Removals from Folkestone to Portugal

Portugal is now the destination asked about most after France, and the reasons are consistent: a cost of living that still compares well, a coast less built up than parts of Spain, and a settled community that makes arriving less of a leap.

The move itself is not complicated. It is long, and it has one piece of paper at the front of it that most people have never heard of.

The certificate that sets the timetable

Relief on household goods entering Portugal generally depends on a certificado de bagagem — a certificate of baggage — applied for through the Portuguese consular service before the goods travel, supported by your NIF and evidence of the Portuguese address.

That is why we push people to start earlier on this route than on the other three. The inventory is ours and it will be ready. The NIF and the residence evidence are yours, they cannot be accelerated, and the vehicle does not move without them.

Storage is usually part of the plan

Because of the above, Portuguese moves rarely line up with a British sale. The common shape is: pack and load here, into containerised store, wrapped and inventoried; documents come together over the following weeks; the vehicle goes when the certificate exists.

That is quoted as one arrangement rather than two, and the storage inventory is the same document that becomes the customs packing list.

The road

Onto the shuttle at Cheriton, off at Coquelles, then the Atlantic side of France — Bordeaux, the border at Irún, and across northern Spain. From there: the A-52 through Vigo for Porto and the north; Salamanca and Vilar Formoso for Lisbon and the Silver Coast; Mérida, Seville and the Guadiana at Ayamonte for the Algarve.

Where deliveries go

• The Algarve — Lagos, Portimão, Albufeira, Tavira and the inland barrocal
• Lisbon and the Setúbal peninsula — the city, Cascais, Sesimbra
• The Silver Coast — Caldas da Rainha, Óbidos, Nazaré, Figueira da Foz
• Porto and the north — the city, the Douro valley, the Minho
• The central interior — Coimbra, Castelo Branco, the Serra da Estrela villages
• The Alentejo — Évora and the quintas towards the Spanish border

Finding the address

Coastal apartments behave as coastal apartments do anywhere — the lift and the parking are the questions. Rural Portugal is different: the last stretch is often a track, the gate is narrower than the wall implies, and the turning circle decides what we can send. Coordinates and photographs answer it better than an address does.

Damp at the far end

Worth knowing if the property has stood empty. Older Portuguese houses, particularly inland and on the Silver Coast, can hold real damp after an unoccupied winter. Delivering a packed household into a damp building ruins upholstery and books weeks after a move that went perfectly. If the house has been empty, say so.

Starting

Both addresses, your dates, and how far along you are with the NIF and the residence evidence. We will survey, quote in writing, and set out the order to do things in. See cross-channel removals for the options and Spain for the route sharing most of the road.