James Cave

James Cave is the founder of Portugalist and the author of Moving to Portugal Made Simple, now in its second edition with more than 450 reviews on Amazon. He also wrote German Men Sit Down to Pee and Other Insights Into German Culture, a humorous guide to German culture, which has more than 650 ratings on Goodreads. Originally from Ireland, James Cave has lived in northern Portugal, Lisbon, and the Algarve, and has written about moving to Portugal since 2016. He is known for no-fluff guides to the D7, the Golden Visa, and the Digital Nomad Visa, along with citizenship and buying property in Portugal. Follow James Cave on Amazon, Goodreads, and LinkedIn, or at james-cave.com.

My Top 7 European Portuguese Courses (Tested & Reviewed) — Plus 3 More Worth Knowing About

A person with long hair, wearing headphones and a light blue shirt, sits at a desk and uses a laptop. The desk is cluttered with notebooks, highlighters, and pens. A bookshelf with various books and folders is in the background.

The first time I came to Portugal as an adult and said I wanted to learn European Portuguese, someone handed me a textbook with a CD. It was dry, grammar-first, and boring. Plus, my laptop didn’t even have a CD player at that point, so it was already feeling very dated. I’d learned French, Spanish and German before that, and every one of them had so many more resources than European Portuguese. That’s changed. There are far more resources now, …

Read more

How to Actually Learn European Portuguese (Get Fluent — Don’t Just Play With Apps)

A woman wearing headphones smiles while looking at her laptop. She is sitting at a desk and taking notes in an open notebook, with shelves and plants in the background.

There isn’t one right way to learn European Portuguese. Some people start with grammar. Some throw themselves straight into immersion. Some sign up for an intensive course and grind it out until it sticks. Over the years, I’ve interviewed people who learned Portuguese by dating someone Portuguese, by binge-watching TV shows, by working through dusty old textbooks. They all got there. They all did it differently. So let’s get that out of the way first: there is no single correct …

Read more

Review: Portuguese Pro from Liz Sharma (Talk The Streets)

Screenshot of "Portuguese Pro (Beginners)" course page with lesson phases, resume button, and a sidebar with resources and session links.

Portuguese Pro is the most well-rounded European Portuguese course I’ve come across. It’s the only one with a full CIPLE mock exam and feedback on all four parts, and it’s built to get you speaking Portuguese in Portugal, not just passing a test.

How To Find A Rental in Portugal

A view looking up at four adjacent old buildings with colorful, intricate facades. The left building is red, the center-left is yellow, the center-right is white, and the right building is beige. Each building has balconies and multiple windows, with a blue sky above.

How to find and secure a long-term rental in Portugal as a foreigner: what it really costs, what landlords can legally ask for, how to rent before your visa is approved, and how to get your deposit back.

19 Honest Downsides of Living in Portugal: Which Ones Matter To You?

A person wearing black-rimmed glasses looks upwards, with a contemplative expression. Above their head, "CONS." and "PROS." are written, separated by a vertical and horizontal line, suggesting a comparison chart. The background is grey and plain.

Portugal’s biggest downsides aren’t the cold ocean or the pickpockets on the 28 tram. They’re an immigration system that can leave you waiting years for a residence card, laws that change while you’re halfway through them, houses that are colder inside than out, local wages that don’t match local rents, and how long it takes to make real friends here. Nineteen downsides in total. Eleven are serious enough that I’ve watched people leave over them. Eight are the daily irritations …

Read more

Practice Portuguese Co-Founder Joel Rendall: How He Reached C1 Level

Joel wearing a beige cap and green t-shirt is holding a baby dressed in white. The man is looking down and smiling at the baby, who is staring at the camera with a curious expression. They are indoors, with a shelf and a television in the background.

Practice Portuguese is one of the most comprehensive (and most popular) tools for learning European Portuguese. It’s something many people living in Portugal will be familiar with, but most people probably don’t know the story of how it came to be.  In this interview, I chat to Joel Rendall about how he came to live in Portugal, the difference between life here and life in Canada, and his personal tips for learning Portuguese.  Also worth mentioning: Practice Portuguese normally costs …

Read more

Travel vs. Health: What Insurance Do You Need for Your Portugal Visa (D7, D8, Etc)?

An older man sits on a couch, using a laptop with a phone to his ear, while a woman stands nearby packing a suitcase. The room is bright, with light-colored furniture and a clock on the wall behind them.

Almost everyone moving to Portugal on a residency visa ends up needing two kinds of insurance: It isn’t just the D7 and the Digital Nomad Visa. The D1, D2, D3, study, and family reunification visas all ask for it too. What most people do, and what I’d do: buy a travel policy that covers whatever your consulate or VFS office asks for and that can be canceled early. Then take out Portuguese health insurance shortly before your AIMA appointment, or …

Read more

© Portugalist 2026 - All Rights Reserved