 500,000 euros, but you’re required to purchase in low-density (potentially undesirable) areas of the country.

Infrastructure

Portugal│Spain

Infrastructure is about on par in the Algarve and the Costa del Sol… If you settle on the coast of either country, you will most likely need a car to get around. Public transportation is not well appointed, but the roads and highways are well-marked and high-standard in both places.

Likewise, things like electricity, internet, garbage collection, etc. are on par in both places.

Taxes

Portugal

Portugal is more welcoming to foreign retirees than Spain from a tax point of view. Under its nonhabitual resident (NHR) scheme, pension from foreign sources is taxed at a flat rate of 10%. Spain has no such scheme.

Both Spain and Portugal have tax treaties with the United States and Canada, so double taxation isn’t a concern.

Health Care

Spain

Spain has the seventh-best health care in the world according to the World Health Organization’s rankings. Portugal comes in at #12, so it’s not far off of Spain’s lead… However, expats across Portugal complain of long wait times to receive care in the public health care system.

Ease Of Settling In

Portugal

Both the Costa del Sol and the Algarve have big, well-established expat communities, mostly made up of retirees from the U.K. That said, English is widely spoken in Portugal. Not so much in Spain…

Sophia Titley
Editorial Director, Overseas Living Letter

Tags: expats in portugalexpats in spainlive in PortugalLive in SpainRetire In PortugalRetire in Spainretire in spain or portugal
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Sophia Titley

Sophia Titley

For Sophia Titley, home is a subjective concept. She was born in Singapore but grew up in Indonesia and Saudi Arabia… and has since lived in Canada, Spain, Colombia, and, most recently, Panama. She studied political science and Spanish at the University of British Columbia, and in her free time enjoys trying new recipes, playing soccer, and salsa dancing.

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