How have our first two months as 'campground owners' in Portugal been?

Last year, during a trip, the idea arose to buy a campground abroad. It quickly became clear that it had to be in Portugal. Below, you can read about our first experiences!

Emigrating to Portugal

On January 30th, we arrived late in the morning. We moved into one of the studios because we wanted to work on renovating our house. The previous owners were still in the process of moving out, so during the first two days, we got to work on the grounds. We started pruning, raking, sweeping, and pruning some more. On February 1st, we received the key, though the process didn’t go as we had imagined.

We had planned for the handover to take place at the notary on February 1st. However, the bank threw a wrench in the works, as the mortgage had not yet been finalized. We only learned this a few days beforehand, which caused quite a bit of stress. In the end, we agreed to move into the house under certain conditions. This was a relief, but it also felt strange since the property wasn’t officially ours yet.

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Renovating the House

Of course, we thought we had everything under control. By now, we had already checked off item #1 from a typical “I’m Moving Abroad” episode—a mortgage that wasn’t finalized. Item #2 quickly followed: part of the first-floor flooring was rotten, and not just a little. In Portugal, the concept of “hidden defects” doesn’t exist, so we rolled up our sleeves. Thanks to our very kind Portuguese neighbors across the street, we got in touch with a contractor who replaced everything in a short amount of time.

We got to work cleaning, laying floors, and painting to ensure everything was ready before the moving truck arrived. Thankfully, my parents were there to help out with the renovations.

By February 10th, the moving truck arrived. Literally in front of the door—because it couldn’t make the turn to get onto the property. No problem: three hours later, all our belongings were inside the house. The unpacking could begin. At that point, emigrating to Portugal felt truly official!

One of the things we love about where we live is t

🌿✨ Today, we visited Agua Formosa– one of t

Last Saturday, we hosted our ‘Dia de Aberto’ t

WE ARE OPEN 🏕️🏕️🏕️#campsite #campsi

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The Studios and Apartments and the Handover

Once we had unpacked most of our belongings (it rained quite a bit those days), we started renovating the rental apartments. We began with the apartment, as it needed the most work. We painted, cleaned thoroughly, and gave it a makeover with new furniture, creating a fresh and inviting atmosphere. It’s hard to list everything we did because, in the meantime, we were also working on the grounds extensively.

The final handover took place just before Sanne and Yves had to return to the Netherlands for a few weeks. It was quite an experience—Emile, Yves, and I at the notary’s office. Present were the previous owners, bank representatives, our lawyer (a Dutch-Portuguese speaker), and the notary. After a lot of discussions, the purchase agreement was read out loud while Yves entertained himself with a video on the iPad, occasionally bursting into laughter.

And all of this happened in Portuguese, while our language skills were limited to barely being able to order a coffee. Curious about how our Portuguese is coming along? Read more!

A Quick Trip Back to the Netherlands

At the end of February, my little boy and I had to return to the Netherlands for a few weeks. I’m currently finishing my yoga training and wrapping up the last tasks for my previous job. It felt very strange to be away at the beginning. We even decided to open the campground a few days earlier (instead of March 15th) in the hopes that I could still meet the first guests, but unfortunately, that didn’t work out! Now, I’m keeping track from a distance while Emile is busy running the campground.

There’s now a new BBQ for guests, a fence around the pool, and many other improvements have been made! The countdown has truly begun— in three weeks, we’ll be flying back to Portugal for good!