Portugal

Climate and cost by city

Sea off Faro: warmest August at 20°C, coolest March at 16°C.

Average monthly temperature and rainfall from Open-Meteo ERA5 (2019-2023 mean, CC BY 4.0). Sea surface temperature from Open-Meteo Marine. Price level from the World Bank ICP survey, same-year pairing, omitted where the survey does not cover the country.

Cost of living and lifestyle

Day to day, Portugal costs about 60% of the US level, on a World Bank income of $52k per person (PPP, 2025).

That percentage is measured against your country, not against ours. It follows the country picker in the header, or your account if you are signed in. With neither, it falls back to the United States, which is the 100 of the World Bank index, and the sentence says so.

World Bank ICP price level (US=100) and GNI per capita PPP, CC BY 4.0. It is a national average: a capital runs above it and a small town below it.

Getting to Portugal

Airports and non-stop routes from OpenFlights (Open Database License). Fares and flight times are cached one-way economy prices from Travelpayouts, the cheapest seen recently rather than a live quote or an average. They move; treat them as an order of magnitude.

What to see in Portugal

Ordered by how many people looked each place up over the last twelve months, so the list is measured interest and not our taste.

• 

  cultural heritage

  Belém Tower

  12,842 readers a month look it up

• 

  island

  São Miguel Island

  11,134 readers a month look it up

• UNESCO

  cultural heritage

  Jerónimos Monastery

  10,069 readers a month look it up

• 

  island

  Madeira Island

  9,654 readers a month look it up

• 

  river

  Douro River

  9,057 readers a month look it up

• 

  cultural heritage

  Pena Palace

  8,382 readers a month look it up

• 

  river

  Tagus River

  7,641 readers a month look it up

• 

  castle

  Castle of Saint George

  6,016 readers a month look it up

The practical basics

• Local time…Azores Standard Time, Atlantic/Azores
• CurrencyEURISO 4217
• LanguagesPortuguese
• PlugsC, E, F230/400 V 50 Hz
• Safe tap water95%of people on a safely managed supply, World Bank 2024
• UK travel adviceNo blanket warningFCDO, reviewed 2026-08-11
• Population10.8mWorld Bank

Currency codes ISO 4217; plugs and voltage from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0); time zone and flag from the countries-states-cities database (ODbL 1.0); travel advice from the UK FCDO (Open Government Licence v3).

How many people visit

Portugal logged 4.2 million international arrivals in 2020, the last year the World Bank series covers. That is a pandemic year and it is not what a normal year looks like: in 2019 the same series counted 17.3 million.

World Bank indicator ST.INT.ARVL, international tourism arrivals, CC BY 4.0. Arrivals count trips, not people: the same visitor twice in a year counts twice.

Tax in Portugal, in one line

Personal income tax runs up to 48 per cent. Capital gains: 28% flat on securities/shares (option to aggregate at 12.5%-48%); real estate: 50% of the gain taxed at progressive rates. Holding-period exclusions of 10/20/30% for 2-5/5-8/8+ years.

Tax figures are compiled by us and are being re-verified against primary sources. General information, not tax advice.