After an article on the Algarve here, and on the Silver Coast here, today we’re going to talk about the Lisbon region. When you hear the word “Lisbon region”, you instantly think of Lisbon: the Portuguese capital, the destination where everyone’s going these days, its narrow streets, its pasteis de nata, its fado, its big shopping centers, its famous soccer clubs(parabéns to the young Portuguese national team, who have just won the European Championship)… But the Lisbon region doesn’t just include Lisbon, it includes a whole host of towns, each more charming and different than the last. So, in this article, I’ve decided to talk about the reasons for moving to the Lisbon region in the broadest sense of the word, i.e. with a little more emphasis on Lisbon’s surroundings rather than on the capital itself, with which you’re all more or less familiar.

I. The Lisbon region: what does it encompass?

I’d like to start by explaining the shape of the Lisbon region. I think it’s important for you to get a feel for how the region is structured. Understanding how the region is structured can help you choose where you’d like to settle, depending on your interests. In my opinion, it’s important to have this information, as expatriation is a key moment in a person’s life, and we all have different needs. So, it’s essential that the place you choose is a reasoned choice based on your desires and not on trends or “what they say”.

The Lisbon region therefore comprises 18 municipalities, divided into two sub-regions: Greater Lisbon and the Setubal peninsula(pronounced “Shtoubal” in Portuguese for those who want to make themselves understood when referring to this city). On a map, the division is easy to see as it takes place, as you can see below, at the level of the famous TAGE river (“Rio Tejo” in Portuguese).

The Lisbon region is shown here in blue. The red line marks the boundary between the two sub-regions.

Greater Lisbon is made up of 9 municipalities, which in turn comprise several towns. The 9 municipalities are: Mafra, Sintra, Loures, Vila Franca de Xira, Odivelas, Lisbon, Cascais, Amadora and Oeiras.

The Setubal peninsula also comprises 9 municipalities: Montijo, Alcochete, Setubal, Sesimbra, Moita, Almada, Barreiro, Seixal and Palmela.

Let’s take a closer look at the assets of this beautiful Lisbon region.

II. The Lisbon region: 5 of its assets

1) Moving to the Lisbon region means enjoying a wider choice of accommodation and lower property prices than in the capital.

Depending on the type of property you’re looking for: apartment, house, residence, with or without exterior, with or without parking… Lisbon or the surrounding area is the place to be. In fact, like all “big cities”, Lisbon offers, with a few exceptions, apartments in 4-5 storey buildings, often with few exteriors, no elevators and parking that can be difficult. I’m not saying this is a generality, but the majority of properties are like this. So, if you want a large outdoor space, a garden, a house, to live in a residence with a shared pool or to build your own home… it will be much easier to find properties of this type outside the city of Lisbon itself.

One of the streets leading to the ocean in the center of Sesimbra.

And let’s face it, the cost of living and property in the Lisbon region will be higher than in other parts of Portugal. Nevertheless, it’s cheaper to live around Lisbon than in it. As you’d expect, property prices, whether renting or buying, are lower if you move a little outside the Portuguese capital. Below, as a guide, I’ve listed the prices per m2 in some towns in the Lisbon area. As I always say when I quote prices, these are averages, and prices per m2 obviously vary depending on the property, its condition, surface area, characteristics, etc. However, what’s interesting to observe are the differences that can exist from one city to another within the same region. To make things easier for you, I’ve categorized the cities into two groups, those of Greater Lisbon and those of the Setubal Peninsula, and then ranked them in order of price per m2.

Here, average prices per square meter in Greater Lisbon:

Here, average prices per square metre on the Setubal Peninsula

2) Moving to the Lisbon region means taking advantage of the capital’s economic attractiveness to find a job.

The Lisbon region is one of the easiest places in Portugal to find work as a foreigner. Indeed, thanks to the capital’s economic attractiveness, many national and international companies are based near Lisbon, such as Microsoft and soon Google. So, if you’re an active person, living in the Lisbon area can be a wise choice, as it will make it easier for you to find a job. The headquarters of the biggest companies are located in :

• in the Parque das nações district near the Vasco de Gama bridge in Lisbon.
• in the Saldanha district, near Marquês de Pombal square in Lisbon.
• lagoas Park and Tagus Park in Oeiras.

Choosing your future location is often conditioned by where you work, which is why I’ve indicated the main areas where the majority of headquarters are located. However, as we’ll see later in the article, the Lisbon region is very well served by public transport. So it’s easy to live outside Lisbon and still work there. For over three years, I myself worked in central Lisbon (near Marquês Pombal), living 30 km from the capital. In the end, I don’t regret it, as it’s very easy to use public transport between the outlying towns and Lisbon. What’s more, I was able to enjoy the beach in the evenings after work – a dream come true! Last but not least, most of the ferries and train lines offer some pretty nice scenery, so there’s no time to get bored on public transport. I’ll let you judge for yourself in the photo below.

Picture taken through the window of the train on the way to work in the morning. Quite a pleasant ride!

On the other hand, for those who want to set up their own business, living in the Lisbon area can also be a good choice, since in recent years the Portuguese capital has made the process easier for those wishing to set up their own business. In fact, setting up your own business is quite quick, in addition to the low costs involved and the tax advantages you can enjoy in this situation (with RNH status,only 20% tax on income received thanks to your activity in Portugal for ten years for people with so-called “value-added” jobs: architects, engineers, doctors, entrepreneurs, designers, artists, company directors…). Finally, Lisbon is home to a number of incubators that help entrepreneurs launch their businesses. These include Startup Lisboa, Fabrica de Startups, Beta-i… And of course, alongside these, you’ll also find numerous co-working spaces in the capital, including Coworklisboa or the original Village Underground Lisboa below.

The original co-working space: Village Underground Lisboa

3. Living in the Lisbon region means benefiting from the extensive cultural offerings and services of a capital city.

Choosing to live in a region close to a capital gives you access to a vast choice of diverse services. You’ll have access to more restaurants, concept stores, hospitals, doctors, shopping centers, museums, children’s activities… than if you lived in a region further from the capital. Mind you, I’m not saying that there’s nothing in other regions, but you still have more choice in the Lisbon region because you’re close to the capital. This truth is not inherent to Portugal, it’s true of countries all over the world.

So, living in the Lisbon region means having everything within a few kilometers of your home, and here are just a few examples:

• access to numerous clinics, hospitals and doctors with professionals who speak several languages.
• access to numerous public, private, Portuguese, French and international schools, including the prestigious Carlucci American International School (Sintra), Saint Julian School (Carcavelos) and Saint Peters School (Palmela near Setubal), as well as the French school Charles Lepierre (in Lisbon’s amoreiras district).
• access to numerous museums: the MAAT, the Calouste-Gulbenkian Museum…

The surprising design of MAAT.

– access to numerous activities for young and old: theoceanário, the zoo, the electricity museum…

Family outing to the Lisbon Oceanarium: the largest in Europe.

• access to numerous musical events: NOS alive, Rock in Rio, Superbock Superrock festival… as well as numerous concerts and shows thanks to the large concert hall Altice Arena (formerly “Meo Arena”)
• access to gigantic shopping malls: Colombo Shopping, Forum Sintra, Freeport Lisboa Fashion Outlet Montijo…

4. Moving to the Lisbon region means benefiting from excellent public transport infrastructure to get you everywhere.

With or without a car, it’s easy to get from Lisbon’s outskirts to its center and vice versa, thanks to a well-developed road network and a well-serviced public transport network. So, if you’re moving outside Lisbon but working within the capital, you’ll have easy access to the center and a choice of public transport.

These include trains serving the “north” of Lisbon (Cascais, Sintra, Amadora, Oeiras …) and the “south” of Lisbon (Almada, Setubal, Moita, Barreiro …). Below, in the pink circle, the city of Lisbon and around it the different train lines from Lisbon. The names of the towns served are not very legible, but you can easily see that many towns on the outskirts of the capital are served by the rail network.

The various towns on the outskirts of Lisbon served by train.

To cross the famous Tagus River, there are numerous ferry lines available from Lisbon. These serve the “south” of Lisbon, including the towns of Montijo, Almada, Barreiro, Seixal..

Ferry lines between the “northern” part of the Tagus and the “southern” part.

In the center of Lisbon, you can choose between metros, streetcars, buses and, for those looking for a bit of adventure, even tuk tuks(although these are mainly reserved for sightseeing tours).

The Lisbon metro: only 4 lines, but serving a large part of the city.

Last but not least, the Humberto Delgado international airport is a must for anyone living in the Lisbon region. This makes it easy for you to travel all over the world or return to France to see your loved ones. When you’re living abroad, it’s always reassuring to know that it’s easy to get back to your loved ones. The presence of this airport can therefore be one of the criteria that will weigh heavily in your choice of location in Portugal.

5) Settling in the Lisbon region means enjoying beaches just a stone’s throw away.

Let’s finish by talking about the beaches of the beautiful Lisbon region. Even if there are many different reasons for moving to Portugal, living by the sea, close to the beaches and the ocean spray, is often one of the main reasons for choosing this region. Many people think: “Come on, let’s move to Lisbon, we’ll be by the sea”. But, to be exact, in Lisbon it’s not the ocean, it’s the Tagus River you see. In Lisbon, there are a few beaches overlooking the river, but between you and me, they’re not the most pleasant places to relax at the end of the day, play with your children or “sunbathe”.

So if you want to live in the Lisbon area and be close to the beaches, you’ll have to go a little outside the capital, and there are roughly 5 zones to choose from! There are 3 areas to the “north” of Lisbon and 2 to the “south” of Lisbon:

• Ericeira beaches
• Serra de Sintra beaches
• The beaches of the Lisbon-Cascais line
• Costa de Caparica beaches
• Beaches of the Serra da Arrabida

The 5 beach zones of the Lisbon region.

Let’s take a closer look at these 5 zones, highlighting the positive and negative points of each. This will enable you to select the area that best matches your expectations and, if beaches are an important criterion in your future life, partly determine where you will settle.

• Ericeira‘s beaches: ideal for surfers

• The beaches of Serra de Sintra: the “wild” ones

• The beaches of the Lisbon-Cascais line: the “family” ones

• Costa de Caparica beaches: endless sand

• The beaches of Serra da Arrabida: the “paradise” beaches

In conclusion

Moving to the Lisbon region means enjoying the advantages and services of the capital while living in the peace and quiet of the suburbs. Many of the towns on the outskirts of the capital are well worth discovering, and are ideal for a peaceful life just a few kilometers from the hustle and bustle of the capital: Lisbon.

benefit from the advantages of a capital without the disadvantages. Why not settle in the Lisbon region?

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