5 Reasons to House Sit in Portugal

Thanks to House Sitting, we are currently staying in Portugal for 3 weeks, completely rent-free. 

Set in the Algarve, this House Sit has quickly made it onto the list of our three favourite House Sits. It's that perfect. So to celebrate this we've written a list of the top 5 reasons to House Sit in Portugal. 

1. The houses in Portugal are magical 

One of the things we love about House Sitting is that your accommodation is not only free but you're also guaranteed that it is:

• Better than a hostel
• Equipped with all your home comforts 
• Different every time

We are lucky that almost every House Sit we've done has come with its own 'perk': be it a sauna or a pool or your own vineyard. This Portuguese House Sit is no exception: it comes with its own Orange Grove! 

Like the vineyard, there's not a lot for us to do in terms of actually looking after the oranges - they are watered by a timer. All that's left for us to do is enjoy the fruit! Fresh orange juice has never been fresher. 

The house itself is comfortable and beautiful - with an excellent coffee machine and an awesome shower. 

The rest of the garden is wonderful too - perfect for practicing yoga (or giving up and sunbathing) and spotting lizards:

Of course we can't guarantee that the House you Sit in Portugal will have oranges or lizards, but we can guarantee that the house will be beautiful. All the houses are beautiful in Portugal, they really know which colours are the best for house painting (usually pink, white or orange) and they know how important a garden should be. 

2. The Home Owners 

Another thing we enjoy about House Sitting is the fabulous Home Owners we meet. These ones really welcomed us to their home with a fantastic Portuguese style feast complete with roast chicken, chorizo, wine and fresh orange juice - of course! They introduced us to the locals and gave us lots of insider tips.

I already feel like we are good friends with them (they will probably read this now and think I'm weird). But they are really great people who want to make sure we have a good time in their home and area. 

3. You'll experience the 'real' Portugal  

One of our favourite things about House Sitting is that it gives you a real insight into actual life in that country (rather than stimulated life in a hotel). We feel that it goes a lot deeper than any travel guide could. Even without the home owners' 'insider tips' we're still in the 'real' area - we've gone to the local markets and the coffee shops and spoken only Portuguese (actually, I tried really hard, but on two different occasions they thought I was German so we had to speak German for a while instead). 

It also takes you to locations you won't necessarily have heard of/thought about going to (and hence tourists haven't either). This House Sit is located in Algoz, a tiny weeny village in Portugal's Algarve (i.e. the South). It's so gorgeous, everyone is very friendly and life is sweet here. 

Algoz is far away enough from the beach for it to be almost devoid of tourists and thus completely authentic and unspoiled. But the beaches are still close enough (10 minute drive) for us to visit, which is great because they look like this:

Disgusting.

4. You'll have pets to keep you company

She's called Hyena - isn't that the best name for a dog?!

House Sits almost always come with a friendly pet or two to look after. On this particular sit we are looking after a dog who is a complete softy and we absolutely adore. We love all dogs but some you really just click with. Like this one. She just gets me. 

I call her hihi 

We are also pet sitting our first ever turtle! We can't say that we've bonded as much with the turtle as we have with the dog, thought not from a lack of trying. 

I've tried pointing out that we both love sunbathing and thus have a lot in common, but I don't think he speaks English.

I'm the king of the world!!

Incidentally, how do you look after a turtle? Well you mostly leave it be and don't try to talk to it in Portuguese. You feed it dry shrimps and turtle food and you clean it out when it gets mucky  (at least once a week). But always double check with the Home Owners first, maybe their turtles have different tastes. 

Again, we can't promise you'll be looking after a dog or a turtle. Maybe you'll get a whole pack of dogs or a couple of cats or maybe no pets at all. Whatever you do, please only apply to House Sits you can cope with :) 

All in all, these animals, the house, our home owners and Portugal itself are all really perfect which brings me onto my final point: 

5. You may want to stay forever

What with the weather, the pretty pink houses, the cheap, delicious food and the lizards, we are so tempted to stop House Sitting and just live in Portugal!! Luckily for this blog we still have lots of other exciting opportunities ahead.

But if you are serious about moving abroad, we highly recommend House Sitting there first. It will give you a real insight into the way of life of that particular country and help you make a more informed decision.

Of course it may create further problems for you: we now have to choose between living in Portugal and living in Italy.

But only after we've House Sat our way around the world.  

So what do you think? Do sunshine and beauty appeal to you? We got this House Sit (and all our other amazing House Sits) through the wonderful TrustedHouseSitters who we highly recommend. 

This is now the seventh country we've House Sat in (the others being Australia, England, Germany, Spain, Italy and Finland), but Portugal is one of the best for House Sitting.

If you have any questions about House Sitting in Portugal just let us know!

If you have questions about House Sitting in general, check out one of our latest posts: Should I Become a House Sitter - your FAQs

If you're ready to become a House Sitter check out this FANTASTIC ebook (if I say so myself) A Guide For First Time House Sitters 

And, as always, if there's anything we haven't covered, connect with us via Facebook, Twitter or email and we will get back to you asap! 

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