Visited in February of 2019 the week before Carnival. Great time to visit as there were hardly any tourists and only a few other travelers. Downside is a lot of the restaurants aren't open and some tours are shut down. Upside is you get to live like a local in a insanely touristy town 10 months of the year. We were able to grab a very nice 1 bedroom apartment in the old town center with a kitchen for 150 euros for 5 nights (30 euros/n). Probably 10-15 restaurants were open in the old town, including the main grocery store. It appeared most everything was getting ready to open for Carnival, which probably marks the end of the lowest season (Few days after New Year's to Carnival). We did all the touristy stuff, and saw no other International travelers but a few random couples and one Chinese tour bus that overnighted (Right as COVID was taking hold...) We walked the walls and saw less than 20 people in 2 hours. If you want to avoid the crowds you can't beat Dubrovnik in the winter.
Pros and Cons of Living in Ericeira, Portugal
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Pros of Living in Ericeira
Very safe
Fast internet
Lots of fun stuff to do
Warm in the spring
Good air quality on average
Nomad List members liked going here
Many Nomad List members here all year round
Spacious and not crowded
Very easy to make friends
Very easy to do business
High quality of education
Roads are very safe
Great freedom of speech
Democratic
Everyone speaks English
Very safe for women
Family friendly
Very friendly to LGBTQ+
Cons of Living in Ericeira
Too expensive
Gets cold in the winter
Hospitals are bad
Many people smoke tobacco
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This is another beautiful place in Portugal that got too crowded overhyped, and expensive unfortunately
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We play hopscotch with the dog turds on the streets and sidewalks. Ericeira is amazing and beautiful, our favorite place, but they need more grassy patches for dogs, with baggies and trash. They also need a cleanup crew like in downtown Lisbon to wash the poo and poo streaks off the cobblestone. It's very dangerous to walk your own shoes into your home, especially if you have kids who will then contract flesh-eating bacterias from feces, such as Staphylococcus Aureus. Too many people will just let their dogs defecate right in the middle of the walkways, and just walk away not even batting an eye. Even those who do pick up after their dogs, it leaves a nice streak, which then hardens into the ground for weeks, eventually turning into a layer of brown dust that covers the sidewalks. Other than this, I highly recommend Ericeira. It's one of the best places to live in Portugal. They just need to start being responsible with da poo.
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