In December 2023, as part of our first scouting trip, we spent time in Lisbon, Cascais, Porto, and the Algarve. It was beautiful, welcoming, and easy to enjoy. The kind of place where you can picture a routine quickly: morning coffee, ocean air, long walks, and that calm European rhythm people dream about when they say “we want out.” Portugal was a serious contender for us.

So why is this on the Life in Albania blog?

Because Portugal was part of the path that led us here. And the biggest lesson from that trip wasn’t about picking the “cheapest” option. It was about choosing the country where we could move faster, start our life sooner, and avoid a long, complicated waiting game.

Why Portugal was on our shortlist

Portugal has earned its reputation. It checks so many boxes for people wanting to relocate:

• Gorgeous cities and coastline

• Strong café culture and quality of life

• A well-worn expat path

• Enough infrastructure to feel comfortable quickly

It also has something else: it feels like a place you can love immediately.

And we did.

Lisbon: the energy, the light, the “we could do this” feeling

Lisbon was the pulse of the trip. Viewpoints, tiled streets, the food, the constant motion of a real capital city. It’s hard not to get swept up in it.

Lisbon gave us that “we could build a life here” feeling, and it’s probably the place on our Portugal list that people most relate to. If you’re drawn to walkability, history, and city energy, Lisbon delivers.

Cascais: a coastal lifestyle that feels effortless

Cascais felt like the “what if we slowed down?” option. It’s coastal, polished, and easy to imagine as a home base. Less hectic than Lisbon but still connected.

It was one of those places where daily life seems like it would be naturally pleasant, and that matters a lot when you’re planning a long-term move.

Porto: charm, character, and a different pace

Porto had a grounded, creative vibe. Historic but not museum-like. Beautiful but still real. It felt like a city where you could settle into routines without constantly being “on.”

If Lisbon is where you go for big energy, Porto is where you go when you want character and calm with plenty of life still happening.

The Algarve: the postcard version of Portugal

The Algarve was the breath-out moment. Coastline, sunshine, and that “of course people retire here” feeling, even in December.

It’s the kind of place that reminds you why Europe feels so livable when you’re coming from a high-stress grind elsewhere.

The part people don’t talk about enough: moving there is not always fast

Here’s where our scouting trip got real.

Portugal wasn’t eliminated because we didn’t like it. It was eliminated because the path from “we love it” to “we live here” felt like it could become a long, bureaucratic project.

At the time, what worried us most was:

• Permit complexity and how many steps seemed to be involved

• Timelines that felt slow and uncertain

• The reality that some parts of the process were easier (or required) to do from your home country 

• And the fact that we weren’t trying to “eventually move.” We wanted to move soon

We weren’t looking for another year of waiting, paperwork, and living in limbo.

We wanted momentum.

Why Albania won: speed, flexibility, and getting started now

Albania gave us something that mattered more than anything at that moment:

A clearer path to moving quickly. 

Not perfect. Not “no bureaucracy.” But it felt more aligned with how we wanted to live and how fast we wanted to act.

Albania felt like a place where we could:

• arrive and begin building a life 

• handle logistics without feeling like everything depended on a long chain of approvals

• avoid the “pause your life and wait” feeling

• make the move real without needing to orchestrate everything from back home first

That mattered because we didn’t just want a country we liked. We wanted a country where we could start.

Why this story belongs on a Life in Albania blog

Because this is what scouting trips are for.

Not just to visit beautiful places, but to test the reality of relocating:

• Can we actually do this in the timeline we want?

• Does the process feel manageable?

• Will we spend months (or longer) stuck in paperwork before life can begin?

Portugal was a highlight. Albania was the “yes.”

And if you’re reading this because you’re planning your own scouting trip, we want you to know something that doesn’t get said enough:

Sometimes you don’t choose a place because it’s the prettiest. You choose it because it lets you move forward.

Would we still recommend Portugal?

Absolutely, yes.

Portugal is still one of the best places in Europe to visit, and for many people it will be the right long-term choice too. We’re grateful it was part of our scouting trip because it helped clarify what we wanted.

But for us, in late 2023, we wanted speed and simplicity more than we wanted a longer, more complex runway.

Albania gave us that.