Living in Portugal: a Guide to Moving and Retiring Here
Portugal is not one place to live. It is several.
Living in Portugal means choosing between an Atlantic capital, a granite north, a plain of cork oaks and a southern coast, often a few hours' drive from one another. People come to retire in Portugal, to work from here or simply to change pace. The decision is partly a matter of light and landscape, and partly a matter of paperwork: visas, health cover, and a tax system that changed for newcomers in 2024. This guide takes both seriously, on the basis of the rules in force in October 2026.
Where to live: a map of temperaments
Lisbon has the full life of a capital: museums, theatres, an international airport, hospitals and schools, and neighbourhoods that run from the eighteenth-century grid of the Baixa to the apartment blocks of the Avenidas Novas. It is also among the most expensive places to buy in the country. Our guide to Lisbon's neighbourhoods goes street by street. To the west, Cascais and Sintra combine sea, wooded hills and old summer houses, with a train line along the coast to the city. Further north, Ericeira keeps the scale of a fishing town.
The Alentejo is space: whitewashed towns, cork and holm oaks, hot and dry summers, and a coast that runs south from Comporta and Melides. Inland, towns such as Évora, Elvas and Portalegre offer stone houses, slow streets and a full calendar of local life. See our guides to Comporta and Melides and to quintas and montes in the Alentejo.
North of Lisbon, the Atlantic coast known in English as the Silver Coast offers wide beaches and towns such as Óbidos and Caldas da Rainha, as in our story of a villa at Areias do Seixo. Porto and the Minho are greener and wetter, a country of granite houses, vineyards and beaches such as Ofir, near Esposende. In the centre, the Tagus valley around Abrantes is quieter still. The Algarve, in the south, has long had a large foreign community and the most outdoor rhythm of all.
Visas: Europeans and everyone else
Citizens of the European Union need no visa. After three months, they register their residence with the municipality, the câmara municipal, which issues a registration certificate. Since Brexit, British citizens are in the same position as other non-Europeans.
For them, the usual route for retirees is the D7 visa, for people who live on pensions or their own income. Consulates assess means of subsistence against the Portuguese minimum wage, which is €920 a month in 2026: 100% for the main applicant, 50% for each further adult and 30% for each child. A couple therefore needs to show at least €1,380 a month. People still working, for employers or clients abroad, can apply instead for the residence visa for remote work, which asks for average earnings over the last three months of at least four times the minimum wage, €3,680 a month in 2026. Buying property no longer leads to a Golden Visa: see what remains of the Golden Visa and NHR in 2026.
For those thinking further ahead, the nationality law changed in May 2026: naturalisation now requires seven years of legal residence for nationals of EU member states and Portuguese-speaking countries, and ten years for others.
Healthcare
Portugal has a national health service, the SNS. Legal residents register at the health centre of their area and receive an SNS user number, the número de utente. Pensioners whose pension is paid by another EU country normally register with the S1 form issued by that country, under the European rules on social security. Many foreign residents also take private health insurance, which opens the doors of private hospitals and clinics, and consulates generally ask non-European visa applicants for health or travel cover. When choosing a house in the interior, the distance to the nearest hospital deserves the same attention as the view.
Pensions and tax after NHR
Someone who spends more than 183 days a year in Portugal, or keeps a home here in conditions that suggest habitual residence, is in general tax resident and taxed on worldwide income. For fifteen years, the non-habitual resident regime (NHR) softened that rule for newcomers; from 2020, new registrants paid 10% on foreign pensions. The regime was revoked from 1 January 2024. Those already registered keep it until the end of their ten years, but no new retiree can join, and its successor, IFICI, excludes pensions altogether.
A retiree who becomes resident today is therefore taxed under the general rules. Foreign pensions fall into category H of Portuguese income tax, at progressive rates that in 2026 run from 12.5% to 48%. Which country actually taxes a pension depends on the double tax treaty between Portugal and the country that pays it, and government-service pensions are often treated differently from private ones. This is the conversation to have with a tax adviser before choosing a date to move, not after.
The cost of living
According to Eurostat, the price level of individual consumption in Portugal stood at 85 in 2024, against an EU average of 100; France stood at 107.9. Daily life, from the market to the restaurant, is therefore cheaper than in most of Western Europe. Housing is the exception that matters. In Lisbon, Cascais and the best-known stretches of coast, prices answer to an international market, while the interior of the Alentejo and the Centre still moves at a local pace.
Rent a winter before you buy a summer.
Rent first, or buy?
A year, or at least a winter, in the region you have in mind is the best investment a newcomer can make. The Atlantic coast is not the same in January, villages empty out, and a house that is perfect in August may be far from a pharmacy. When the decision is made, the purchase itself follows the same steps for everyone, Portuguese or foreign: see buying property in Portugal, step by step and how much it really costs to buy a house. Many old houses also come with their own history, and restoring one is a project in itself.
Wiseguys Properties works with houses that suit a long life in Portugal: an estate above the Tagus near Abrantes, a beach house in Ofir, a restored manor house in Portalegre or a rural property in Melides. For a first conversation about where to live, contact us.
Frequently asked questions
Can I retire in Portugal?
Yes. EU citizens settle freely and register with their municipality. Others usually apply for the D7 visa, with income of at least €920 a month in 2026 for the main applicant.
How much money do you need to live in Portugal?
It depends above all on housing. Eurostat puts Portuguese consumer prices at 85% of the EU average in 2024, but Lisbon and the best-known coasts are far more expensive than the interior.
Is NHR still available for retirees?
No. The regime closed to new entrants in 2024. Those already registered keep it until the end of their ten years, and its successor, IFICI, does not cover pensions.
Are foreign pensions taxed in Portugal?
For a tax resident, in general yes, at progressive rates of 12.5% to 48% in 2026, subject to the double tax treaty with the country that pays the pension.
Can foreigners use the Portuguese health service?
Legal residents can register at their local health centre and receive an SNS user number. Many also take private insurance.
Should I rent before buying in Portugal?
It is usually wise. A year, or at least a winter, in the region shows what a summer visit cannot.
This article is general information on the rules in force in October 2026. It does not replace legal, immigration or tax advice. Sources: Lei 23/2007 and Decreto Regulamentar 4/2022; Portaria 1563/2007; Decreto-Lei 139/2025 (minimum wage 2026); Lei Orgânica 1/2026; Código do IRS, article 68 (Lei 73-A/2025); Autoridade Tributária, questions and answers on NHR and IFICI; Eurostat, price level indices (prc_ppp_ind, 2024); gov.pt. Photographs: Wiseguys Properties.
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