HOME EXCHANGE IN LISBON – BACK TO PORTUGAL

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Home exchange in Lisbon last September was a long-waited return to Portugal for me. For a long time, we had thought about leaving Cape Verde for Europe for a while, so that my husband could get to know my background more and my friends and family. Island life in Cape Verde is relaxed and sunny, but change is always good and my longing to return to Portugal kept on growing.

In September 2023 we put our dogs in the care of our relatives, packed our bags, jumped on a plane and finally traveled from Cape Verde to Lisbon. The feeling of happiness when we saw the already familiar orange-roofed houses of Lisbon approaching from the window of the plane!

As accommodation we had a Home exchange home in the Campo de Ourique area. We carried all six of our overstuffed suitcases to the cozy first floor home, where we were greeted by a friend of the owner of the apartment. He introduced us to the place and gave us the keys. We settled into this traditionally cozy Lisbon holiday base well. Here we would spend the next 10 days.

ALWAYS CHARMING LISBON

Lisbon offered us everything we hoped for. It was wonderful to return to my old home city, where I loved to live. For my husband, this was the first time in Portugal and in all Europe, so I could act as a tour guide and at the same time enjoy his happy and surprised expressions while visiting amazing places.

We toured the center of Lisbon, admired the views of the Tejo River in the sunshine at Praca do Comercio square, got to know the old town of Alfama and the colorful Bairro Alto, where I have spent several fun evenings while living in the city. We spent time with our friends who live in Lisbon and went for a walk in my old neighborhood in Saldanha. We also went to spend a day in Sintra, because my husband had to see the famous Palacio da Pena during his first visit to Portugal. My husband is a big football fan and Benfica in particular is one of his favorites, so I had to take him to see the Benfica Stadium.

Lisbon is a great destination for a long or a short city break and offers culture, history, sights and lots of different things to do. There are also wonderful beaches near Lisbon, so the city is an excellent choice for combining a beach holiday with an urban adventure.

CHECK OUT THE BEST TOURS AND ACTIVITIES IN LISBON:

HOME EXCHANGE – FREE ACCOMMODATION FOR YOUR TRIP

Home exchange is a great way to get free accommodation for your trip, but above all it’s a great way to travel differently and experience life from a local perspective. At the same time, you get the chance to meet new people from all over the world, and sometimes with good luck, these acquaintances even grow into proper friendships. Homes are ordinary people’s homes, so you shouldn’t expect any hotel experiences, and homes often show their residents in one way or another in the form of goods, interior design and personality. Those who are fond of home swapping know that these aspects are the reason why home exchange is the so amazing.

Home Exchange in Lisbon is not our first home exchange. We have experiences already from many places and home exchange has enabled amazing travel experiences in different parts of the world, such as in San Francisco, Valencia and the Canary Islands.

If you are interested in HomeExchange and the free accommodation it enables when traveling, check out this link to the HomeExchange website and explore wonderful homes around the world! When you join, you will also receive a gift of 250 Guest Points, which you can use in your future home changes.

HomeExchange.com is a popular and very reliable site, which is also familiar to many from the movie The Holiday. In the movie, Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet swap homes with each other and get to know each other’s lives and homes in different parts of the world using this website, which we also use to swap homes.

Home exchange can be done by swapping houses at the same time with another person/family, where you travel to someone’s house to stay and they come to yours. This is the most traditional form and the essence of home exchange. It is also possible to make an exchange at different times, where, for example, you travel to someone else’s home and he goes somewhere else, but comes to your home for a home exchange some other time, and then you go somewhere else.

The third option is exchanging with using Home exchange points, the principle of which is pretty much the same as, for example, renting an apartment, but instead of money, renting is done with home exchange points, i.e. Guest Points. Staying with points also means that no one will come to your home, but you will give your points as compensation. We ourselves have tried each of these forms, always depending a little on the situation and needs of the trip. Each of these has worked admirably and I can recommend each of them very warmly as a form of Home exchange. 🙂 Grab 250 home exchange points here and join!