#itinerantfoodie ✈️🍴

Features

• Cheap cost of living (rent, food, and getting around)
• Abundance of co-working spaces, cafes, and wifi
• Proximity to the world (access to Europe/Americas/Middle East. Particularly the Schengen zone. 10-12 hours to Asia from Madrid, thanks to Cathay Pacific)
• Hip and cool street art
• Weather (Medditerranean weather)
• Most people speak at least 2+ languages (Portuguese, and at least english. Most likely also Spanish & French). So it’s easy to communicate
• Yes, there’s scooter rental too!
• Up and coming startup scene. It’s San Francisco for almost 1/10th the price your would pay in rent, and you don’t have to deal with Trump. Also, part of the Eurozone so if you’re an EU member you can come and go as you please.
• It’s not Chiang Mai (I like Chiang Mai, but can’t spend too long in one country / area without risking getting kicked out)

I’ve been ranting and raving a lot on various social media channels about Lisbon since 2016.

No wonder digital nomads also favor this location (as well as Chiang Mai… It’s good to mix things up a little). Although a lot more options visa wise.

Costs summary

• €5-6 for a basic meal with drink. €12 for average meal with drink. €20 for a splurge meal with drink
• €1 for a pint of tap beer
• €0.60 for a small serving of local wine at the supermarkets or €1.50 for a large searching of local wine at the supermarkets
• €1.25 for a metro journey with zapping credit
• €200-300 / month for a private room
• €10-15 for phone sim card

Get In

First things first. Like Chiang Mai, the airport is close to the city center (or “Baixa” in Portuguese). A €6-10 uber ride (yes Uber is around, including UberPool - no need to negotiate fares or worry about being ripped off) will get you right to the city center, although the airport is also well served by a metro which only costs €1,25 euro (with viva viagem card loaded with zapping credit).

From another European city, you can also take a bus (cheapest) or high speed rail (may cost more than a flight, however no airport security).

Climate

As mentioned at the top, experience relatively mild winters as shown in the picture below

Get Around

The city public transportation is quite good - you have long distance commuter rail, subways, buses, trams (Yes, like San Francisco) and also a ferry to cross the harbor (I recommend crossing the harbor, as it’s quite photogenic).

For a bit of a long distance, theres high speed rail to other parts of the country (and other countries), long distance buses, and of course planes. Being in the Schengen zone is also a nice advantage - walking into another country without showing any passport or identification document (for flying sometimes walking onto a Schengen flight with nothing more than your boarding pass)

Eating

Food wise, even from just eating out you wouldn’t pay more than €5-6 eur for a value meal (that is food + drink) at a non-fancy place. Less than that if it’s take away.

At a middle end place, double that. And at a high end / upmarket place, €20 euros per person (yes less than 25 USD for a fancy meal at a restaurant). You could do much better at a supermarket (local supermarket is Pingo Doce).

Must try foods:

• Pastéis de bacalhau. This is a mixture of potatoes, bacalhau (codfish), eggs, parsley and onion. In Northern Portugal and Brazil, it’s called “Pastel De Bacalhau”.
• Pastel de Nata. This is similar to the egg tarts in Hong Kong but it is mostly similar to Macau in China. Note there’s also a city called Macao in Portugal.
• Arroz de Polvo (Octopus Rice).

Surrounds

Also like Chiang Mai, the city is very beautiful. Think of Lisbon like a harbor version of Chiang Mai. I love harbor cities, but they tend to be expensive to live in (Hong Kong, San Francisco, Sydney).

Soak in many years of culture from Europe with remnants left over from various ruling empires - Roman empire, and the Umavvad Caliphate. So a mix of Roman and Middle Eastern architecture. If you’ve been to Macau in China (yes it’s China now get over it), you’ll see a lot similar architecture there as well as a mix of Chinese culture. I hope China preserves some of the history in Macau.

Get down to business

Coworking / Business

Next, the tech and startup scene seems to be growing with lots of coworking spaces up and coming (also tech meetups).

Some coworking spaces in Lisbon:

• Second Home at Mercado da Ribeira (above the Timeout Market)
• Beta-i
• Startup Lisboa which also offers a living space located in the downtown (Baixa) area

Shopping / Supplies

There are many supermarkets around, as well as popular international brands. For a local version similar to Wholefoods in the USA, Try a chain called “Bio Mercado” (see it’s like San Francisco).

For affordable and stylish clothing - H&M exists. Zara also exists too being its a Spanish brand.

For homewares or general accessories, also Muji exists too.