I'm going to spend about 3 weeks working remotely from northern Portugal and explore the area for a possible part time residence in the future. We've watched dozens of videos (Expats Everywhere for example) on the country and we feel it might be a good fit for my wife and I in the future.
I plan to fly in to Porto, spend about a week there and explore the area from there. After 7-10 days I plan to move on to Braga and use that as a hub to explore it and also some of the towns around it in the Braga region. I'll return back to Porto and fly back home to WA state to report back to my wife. :)
Examples:
Porto, Gaia, and Matosinhos
Braga, Barcelos, Guimaraes, Vila Verde
Viana do Castelo, Darque, Ponte de Lima
I'm expecting rain but its also off season so it will likely be very quiet so that's all good to me.
I plan to use trains and buses to get around and to save money on rental cars. I lean towards AirBND but am open to ideas.
The trip's focus is to identify a possible place to live part time that is a fun, safe, walkable, affordable city. We like smallish to mid size cities that have good transportation and are not crazy touristy and also has a good food and drink scene element to it. University towns could be a good fit. I'm also a cyclist and rock climber so that sort of outdoor scene is a big plus.
Ultimately we may buy a T2 or T3 as a part time residence and rent it out with AirBnB other times.
If anyone has any suggestions on what to look at while here, let me know. Would love to hear from any expats or fellow travelers with experience in this region.
Jeff
p.s. I'm also a little worried about this new variant and what it will do to travel so we'll need to see how that goes. I am fully vaxed and boostered though.