3 Lifestyle (and Financial) Differences Between Living in Portugal and Germany
It’s been one year!
… no no, this is not a pandemic post.
It’s been one year since I decided to leave Portugal and relocate to a new life in Germany! And in case you’re wondering, yes, that is the exact opposite move that many people dream of ;)
I left a seaside paradise to put down roots in a grey and rainy city with a weird language and wonderful bread. And while y’all know I never consider myself much of an expert on anything, I think it’s safe to say that I dove headfirst into both of my moves to Portugal and Germany, establishing a unique community, career, and lifestyle in both places, which the average person never gets to experience in any country besides their own. And while I made this move to Hamburg for my own happiness, there are still a number of things that my heart yearns for from Portugal, that I’ve found myself missing lately. So I’d like to use this post to celebrate the 3 major differences of living in both Portugal and Germany, and also let you in on the major pitfall that solidified my decision to leave Portugal.
1. Lifestyle
For starters, it’s nearly impossible to compare the lifestyle in Ericeira, Portugal with that in Hamburg, Germany. Ericeira is a seaside surf town, where I had the luxury of waking up in an ancient house, 100 meters from the beautiful sandy beach, every day. It’s a town that’s completely obsessed with the outdoors and I now realize how incredibly lucky I was to have surf lessons, hiking trails, and rock climbing areas all within a 30-minute drive of my front door. And best of all? All of these activities could happen SO spontaneously! I found that life in Portugal was full of surprises, and I was constantly making last-minute plans to try new things and see new places. (But when said plans were made, literally everyone was 15 minutes late.)
In contrast, life in Hamburg is more uh… German. And Germans like to plan. (Coincidentally, I also like to plan, so this works out well.) In Hamburg, not many things happen last-minute. Activities need to be booked, appointments need to be made, and life, in general, follows a plan. Something that might surprise you is that Germans, on the whole, are very outdoorsy people who love to travel, so the same adventurous activities exist in Germany, but with a lot more structure. Oh, and everything happens on time. Hallelujah!
2. Food and Drink
The differences between food and drink in Germany and Portugal are about as vast as the roadtrip between the two countries. The only thing they really have in common is a love of potatoes. (WHY?! Why does everyone love potatoes?) You’ll always find boiled potatoes with fish dishes in Portugal and restaurants in Germany, in my opinion, are not allowed to exist unless potatoes occupy 75% of the menu. (This is an exaggeration, but like, only by a few percentage points.) So apart from being passionate potato lovers, how do Germany and Portugal differ on the food and drink spectrum?
Let’s dig in:
-Germany is all about the beer and Portugal is all about the wine
And on this point, I have to say Portugal gets my vote. You’ve heard me say it before, but I’ll say it again: Portugal’s wine is some of the best I’ve ever tasted, and I’d give anything to be back perusing the aisles of incredible reds from the Douro Valley and Alentejo, at the massive Intermarche in Ericeira. Germany is also a big wine producer (this was news to me) but the focus here is more on Riesling.
On the beer front, if you’re a fan of light beers like Pilseners, then Germany is basically your mecca. While craft breweries are popping up left and right in Hamburg now, the standard German beer is light, crisp, and consumed like water. (Personally, I prefer the lagers from Portugal like Sagres, so yet again, Portugal’s beverages get my personal vote!)
-Coffee!
I love coffee. Portuguese people also love coffee. And one thing I really miss about living in Ericeira is the casual cafe culture. The number of small espresso-based coffees I had throughout the course of one day, meeting friends here and there for a caffeine fix in the sun, would make your head spin. These short, small sips of strong espresso are an integral part of Portuguese life, and best of all? Super cheap. We’re talking 1€ or less (or maybe 1.20€ for the fancy ones).
In contrast, German cafe culture is all over the place, in my opinion. Cities like Hamburg have an amazing selection of hipster cafes where you can get gorgeous flat whites (my favorites: Elbgold, Speicherstadt Kaffeerösterei, and Public Coffee), but in general, the focus here is on milk-heavy coffees, with really inconsistent results. (I’m probably going to get a lot of hate mail from Germans for saying this…)
3. … Money.
This one feels like the elephant in the room, and in a very unfortunate way.
One of the things that bothered me the most about living in a foreigner-filled town in Portugal was the discrepancy in salaries and cost of living. Of course, as a disclaimer, I have to say there are definitely many wealthy Portuguese people. But if you’re looking to work in Portugal for a Portuguese company, you could very easily be looking at a salary that is less than half of what you’d be making in Germany, or a similar European country. And that’s saying something, because salaries in Germany are already (typically) less than in the US as well. At the time of writing this post, the minimum monthly wage for Portugal is listed just above 740€ per month. In Germany? It’s currently almost 1,600€.
So while there are options to live in Portugal and work remotely for a company based elsewhere in Europe (and this is, in fact, what many digital nomads are currently doing), do keep in mind that this salary discrepancy is currently leading to a lot of division between locals and foreigners, which is one of the things I was happy to leave behind in Portugal. It’s my hope that in the coming years, Portugal can start to harness the power of being a paradise for digital nomads and find more effective ways for locals to benefit from this boom of financially-blessed foreigners.
The one thing I will say, before wrapping this up and letting you get on with your glorious Sunday, is that none of the things above are why I moved out of Portugal (though I was enticed by the higher wages in Germany). There are ways to exist on a lower salary, especially when a coffee break at the local cafe costs under 1€ and a glass of wine will run you around 2. And there are ways to learn Portuguese, despite it seeming and sounding impossible (at least for me ;) ). There are millions of ways to pick up and replant yourself in new surroundings all over the world, despite language, cultural, and financial barriers. I would know. I did it. (Twice…)
The only thing that matters, and will directly contribute to your success of said replanting, is your happiness. And don’t you dare go rolling your eyes at me now. Look at the past year. There hasn’t been much to look forward to, apart from exactly where we are. So waking up every day, grateful for the culture, language, and potato-loving people around you matters. For me, I find that morning gratitude every single day, as I open my eyes in my lofty Hamburg flat and look out at the rain (and 15 minutes of sunshine). And what’s funny, is a lot of Germans move to Portugal to experience that same feeling of gratitude, with a dash of salty, sea air.
There’s no one, perfect place for everyone to live. And it definitely took me a while to figure that out and find exactly where I belong. But now I can’t imagine living anywhere else besides Hamburg, which never would have happened without the life lessons I gained from Portugal. And hey, at least I got to try some nice wine along the way...