Is Portugal really cheap as some people make you believe? YouTube and social media platforms are full of videos and people claiming Portugal is “really cheap” and giving it as an example of why people should visit or move there. I recently visited Portugal and I must say these videos are nothing but misleading advertising. Even when you come from a country with a higher income, such as Australia or the United States, you still have to pay things in Euro and the prices might not be as low as they claim them to be.
My experience
My experience in June was that Portugal is not that cheap at all. From accommodation to food, the prices are very comparable to what we have here in Australia. If you book accommodation it will cost you about the same or more than a comparable property in Australia. In terms of food, and because of tourism, restaurants now charge between €18 and €24 per main course, which would be between $27 and $37, which is what you see in most restaurants in Australia.
In the supermarket, I found that some products were cheaper but others like toiletries were more expensive than what we pay here for the same product. Yogurts for example, the Portuguese have a huge variety there, which unfortunately we don’t have here, but they also pay for that variety. I found yogurts extremely expensive in Portugal.
A little food for thought
When people say “it’s cheap”, do they actually think about those who live there? Let’s think about it. I am from Australia, where the salaries are way higher than the Portuguese average salary, but I still didn’t find it cheap. Yes, I might have purchase power to afford it, but that doesn’t make it cheap.
If we think that what some may say is “very cheap”, is in fact extremely expensive for the people of the country, we would realise how our comments may actually be inflating things and making it difficult for them to live.
Over-tourism
A lot of countries in Europe are experiencing issues with over-tourism, Portugal is no different. As someone who works in this industry, I cannot say I am against tourism. I love visiting other countries and discovering other cultures. I believe tourism is great because it opens up your mind to other points of view and gets you in contact with people around the world. But we need to be sensible about it, we need to respect the places we visit and the people who live there.
When you say a country is very cheap, because you can afford things there, you are basically calling for inflation in that country and things to go dramatically up in price. For the tourist who makes that claim, means nothing, they still can afford it, but for the locals, it becomes a struggle.
I think if we all do our bit, we can have a good balance between tourism and local life. Part of that balance is being a respectful tourist.