Last weekend, Jeff and I spent time talking with Europe Editor Kat Kalashian during the Live and Invest Overseas Beachfront Living Event. We were joined by fellow expat Keith, who lives in Spain, plus Kathleen and Dan, who are in the process of moving to their new home in Cyprus.
The topic was Beachfront Living in several fantastic countries of Europe. The conversation reminded me that…
I’m living my best life… my beach life… in northern Portugal.
Are you a Beach Life Person, too?
I haven’t undertaken an exhaustive, statistical study of people’s preferences… but most of the people I know agree that they just feel better when they are gazing at the sea from a beach.
I admit… the most important item on my retirement criteria check list was Proximity To An Ocean Beach.
That is no big surprise. My childhood was spent in Cold Spring Harbor, NY. I learned to swim in the salty Long Island Sound. Our family relocated to northern Minnesota with its 10,000+ lakes when I was in grade school. My brothers and I were in the water every summer day… granted, fresh water, but water, nevertheless.
Luckily, my husband Jeff had Proximity To An Ocean Beach on his checklist for retirement spots, too. Jeff grew up in the San Diego area and becomes a big, little kid whenever he is in the water. When we bought our home in the Sacramento, CA area, the first home improvement project was to put in a pool and spa in the back yard.
Portugal’s magnificent beaches were what sealed the deal for us in 2019 when we decided to move to Portugal.
Everywhere you look in this small magical country (the size of Indiana) there are awesome beaches.
We spent two weeks living like locals in a condo in the Algarve in February 2019. We checked out beachfront communities from Sagres in the west… to Tavira in the east. Lagos was at the top of my list… Loulé was Jeff’s first pick. He was comfortable being a few kilometers inland.
If you are a fan of the southern California climate, the beachfront communities of the Algarve in the south of Portugal will undoubtedly speak to you.
If big city living is for you… you want to live in Lisbon… the country’s capital and largest city. You will find lots of options for beachfront living. Check out the suburb of Cascais about 30 minutes west of the city center.
Are you a fan of California’s Bay Area climate? Then head to Porto and the beach communities in the north of Portugal. That’s what we did. We were not disappointed.
Do you prefer freshwater swimming? Head inland along Portugal’s famous rivers… the Cávado, the Douro, the Minho, the Tejo to name a few. You’ll find wonderful freshwater beach facilities like the ones that are just minutes from downtown Braga on the city bus system.
Are you familiar with Europe’s Blue Flag beach certification? The Blue Flag Beach List for Portugal could serve as a guide to assist your search for the right spot to settle.
A Blue Flag beach is a certified coastal area that meets strict standards for water quality, safety, environmental management, and education. Run by the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE), it requires compliance with European Union bathing water rules, proper waste disposal, and active public conservation programs.
The Core Requirements are…
- Water Quality: Must achieve “excellent” ratings under strict EU testing standards
- Safety and Services: Must provide lifeguards, first aid equipment, and safe drinking water
- Environmental Education: Must host public nature activities and display local ecosystem information
Blue Flag Beach Management Rules are…
- Annual Renewal: Status is never permanent; beaches must reapply and qualify every single year
- Mid-Season Revocation: Flags are removed immediately if pollution or safety failures occur
Portugal has 438 total national Blue Flag awards.
Out of Portugal’s 438 awards, 396 are Blue Flag beaches. There are 350 coastal beaches and 46 inland spots… the remaining 42 are marinas and ecotourism boats.
Right about now, you’re probably curious about the rankings of Europe’s Blue Flag Beaches. We discovered that Spain has the most.
Here are the top five:
- Spain: 677 certified beaches
- Greece: 624 certified beaches
- Italy: 525 certified beaches
- Portugal: 438 certified beaches
- France: 395 certified locations
I mentioned at the beginning of this letter that Jeff and I are living our best lives… our beach lives… in northern Portugal. What does that look like?
Our condo is three blocks from a Blue Flag beach: Praia do Cabo do Mundo… Cape of the World’s Beach.
The beach features a café, a restaurant, a large outdoor dining deck that has live entertainment on Sunday evenings, children’s playground, foot washing stations, and a basketball practice court… all are open year-round.
The beach is only staffed with lifeguards during the busy summer season (late May through September). Changing cabanas, palapas, and lounge chairs are available for rent. We also have beach volleyball during the summer.
Our beach is also accessible to anyone with physical challenges. There is a kart that looks like a recumbent bike with bulbous, hollow plastic wheels to take someone down the beach into the ocean.
Adjacent to our beach is another Blue Flag beach, at Praia Aldeia Nova…Villa Nova Beach. Year-round facilities at this beach include a restaurant, a café, and a beachside futebol (soccer) stadium. Yuppers, a lighted soccer field!
Adjacent to the beaches is a boardwalk… and a separate paved bike trail. Both connect all the beaches into the center of old Porto… approximately 15 kilometers.
A fascinating part of our neighborhood is that this boardwalk is part of Portugal’s Senda Litoral Camino… the pilgrim path that follows Portugal’s coast from Porto to Santiago de Compostela. Every day we see walkers of the Camino from all over the world.
“But what else is in the neighborhood?” you probably are asking. A block to the south of us is a private hospital… a new modern facility with helicopter pad and 24-hour Emergency Services. If I have a heart attack, I can walk through my neighbor’s yard to the Emergency Room!
Across the street is a wonderful restaurant open for lunch and dinner. Jeff helps the chef out when he’s busy… it’s part of his commitment to learning to speak Portuguese.
Up the block is a little café and grocery store. In the other direction is a bread shop next to a beauty parlor/barber shop. Two blocks to the north is the Kartodomo with restaurant and electric kart racing. Teams come from all over Europe to race against each other.
A block further… we find more cafés and restaurants… including the best polvo (octopus) house in the Porto area.
One block to the east… we find a neighbor’s corn farm with cats, chickens, and a rooster. Walk past the farm and head into the center of our little village… you’ll find schools, pastry shops, cafés, pharmacies, fruit stores, and butcher shops. In the village center is our one Catholic church.
The neighbor’s farm reminds me that we have a farmers’ market every Sunday by the beach.
Did I mention that we also have an indoor municipal pool? It’s where Jeff enjoys his morning aqua gymnastic aerobic classes.
Travel a kilometer south along the beach and you find many more restaurant options and the iconic Pescina das Marés (Tidal Pool), a saltwater pool complex built into the rock formation at the ocean’s edge. The pool, café, bar, and changing rooms were designed by the renowned Pritzker Prize-winning Portuguese architect Álvaro Siza Vieira.
We were intentional about picking a small village neighborhood next to the beach. After renting for six months in Porto, we started looking for the right neighborhood in which to buy a small place to call home… all part of the retirement plan.
We wanted to be accessible to an international airport, and we wanted ease of access to the larger community of Porto, but to feel like we were in a Portuguese village in the country… and we wanted to be steps away from the ocean. We found all of that in Perafita… and we are the only English-as-a-first-language speakers in town.
We found this wonderful spot that was under construction in a village neighborhood of the larger city of Matosinhos, which is the biggest suburb of Porto. We knew it would take at least 18 months to complete, so we rented an apartment in Braga to wait for the condo to be finished.
On move-in day we received confirmation that our research proved correct… our neighbor, Joachim, walked across the street with two glasses of chilled moscatel, introducing himself and welcoming us to the neighborhood.
Yup, after more than six years Jeff and I are living our best lives… our beach lives… in northern Portugal.
Sincerely,
Joch Woodruff
Portugal Circle Liaison
