After this trip, my answer, for my personal case, would be : NO
But to give a more nuanced, balanced answer, I’d say that it depends on your individual situation.
As every city, Lisbon has its pros and cons, and so it can suit some people and not others, depending on what you’re looking for, your personal situation and your wealth. I’ll list them at the end of this article.
My global impression about Lisbon was a mixed impression : the city is beautiful and nice, principally in the city center, the atmosphere is relaxed with some little disagreements like pickpockets or illegal street sellers, the food is good but expansive, but the housing is expansive.
The problem that you can see immediately is that Lisbon is a city whose native Portuguese are excluded, due to the real estate cost. So the city is mainly occupied in the short term by mass tourism and in the longer term by rich strangers, forcing portuguese to live in the suburbs, far away from the city center, like in a lot of European cities today. But here, the problem is worse due to the wealth difference between strangers and Portuguese, because portugal comes out of a financial crisis, and people aren’t rich. This explains why native Portuguese aren’t very sympathetic with strangers except in a business relationship, of course. Because they see their cost of life surging and their quality of life diminishing due to the massive inflow of rich strangers.
The other problem is mass tourism which increase the housing problem for portuguese with numerous Airbnb all over the city, as well as numerous hotel buildings, often replacing old housing buildings. But the tourism isn’t for the moment as high as in Paris or Rome, it’s manageable.
Pros
Beautiful city: clean, safe, hilly, around a bay and the Tagus (estuary)
Good transportation system
Weather (Sunny, not to hot because on the seaside, sea saline air)
Quality of life (good food, slow life if you choose your neighbourhood well)
World city, meeting point of rich strangers, world travellers and remote travellers or digital nomads
Cons
People (Lisboetes not very sympathetic due to the invasion of their town, understandable, whereas Portuguese in general are quite sympathetic)
Cost of everyday life (expensive for a local guy, and for a stranger, not as cheap as you’d think)
Real estate : Very expansive, buying or renting
Artificial atmosphere, due to the foreign hype population.
Polution because of the air traffic going over the city center, and huge cruise ships berthing near the city center, like in Marseille for example.
Hilly (hope you’ve a good health to live there, no heart problems, asthma)
Concerning the real estate situation, real estate prices are a real crazyness compared to local wages, the building quality, and the economic and cultural environment. It smells of real estate bubble.
To give you an example, I took some pics during my trips of selling Ads in the street, and you would be able to see the following points :
real prices are really expansive (around 6 000 – 7000 € per square meter, even above 10 000 €/ square meters in Belem)
it’s only a random sample, but writing this article two months after my visit, all the houses and flats that i’ve photographed are still for sale, all of them. The real estate market is freezing.
I think the real estate market in Lisbon is experiencing a huge bubble, and is starting to come down. They’re waiting for Americans, but Americans don’t come any more due to economic issues but also to the complications due to Portuguese immigration and administration, and the tax level too.
Conclusion : if Lisbon were cheaper, I’d move there immediatly, but today, it’s too expensive, too complicated.
House in Sao Vicente (Lisboa) Pic taken 06/28/26
Click on the pic to go to the ad.
House near the cruise port (Lisboa) Pic taken 06/28/26
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Flat in Almada (Lisboa) Pic taken 06/29/26
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Few refurbishments to make ! LOL