I had a call recently with a couple in their early sixties who had spent a happy fortnight in the Algarve and come home convinced they wanted to retire there. They had already picked the town. What they had not done, and what almost nobody does at that stage, was look at what the move would actually mean for their pensions, their tax position and what they would eventually leave to their children.
That gap between the dream and the detail is where I spend most of my time. And it is why a recent piece of reporting caught my eye.
According to Sky News, a rapidly growing number of Britons are looking to retire to Europe, five years after Brexit ended freedom of movement. One firm specialising in expatriate affairs saw enquiries climb to 13,000 last year. The dream of retiring in the European sun did not die with Brexit. It just became something you can no longer do in an ad hoc way.
I want to walk through what that reporting tells us, add some context of my own, and explain why Portugal so often comes out on top for the people I advise.
Brexit did not close the door. It added a process.
The most useful thing in the Sky News piece is the reframing. Many people assumed that leaving the EU would be the end of Britons moving abroad. It was not. What changed is that you now need a visa, and each country has its own income thresholds, tax rules and inheritance quirks that you have to understand before you commit.
That is a shift from spontaneity to planning. And planning, done properly, is no bad thing. It forces the questions that people tend to avoid until it is too late.
The four most popular destinations remain Spain, France, Portugal and Italy. A third of retirees enquired about Spain last year, a quarter about France and 17% about Portugal. But popularity and suitability are not the same thing, and the right choice depends entirely on your own circumstances.
Eligibility is where the differences begin
The visa thresholds vary far more than most people expect, and they matter because they are the first gate you have to pass.
Spain’s Non-Lucrative Visa requires a pension or lifetime annuity of at least €28,800 a year, rising to €36,000 for a married couple, plus private health insurance. Italy’s Elective Residence Visa asks for around €31,160, rising 20% for couples. France sits lower, at roughly £14,900 a year per person.
Portugal is the most accessible of the four. Its D7 visa, designed for people with passive income such as retirees, requires around €11,040 a year, which is just under a third of what Spain demands. As one tax adviser quoted by Sky News put it plainly, Portugal is definitely the easiest to qualify for.
Portugal is also more forgiving on physical presence. Where Spain requires you to spend 183 days a year in the country, Portugal asks for 16 months across any two-year period, which gives families considerably more flexibility. It is worth noting that the retirement D7 route is a different path from the Golden Visa investment route, which I have written about separately, and which carries an even lighter stay requirement of roughly seven days a year on average. Which route suits you depends on whether you intend to relocate fully or to hold optionality while keeping a base elsewhere.
The tax map is the part people skip, and the part that matters most
Here is where I would gently push back on the way most people approach this. They choose the country first, emotionally, and look at the tax consequences later, if at all. That is precisely backwards for anyone with meaningful assets.
Consider the range across just these four countries.
Spain layers a wealth tax and, since 2023, a solidarity tax on large fortunes on top of regional income and inheritance rules that differ across all 17 of its regions. France applies a wealth tax to worldwide property assets above €1.3m and taxes capital gains on shares at over 31%. Italy offers an attractive 7% flat tax on foreign pensions, but only if you move to a small municipality of under 30,000 people in specific southern regions.
Portugal, by contrast, imposes no wealth tax at all. As the same adviser observed to Sky News, Portugal is probably the best jurisdiction if you are a high net worth individual, purely from a wealth tax perspective. It has no formal inheritance tax either, applying instead a 10% stamp duty on Portuguese assets passed on death, from which spouses, children, grandchildren and parents are exempt.
That does not make Portugal automatically the cheapest in every case. Pensions are taxed as income, and there is a solidarity surcharge on higher incomes. But for a family thinking about preserving and passing on wealth, the absence of a wealth tax and the exemptions on direct family inheritance are structurally significant. These are not marginal details. They shape what your family actually receives.
I would add one important caveat that the reporting rightly flags. Since April 2025, Britons who have lived outside the UK for more than ten years no longer pay UK inheritance tax on worldwide assets, only on assets held in the UK. That is a meaningful change, and it interacts with your destination country’s rules in ways that require proper advice. Getting the residence timing right is not optional. Get it wrong and you can find yourself exposed to two tax regimes at once.
Property, and a word of realism on Portugal
Portugal’s appeal has not gone unnoticed, and prices reflect that. Sky News reports Portuguese property rose around 19% during 2025, second only to Hungary in Europe, and close to 100% over five years. In a popular Algarve location such as Vilamoura, you might pay from €400,000 for an apartment and €700,000 for a villa with a pool.
I do not think this is a bubble so much as a country catching up with its own reappraisal. But it does mean the days of Portugal as a bargain are over. The Silver Coast between Lisbon and Porto, or the quieter far ends of the Algarve, still offer better value, and inland you can still find renovation projects well under €100,000. The point is to go in with clear eyes about cost, not a postcard image.
Why Portugal keeps coming out on top
When I sit with clients and work through eligibility, tax, inheritance, property and lifestyle together, Portugal frequently emerges as the best balance. Not because it wins on any single measure, but because it rarely loses badly on any of them. Accessible entry requirements, no wealth tax, favourable inheritance treatment for direct family, a temperate climate, a low cost of living relative to the UK, and a stable, welcoming environment.
This is the same conclusion I reached in my piece on why Portugal keeps coming out on top for people leaving the US, and it holds just as firmly for British retirees. The reasons are structural, not fashionable, which is exactly why they persist.
I have also written about how, for many families, a second residency is less about relocation and more about holding optionality as a form of risk management. Retirement abroad is one expression of that same thinking. You are not just choosing a nicer place to spend your winters. You are making a set of decisions about tax, inheritance and family that will shape the next thirty years.
Where to begin
If Portugal is on your mind, the practical work starts long before you choose a town. It starts with understanding your own tax position, your timing relative to UK residence rules, and how your pensions and assets will be treated once you move. None of that should be done from a brochure, and none of it should be rushed.
My colleagues at Elite Golden Visa handle the Portugal residency and Golden Visa routes directly, with real experience of the application process, the legal steps and the practical realities of settling in. And if you would like to think through whether Portugal genuinely fits your circumstances before you get into the detail of any particular route, I am always happy to start with a straightforward conversation.
The dream of retiring in the sun is very much alive. It just rewards those who read the map before they pack the car.
This article is for general information only and does not constitute regulated tax, legal or immigration advice. Tax and residency rules change and depend on individual circumstances. Please seek qualified professional advice before making any decision.
