Lisbon Neighborhood 101 Guide to Estrela | SPOILER It Is NOT 5 Stars for Us

Hey Expats and Travelers! It's Josh and Kalie from ExpatsEverywhere! Today we're going to talk about the neighborhood Estrela in Lisbon. It's quite big, close to the center and also a good mix of residential and commercial, but there are some disadvantages. Want to know why this popular Lisbon neighborhood is not 5 stars for us? Watch until the end to see our ratings. It might not be for us but it could be for you! Check out this neighborhood in Lisbon, Portugal.
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[@HoneymoonAlways]

If I had the time today I would totally hop on a scooter and get some Pasteis de Belem. Estrela is really hard to cover since it is so large and pretty diverse. I give it a 4 overall because of the area we live in since it gives us such great access to so many other places. But it gets a 5 when you add in the apartment we found :) But also some areas of Estrela are 3s for me. There are some areas that will be amazing once the metro is finished.

[@i0r-r-tjtkttl]

Hay guys, I am lisbon, and wonder if you guys have tine for a beer? I am away for a bit but will be back in early July.

[@ExpatsEverywhere]

Dan and Michelle are traveling now so they're not in Lisbon at the moment and I'm not sure if they're going to get a notification to check this message from you but I wanted you to know. - Josh

[@i0r-r-tjtkttl]

@@ExpatsEverywhere thanks. They said they are travelling, but will be in mid July, so I might have have to chance to meet them in Lisbon; I am now in Zermatt, and will be in Lisbon in a couple of days.

[@97Devils]

Greetings from Chicago! Your channel is amazing! I have been eyeing Lisbon for 6 months. 2023 is the goal. This video was fantastic to get a great feel for the neighborhood. Cheers!

[@ExpatsEverywhere]

Thanks, Brandon. Are you White Sox or Cubs? 😉 We hope that you check out the whole series. - Josh & Kalie

[@ppietrap3876]

hi! I would only point out that São Bento Palace is the Parliament building and not the official residence of the prime minister. The residence is behind the parliament though, and it’s called Palacete de São Bento (São Bento mansion), which could explain the confusion.

[@moward301]

Thanks again guys! I love how you always cover everything that's important about living in a neighborhood. I know I sound like a broken record but I really appreciate what you do for your viewers! When I get there, I'm buying you dinner!

[@ExpatsEverywhere]

Thank you, Mo. We really appreciate you viewership and support. We just got off a 90 minute call (they're usually 1 hour) with some of our Patrons on Patreon. That's honestly a community that we think you'd really enjoy being a part of. It supports us directly and allows us to connect with you better if that's something you're interested in. Let us know when you get here. 😁 - Josh & Kalie

[@moward301]

@@ExpatsEverywhere As soon as I have it all planned out and ready to go, I will. 👍🏾

[@ExpatsEverywhere]

@@moward301 Let us know if we can help.

[@moward301]

@@ExpatsEverywhere Will do. Thank you 😊!

[@Simona_midulcevida]

Love the haircut Kalie! Going to Spain this fall… Barcelona, Valencia and Alicante. Next year Portugal.. Lisbon and Porto!

[@ExpatsEverywhere]

Thank you. 😊 We hope that you have a great time traveling, Simona. - Josh & Kalie

[@Hello_Pri]

Such a beautiful neighborhood! I was thrilled to see the Nepali restaurant, as I’m originally from Nepal 🇳🇵❤️ my favorite food :) thanks for the excellent and informative video!

[@ExpatsEverywhere]

Thank you for watching! The Nepalese restaurant we had was great! - Josh & Kalie

[@JenShea]

It's always interesting to get your takes on these places. Every place is not for every person... but there will be some place for each person. :)

[@ExpatsEverywhere]

Thanks, Jen. You hit the nail on the head. Something for everyone. - Josh & Kalie

[@swatprof]

Good footage and nice discussion of our neighborhood. Well, as you point out, it’s quite large and varied. We live in Lapa, what you referred to as “the northern part” (near the Basilica) - and Santos (down the hill) feels like a completely different neighborhood than ours. Alcântara seems pretty far afield, so Belem, Ajuda and the LX Factory don’t feel like the near neighbors you suggest they are. Maybe that will change a bit after the Metro station is completed. Lapa has just a few good places to eat, but we are close to Santos, CDO, Praça das Flores, and the Rato area and that works for us. Except for all construction noise it’s pretty quiet. But the hills and the narrow cobblestone sidewalks would be awful for strollers. Not an issue for us. Anyway we are grateful to live on a flat street. Well…we actually sought that out.

[@ExpatsEverywhere]

Thank you. Estrela was such a tricky freguesia to cover because of just how big it is compared to the others we've have discussed. Like you said, it feels like a completely different neighborhood from one section to the next. One creator did point out that when they were talking about Estrela they meant Lapa specifically and as far as day to day life, we LOVE where @honeymoonalways lives. We'd move right in with them if they'd let us. 😉 - Josh & Kalie

[@cleaningtime8156]

Beautiful place thanks for sharing this useful information. I Love Portugal 🇵🇹

[@ExpatsEverywhere]

😊 Thank you! - Josh & Kalie

[@luisramos1609]

My favorite thing in this neighborhood is the Estrela Garden for sure. The Estrela Church is quite beautiful, and you can enjoy a nice view from the top. I believe there will be a metro stop in Estrela in the next few years.

[@tinglestingles]

We like Principe Real - really great parks! BUT I cannot even think of spending €XXXX rent per month there! Nice place to visit, eat, drink, shop and socialse. If we lived there or Estrella we would need our mountaineering equipment!!! BUT... for us, NOTHING beats Setubal!

[@ExpatsEverywhere]

Thanks for your personal take. 😁 - Josh & Kalie

[@bratboybobbee6938]

Thanks for this latest instalment in your series. Just came back from a trip to Lisbon, and stayed near Santos, and I have to side with Josh on this area. I personally found it to be quite busy, and full of hipsters, thus making it an area that’s nice to visit, but wouldn’t want to live there.

[@filipepedro8272]

Lisbon is losing its essence. The perks of development are playing against what LIsbon once was. Its turning very Instagramable and expensive. Very cool city to visit but live got my questions. I was born in Lisbon btw..

[@ExpatsEverywhere]

Thanks for sharing your take on Estrela. - Josh & Kalie

[@Yasin_Affandi]

Thanks for sharing this wonderful video.

[@ExpatsEverywhere]

Thank you, Yasin! - Josh & Kalie

[@Yasin_Affandi]

@@ExpatsEverywhere 🙂

[@terrisokolow7796]

Always enjoy these very informative videos!

[@ExpatsEverywhere]

Thanks for watching! 😁 - Josh & Kalie

[@anadossantos1429]

Always nice 😊 videos 💚 Looks like Cia 😊 is happy everywhere ❤️

[@ExpatsEverywhere]

Thank you, Ana. She's very happy in general but we tend to cut out the fussy moments. 😅 - Josh & Kalie

[@Aabergq]

We live in santos-o-velho area and walk 15min up to Jardim de Estrela - love that area! I thought LX Factory was in Alcantra, but maybe that’s also in Estrela umbrella? We are only a couple weeks in here so still learning haha. Great to know about rent/housing market, thanks!

[@edugarcia13]

I liked what you showed. What is your favorite neighborhood. I’m planing to visit Lisbon in March.

[@luisramos1609]

My favorite area of Lisbon is Saldanha/Campo Pequeno.

[@DarkPrinceOfClowns]

I hope to see more videos like this one, especially for the cheaper neighborhoods...and what is both cheap and good. (Especially near a beach) These videos are really good for their purpose. Although I would have loved to see more specifically which/what kind of bars and shops that was in the neighborhood. I mean... One may assume there is a grocery store, pharmacy, cafe and bar of SOME kind in ALL neighborhoods.... But those more special, like a Rock, Goth, Punk and/or Metal Bar/Nightclub (IF it even exists in Lisbon) as well as both counterculture shops and preppy shops and other more...unique places (comic book stores or parks or attractions and whatnot else)... would be nice to know where is too, and what neighborhoods that have them. As well as fish and farmer's markeds, yoga and other such things. And how easy/hard it is to get to the beach. It's a big part of how I choose where to live in a city at least, and I doubt I'm he only one.

[@ExpatsEverywhere]

Hey Joe, thanks for the message. We're glad that you like the video. Just to let you know, it would take a serious amount of time to create the video that you're talking about. We just able to do what we're doing now but hope that somewhere down the road, we'll be able to have a bigger production. - Josh & Kalie

[@portuguesehydrangea4818]

I can agree, it lacks a feeling. Not as cozy quaint as other areas shown.

[@ExpatsEverywhere]

Thanks for sharing. 😊 - Josh & Kalie

[@kriserts]

I’m really enjoying this series and hoping you’ve completed it before I visit Lisbon this fall so I know where to concentrate my visit. One thing-the way you name the videos, with the grimacing photos, is misleading. From just reading the title and looking at the cards I would have written Estrella off my list, but when I watched the video, it seems you actually liked the neighborhood. When I look back later I’m going to have to remember it looks like you hated Estrella but in fact it’s not bad. ;) Do you do this because of algorithms or to heighten the drama so people watch? I imagine it might be hard to think of titles every week when the city is overall pretty nice.

[@ExpatsEverywhere]

Hey Krisit, we're glad that you're enjoying the series. "It's good but not great". Neither of us gave it a 5 out of 5. Nobody should write-off a place based on the title and thumbnail without watching. It's like judging a book by it's cover and we all know how "dangerous" that can be. Regarding titles and thumbnails, they have to be clickable (not clickbait). We could create the best video ever but without a good title and thumbnail, "nobody" will watch and our effort/work would be in vain. The series is about the top 5 neighborhoods in Lisbon (a good city) as aggregated by blogs, lists, and other content creators we're friends with and like. So they can't be THAT bad. You know?

[@jazminkings521]

We are off to our first “scouting” trip to Portugal. We’ll definitely visit Lisbon and Porto among other smaller cities. We’ll definitely visit some of the Lisbon neighborhoods you featured in this series. Any advice to make this trip more productive and effective? Should we get realtor(s)? Any tip/suggestions to maximize our time there is highly appreciated!

[@transl8or_SBYT]

Thanks from South Korea! Is there any options other than idealista to see the listings within the price range described in this video? I've been looking for a T1 that is 50 sqm or larger, and not ground floor/basement unit. Prices just seem to start from 300k~350k range, if few crumbling apartments are removed from the list. I've tried imovirtual as well, but not so much difference haha...

[@ExpatsEverywhere]

Hey! Check out Casa Sapo casa.sapo.pt/ You might have some luck there. Inventory seems to be ever changing. - Josh & Kalie

[@christinepettis3514]

? to you both when filling out D7 Visa they ask if you have a contract with landlord in Portugal. How do you find an apt ?when you live in USA

[@mcp2112]

Did you guys check out the Chelas/Bela Vista area at all? Curious.

[@ExpatsEverywhere]

Hi Tom, not for a video. Sorry. - Josh & Kalie

[@db555]

Hey, I'm planning to visit Lisbon and Porto. How many days should I stay in Lisbon and Porto? Thanks!

[@db555]

??????

[@tenzen1302]

Your thumbnail is from another different couple of KZbinrs Ive seen on another channel. That's strange.

[@korjnev]

is the hell it legal to use word Neighborhood instead of area and district?

[@i0r-r-tjtkttl]

Will check it out.

[@ExpatsEverywhere]

🙏 Thanks. - Josh & Kalie

[@BlueMoon_24]

At 1:45 into transcript, What area are you talking about????

[@ExpatsEverywhere]

When we say this (Estrela) district is beautiful...? We're talking about Estrela. - Josh & Kalie

[@ppietrap3876]

It sounds really weird talking about Freguesias as neighbourhoods. I believe that the local population would probably pinpoint 2 or more distinct neighbourhoods inside Estrela.

[@ExpatsEverywhere]

We're sure they would, like Lapa, but we're also sure they'd disagree on where to draw the lines. We feel more comfortable talking about freguesias because they at least have administrative lines and can give people a general idea of where we're talking about without arguments of this Rua belong to that Bairro. - Josh & Kalie

[@ppietrap3876]

​@@ExpatsEverywhere true, neighbourhood borders are by "definition" blurry, and makes it troublesome to look at and talk about, however you do loose the local dynamics and atmosphere in a city like Lisbon or Porto if you try to look at it through rigid freguesia’s borders as if they were one single neighbourhood, specially in the old part of town. Just look at Ribeira vs Cedofeita in Porto, for example, even though they are part of the same freguesia. In Lisbon this becomes more evident when you look at traditions during Santo António and how different neighbourhoods compete with each other.

[@OxidantO2]

650-800 for an apartment in Estrela? really? Have you seen the prices? 1.5k is minimum for outdated apartment.

[@ExpatsEverywhere]

Prices have continued to rise and inventory is very, very low right now. www.idealista.pt/en/imovel/32207178/ www.idealista.pt/en/imovel/27581480/ The prices for T1s when the video was created were in that range for something that needed updating. This can give you an indication of how prices are rising, but it does sound like there are economic factors that will bring prices down in 2023 if things trend as they are. - Josh & Kalie

[@theresewheeler1498]

Humm it’s ok . But the price of the appartements are kinda expensive

[@ExpatsEverywhere]

Thanks for watching, Therese. - Josh & Kalie

[@jasperwinehouse9456]

If you don't like hills you should consider moving to San Francisco.

[@humbertomadeira3754]

Porquê Lisboa ? Margem Sul sabem o que é ??

[@dr.badass702]

Your channel is good. Your thumbnails are ridiculous.

[@ExpatsEverywhere]

Thank you? 🤷‍♂️ 🤷‍♀️ Is ridiculous a good or bad thing? Like slang ridiculous or crappy ridiculous?

[@dr.badass702]

@@ExpatsEverywhere Haha ridiculous like silly. I understand the reasoning - faces with extreme expressions = more clicks. It’s just funny that KZbin creators have to jump through these hoops to get views. I enjoy the content though, comment was meant as lighthearted ribbing - may have come off a bit harsh.

[@ExpatsEverywhere]

Thanks for the feedback. Honestly, we're at a loss apart from playing into human psychology and what works. We don't want to create a thumbnail or title that's clickbait in the sense that it doesn't deliver what the video is about. For example, we explain why we didn't rate this top 5 neighborhood higher. We're glad that you like the content and that you put up with our thumbnails. We're just glad that we don't have to "create" them anymore. We just turn assets over to someone. 😅 - Josh & Kalie

[@zsn6007]

Expats or imigrants?

[@ppietrap3876]

Those that you consider immigrants would hardly call themselves immigrants, they would instead say emigrants because they would first define themselves as having moved OUT of their country. It’s the locals that end up calling them immigrants because they see them as moving IN.

[@ExpatsEverywhere]

Both expats and immigrants are certainly emigrants. We don't play to live in Portugal for the rest of our lives and have lived in 5 countries in the last 13 years so due to the short-medium term nature of our moves and stay, we consider ourselves expats. If someone wants to call us an immigrant. That's fine, it's not an offensive term. - Josh & Kalie

[@zacharynickerson3412]

600 euros a month LMAO try 1600