Lisbon - Post Report Question and Answers
What is your housing like? What are typical housing sizes, locations, and commute times for expatriates?
Large house with pool in the suburbs (Cascais). Feels like a snooty gated community--all of the houses have large walls and no one talks to their neighbors. Takes 20-50 minutes to Lisbon depending on traffic. There are also apartments in the city. - Apr 2021
Apartment within the city. Many expats live out near the seaside in Cascais, which is beautiful, houses are on offer, but the commute is usually about an hour. My apartment within the city was walking distance to the diplomatic mission, near the metro, near a train station and also 5 minutes to the airport. - Sep 2016
Most families live out of Lisbon in houses, some have pools. Singles and couples tend to live in the city. But that is also changing and some families are choosing to live in the city, many apartments have pools. The kids do have a longer commute to school if they go to the American School. Apartments are nice, parking spots can be very small. Some kitchens are small, with small ovens. Not lots of storage. But walking to work is nice and you are close to restaurants, shopping, metro. If you live in Lisbon you can survive without a car. - Aug 2015
Housing in the embassy pool is not the best I've experienced but definitely suitable. For families of 4 or less, you'll get decent housing whether in Lisbon or in the suburbs. Larger families may be a little tight for space. Housing in the suburbs you'll most likely get a pool and a commute time of about 45 minutes with a per trip toll of US$2 for small cars and about US$3.5 for larger cars. However, for some suburban areas (Parede) you will not have to worry about tolls and commute is about 25 minutes. In Lisbon, you'll get an apartment maybe with a building pool, door man, and separate storage for stuff. Some apartments are close enough to walk to work in 20 minutes or so, but most you'll need to drive in, unless you can walk for 45cminutes. - Jul 2015
The housing pool is divided into two - apartments in the city and houses in the suburbs. The houses, all generally located in the upscale Cascais area, are large, comfortable and have pools, for the most part. They're also closer to the International schools. Traveling to work takes 40 minutes and includes road tolls both ways, which can add up. Some use public transport, but it involves at least two kinds of transportation (train, then bus or metro) and can take upwards of an hour. Apartments in the city are sprinkled in a convenient radius around the Embassy, and generally close to public transportation. With a few awkward exceptions, the apartments are comfortable, spacious. - Jun 2012
Suburb living comes in any shape and size desirable. Commute to the city if working in central Lisbon varies from 30 min to 1 hour depending on how far out along the linha you are in the suburbs (going north along the coast) and the traffic patterns which are much, much heavier during the school year. City living is apartment living and quite small, but very convenient, many amenities. Can be noisy due to air traffic patterns over the heart of the city. Parking is limited. - Oct 2011
For Embassy employees, it's either in the city (people are spread all over the place) or Cascais. If you're in the city, you can get to and from work in 10-15 minutes, unless there's a bad traffic jam (happens once in a while). If you're in the suburbs, it's 30 minutes without traffic but the traffic can get very backed up. And you have to pay really expensive tolls. People with kids generally go to Cascais to have a big house and pool, though some recent Embassy employees with kids have bucked the trend for the convenience of the city. - Aug 2011
Apartments in the city and houses in the suburbs. They are generally nice, but bedrooms can be on the small side. - Aug 2010
Best housing I have ever had, although we live in downtown Lisbon with a family; something not everyone would want to do. We were the only family with school-age children to live in the city when we arrived, but several others have made the same choice since then.our commute is under ten minutes, while the suburbanites are about 40 minutes if they leave the house by 7:30 am, or much much longer if they leave later. Kids commuting to the American school from the city go counter-traffic and make it in small vans in about 30 minutes.kids in the suburbs ride big buses and it still takes them 30 minutes or more due to all the stops.of the suburban houses, I've only seen one that I wouldn't want to have.all the apartments are nice, but the downtown ones have character and convenience to city life and the ones on the outskirts of town have amenities like pools and tennis courts. The embassy also has a pool and tennis court, so we use that on weekends. - Sep 2008
