What's It Like to Live in Armação de Pêra?

Thinking about moving to Portugal? In this episode of the Portugalist Virtual Scouting Trip series, James (creator of Portugalist.com
and author of Moving to Portugal Made Simple) takes you on an in-depth tour of Armação de Pêra, a small but lively coastal town in Portugal’s Algarve region.

You'll discover:

• What day-to-day life feels like in Armação de Pêra
• Why it’s more affordable (and more Portuguese) than nearby tourist hotspots
• Pros and cons of renting or buying property here
• What the weather's really like year-round
• The expat and local communities you’ll find
• Access to supermarkets, restaurants, healthcare, public transport, and international schools

James shares honest insights about the town's charm—and its shortcomings—so you can decide if this sun-drenched beach town could be your new home.

Whether you’re a retiree, expat family, or beach-loving remote worker, this episode gives you all the context you need to consider Armação de Pêra as your potential new hometown in Portugal.

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Transcript

0:00

Are you interested in living in Armação de Pêra? Hi, I'm James, I'm the creator of Portugalist.com and I'm the author of Moving to Portugal Made Simple. I've created this virtual scouting trip series so you can explore Portugal and figure out where you might want to live. And today for our scouting trip we are visiting the town of Armação de Pêra in the Algarve. I know Armação quite well, I've spent a lot of time here over the past few years, I have family that live nearby and so I get to visit here very very often. Now just to give you a little intro to this town, Armação de Pêra is situated in the central Algarve region of Portugal, right on the coast. Now the Algarve is known for its year-round, warm weather, stunning beaches and large international community, particularly from places like the UK, Germany, Netherlands, Brazil and increasingly the US and Canada. According to the tourism board you get 300 days of sunshine per year if you live here, so that is definitely a pro, particularly in winter. Now Armação is a small coastal town, it has a permanent population of roughly around 5,000 people, though this increases to around 80,000 people during the peak summer months. It sits directly on one of the largest beaches in the Algarve, which is a stunning three to four kilometre stretch of golden sands. The town is located close to some of the most beautiful beaches on the Algarve, obviously it has its own beach, but it's also close to beaches like Praia da Marinha and to the nearby Benagil Sea Caves. The town itself is quite well located, it's not far from Faro Airport. Faro Airport is roughly a 40 to 50 minute drive away. This is a regional airport, it's reasonably large but it primarily has flights to other European locations like the UK, Germany, France and the Netherlands, but it's expanding more and more internationally, so we expect to see more and more flights here. Lisbon is roughly two and a half hours by car and the Spanish border is just over an hour by car, so you can pop over for some tapas for lunch. The west coast in the other direction is famous for its rugged beaches and great walking and that's just over an hour by car as well. So I would say all in all this town is quite well located being here right in the centre of the Algarve. Now what's the general feel from Armação de Pêra? This is a vacation resort town and it definitely feels like that during the summer months. It is changing. So in the past it did feel like it was primarily all vacation rentals here, many of which were empty outside of the summer months and honestly that's what a lot of the Algarve has often felt like. Now this is still the case in Armação de Pêra and in the rest of the Algarve, but I think more and more people are choosing to call it home. Also it is changing in another way. In the past when it had tourism, it was mainly tourism from other Portuguese people. Now we're seeing a lot more internationals coming here, people coming from all over Europe and even from North America as well. It is one of the more affordable coastal locations in the Algarve and that is attracting people again from Europe but also from places like North America, Brazil and all of the other popular locations that are moving to Portugal. Now I have to be honest, Armação de Pêra isn't the most beautiful town in the Algarve. I actually say that quite often about towns on the Algarve because for example nearby Portimão for example, Praia da Rocha, pretty much a lot of the towns in the Algarve, they aren't built with with aesthetics in mind. There are a lot of high rise apartment blocks for example and that's certainly the case in Armação de Pêra but actually the Promenade is really nice. It's fantastic for walking along or running along. It's flat which is a big selling point if you have mobility issues. Portugal isn't always the flattest place so this is something to consider. Behind the Promenade though, the buildings aren't quite as picturesque and they don't benefit from being right next to the beach. However, there are pockets of charm here. As I mentioned, I think the Promenade is really nice but you'll also find some history here too. For example, the 16th century fort remains, there's a few local churches as well, traditional churches and there are plenty of excellent seafood restaurants as well. The local market is very authentic and has some great fish and seafood in particular and one thing that I really love about Armação de Pêra is that you tend to have a lot more Portuguese people, whether living here or coming as tourists, than you would in somewhere like Albufeira, Carvoeiro, Lagos, pretty much any of the other coastal towns on the Algarve, most of which traditionally cater to international tourists and are often more expatty as well. But really it's the beach at Armação de Pêra that's the winner. I also love the beach area over at Senhora da Rocha, which is just a 10 minute drive from the town centre. It has a great beach too, a little bit more quiet, a little bit more private than Armação de Pêra. It has some great walking, there's a beautiful coastal cliffs walk there and it arguably has one of the most picturesque chapels on the Algarve. Okay, so let's take a look at how much it would cost to rent or buy in Armação de Pêra. Now this price actually can vary from the time of year that you're looking at. So at the moment we're looking in summertime, a lot of properties, even those that you might think would normally be available for long-term rent, they might be on the short-term rental market. If people haven't filled somewhere by, you know, the sort of springtime, summertime, they will see if they can rent it out short-term, there's more money to be made there and then look at renting it out again long-term in the wintertime. So there might be more properties that'll come up available in the winter months. You actually can have a bit of a problem in the Algarve with trying to find somewhere that is a continuous rental for a year or more because some people will only want to rent for the winter months and then they'll be thinking, I want to rent short-term after that. So finding a long-term rental can be quite challenging and as you can see here, there is only 12 properties showing at the moment for this. We've selected two-bedroom properties. You can see, so on the left-hand side, I've selected long-term just to exclude short-term rentals and I've also selected T2 which is a two-bedroom property. So T2 or larger, you can see that the starting price is roughly around a thousand euros per month for a two-bedroom apartment here. That would obviously go up more if you were to look at say houses rather than just apartments included as well and you can actually see that what's available for rent there at the moment, not a lot, big difference in price between the two. What if we wanted to buy here? That should be another consideration even if you're moving here to rent initially. If you fall in love with the place, you do want the option of being able to buy later on. So we can see that, okay, T0 is a studio, T1 is a one-bedroom. We can see that just coming in at under 200,000, what if we went for a two-bedroom property? Okay, so over the 200,000 mark here, probably somewhere around 225, 227, we can see this sort of seems to be the general starting place here. You can do more filtering here, you can look for new homes specifically, good condition needs renovating, things like that. Some people don't fill in all of the details so often it's better to look like, you know, just have as much open as possible. A lot more available to buy rather than to rent. We can actually see there's 302 properties available. If we were to look at a house instead, we would be looking, okay, starting price around about 250, 260. These look like they're ruined so you're going to need to do a lot of work there. This one here looks, okay, it's a house, I think it's a house, a garage. It does look like it could be almost an apartment though so you'd need to look into that one. You can see a property here, a sort of townhouse. Could need quite a bit of work, yeah, those look like it needs some work done on the inside. Here we start to see the main sort of area where the prices are coming in at around 500,000. So here's another one for 500,000, 500,000. So that does seem to be where the house prices start. As you can see, we have, you know, got this area on the map. We could potentially look a little further if we wanted to as well. If, you know, to live to the left or right of Armação de Pêra would be very good as well but the map has selected this as the region that this covers. But I think that gives you an estimate of what prices might be like to live here. Now what's the weather like on the Algarve? This is always a popular question. Well in Armação de Pêra and anywhere in the Algarve you can expect around 300 days of sunshine per year. Summers can be quite hot, often reaching 30 degrees Celsius or more, sometimes 35 degrees Celsius or more. For those using Fahrenheit I'm saying that 86 degrees isn't unusual in the summer and sometimes it goes to 95 or more. Thankfully Armação is on the coast, so that means there's an ocean breeze, so it's cooler than if you were inland. Now the big selling point of the Algarve's weather typically comes in winter. Winters here are mild and pleasant with temperatures often in the sort of high teen Celsius, so maybe 17, 18 Celsius, making it perfect for outdoor activities year-round. Is Armação de Pêra touristy? I would say yes, especially in August, which is when the Portuguese typically take their vacations. So the population as I mentioned increases significantly during this time and it does get quite busy. So does the whole of the Algarve of course. In Armação during this time you'll hear people from all over the world here, but specifically from all over Portugal. The restaurants, the other businesses can get quite busy during this time. Parking can be harder. It is a trade-off for living in such a beautiful location though. Is it expatty? That's another question that I've been asked. There's a growing community of expats here for sure. I'm seeing more and more people living around here who are from other parts of Europe or increasingly from somewhere like the US or Canada. However, it's I would say less so than other Algarve towns. I would say in terms of the type of expats you get, typically they tend to be retirees and maybe families. There are schools nearby which we'll get to in a second. There aren't a huge number of digital nomads here. I think there was a co-working space here but it seems to have closed down. So you may not have the same sort of vibe from other people working remotely or working in tech that you might find in other towns like for example Portimão or Lagos. Do people speak English? Yes, I mean obviously not everybody speaks English, but across the Algarve English is widely spoken. Armação de Pêra is no exception. I would say that most restaurant staff hotel workers and shop owners will speak at least some basic English, if not quite good English being honest. Of course, as recommended on this channel, it is a good idea to learn Portuguese. Not only will it be appreciated by the people that you're speaking to, but it'll make your life easier as well. Is it walkable? Yes, I would say it's quite walkable and it's quite flat. The pavements or sidewalks aren't going to be perfectly level. They could also be quite narrow. There are things to consider isn't going to be perfect by Portuguese standards compared to other towns. It is flat and it probably is very good for people with mobility issues to consider. These supermarkets as well are fairly easy to get to on foot because they're quite close to the town centre. So that is another thing to consider. Would I need a car? I think you could survive in Armação de Pêra without a car. You can get to the supermarkets on foot. You can get to the market on foot. You can walk to the beach. This is if you're living in the town centre. There's also a bus station here, so you could get the bus to nearby towns like Silves, Portimão and Faro. You could get a coach to destinations further afield like Lisbon, for example, like Porto. And the town is quite small though, so I do think at some point you're going to get bored. You're going to feel a little bit stuck, so you might not get a car straight away, but you may end up getting one. Eventually the bus service in the Algarve is quite limited and coming from here is going to be hard to go anywhere else without getting a connection. There is a train station nearby, but the closest one is probably Alcantarilha, and you would need to get a taxi or an Uber there. So that makes it a little bit more difficult. It does mean you have less options in terms of public transport. What grocery stores are there? There are a number of grocery store options and I think this is where it really shines. Pingo Doce is one. There's a Pingo Doce, there's a Continente, there is also a Lidl, and there is an Intermarché. The Pingo Doce, the Continente, the Lidl, they're all easy enough to get to. On foot the Intermarché is a little bit further outside the town centre. You have a few mini markets throughout the town. You also have more convenience stores. You have Asian run convenience stores which allow you to get essentials like olive oil, for example, but also other things, maybe exotic ingredients, spices, that sort of thing. Nearby Algarve Shopping, which is about a 20 minute drive away. There's a large Continente hypermarket, so you could drive there by car, and then you will find also nearby the food company, which stocks British and international foods, mainly British, I would say. So if you're looking for your British foods that you're missing, potentially foods from other European countries, that is somewhere to check out as well. There's no major shopping mall directly in Armação de Pêra. There are several that are easily accessible close by, particularly if you have a car. So Algarve Shopping, as mentioned, it has a shopping centre with a Continente supermarket. It has food court, it has a cinema, and plenty of clothes shops. There's Aqua Shopping in Portimão, which is about 20 minutes as well. Plenty of shops, particularly closed shops, a food court, and a large hypermarket as well. Does Armação de Pêra become a ghost town in winter? I would say no, particularly when compared to the other towns on the Algarve. And this is a major advantage of this town, because many of them really just focus only on tourism. And then come sort of the end of November time, definitely, you know, December, January, maybe even February, it can be quite a sort of tumbleweeds blowing through the town. And Armação isn't really like that. Yes, places will close or take a break, usually in January time, maybe another month. But for the most part, there is still life in the town centre during the winter months. And that's because there is a strong local Portuguese and international community living here. Is there a hospital nearby? So there is a local Centro de Saúde, which is your health care centre. But for a major hospital, you're going to need to go to Portimão, which is around 20 minutes away, or to Faro, which is around 45 minutes. There are also private hospitals nearby. For example, there's the Hospital Patricular do Alvor, HPA, in Alvor, which is around 25 minutes away. What schools are available? So Armação de Pêra has a local primary school and a kindergarten. But it doesn't really have a secondary school option. So you would need to look at nearby schools. Now since Armação de Pêra is in the Silves municipality, I would look here first, as this would typically make the most sense. That would be around a 20 minute drive. It could be longer depending on traffic. Now you could also look at nearby municipalities like Albufeira or Lagos. However, I would say you need to look at school buses. You would need to talk to the schools as well to see whether this makes sense. In this instance, the Silves school, the Silves secondary school, typically ranks higher than the other ones. So that's probably the one that I would choose. You also have several international schools nearby. So for example, you have the Nobel Algarve British International School in Lagoa, that's around 15 minutes by car. Traffic permitting, of course. You have the Deutsch Schüler Algarve, which is the German school, that's around 20 minutes. And you have the Dutch school, which is again around 20 minutes. There are more schools as well. But the proximity to these international schools makes Armação de Pêra a very interesting option for expat families, though you'll probably need to think about a car. You'll need to think about school runs as well. There is a great selection of restaurants here, from traditional Portuguese to international cuisine. I would say great for Portuguese, great for seafood. Also a large number of Indian restaurants, some Chinese options, Italian options, good vegan or vegetarian options. And there's also now a diner here as well. Finally, I think for those that are looking for a beach location and looking for somewhere that's Portuguese, this is a rare combination of the two. So people often say to me, I want to live by the beach and I want to live somewhere that's authentic and traditional. And that is hard in Portugal and that is especially hard in the Algarve. But this is one of the closest things that you'll get. You know, other towns like Albufeira, for example, Lagos, Praia da Rocha, they are quite touristy. They have, you know, mainly tourists coming in there, the businesses are focused on tourists, the restaurants are focused on tourists. You hear, you know, a lot of English spoken there or other languages. And that is less the case in Armação de Pêra. It is changing. But I think it still has a little bit of Portuguese term that you won't find in many other places on the Algarve. Now, where else should you consider? I think if you're considering Armação de Pêra, I would look at other coastal towns nearby. Pêraán would be one consideration. This is a small city, so larger than Armação de Pêra. It's a small city of around 50,000 people. It's about two kilometers inland, but it does have its own beach area down at Praia da Rocha. There's another beach, Praia do Vau, which is quite close as well. Praia de Rocha is more touristy than Armação de Pêra and more focused on international tourists. But you may find a place to live somewhere, let's say, between the city of Pêraán, somewhere between Praia da Rocha, where you've got the proximity of the city, but you can also get down to the beach. Another option to consider maybe would be Carvoeiro. This is a smaller, I would say more picturesque village that's close by. It is more expensive, it is more touristy, the beach is smaller, but it has a beautiful cliff top setting that I think is very beautiful. It doesn't have as many amenities in the town center. Armação de Pêra has, for example, supermarkets, and it is a little bit more hilly, so keep that in mind if you have mobility issues. Another option would be Quarteira. So this is closer to Faro, it's right next to Vilamoura. This town has a great long boardwalk, it's quite flat. Like Armação de Pêra, it tends to be where a lot of Portuguese people live, much like Armação de Pêra. So it's next to Vilamoura, which is a very touristy town, very modern town that attracts a lot of international people, but a lot of Portuguese people, a lot of Brazilians live in Quarteira rather than in Vilamoura. Those are just a few options of places to consider. Obviously, there are a lot more to think about as well. Now, if you liked this video, here's what to do next. Be sure to like and subscribe, just click that like and subscribe button. That way you'll get notified when there's more Portugalist content. It's particularly about places where you could live. Check out portugalist.com, where you'll find a free course that will teach you everything you need to know about moving to Portugal, for example, which visa should I get? Do I need to rent an apartment before I move here? How do I open a bank account? You'll find all of that information at portugalist.com forward slash university, and there you can get more information about Armação de Pêra and other Algarve towns as well.