Setting up B & B in Central Portuga

[omostra06]

If you are thinking about b&b or guest house or even a medium to long term rental property, i would suggest trying to find a place in the area where most people want to live, visit, holiday etc.
South of Coimbra that is without doubt Tomar region, Tomar is a UNESCO world heritage site, it a lovely old historic town, with a great selection of resturants, the top 2 resturants listed by the tourist board for the Ribatejo are both in Tomar. we have plenty of art galleries, museums and cultural events. as well as all the normal stuff like sports centres, cinema, bowling etc etc, there is a university here so plenty of night life too. 10 mins drive from Tomar you have Castelo Do Bode lake, the second biggest lake in Portugal, 40 miles long, with hundreds of miles of shoreline, very popular all year round with water sports people, sailing, speedboats, diving, snorkling, water skiing, canoeing etc etc, all goes on here at the various locations around the lake, there are loads of marinas where holiday makers keep there boats and come for weekend breaks, these people are always looking for places to stay.( a lot of people from Lisbon,come here for short breaks) as its only about one hour to Lisbon, its easy to get to, the same applies to the airport, people dont like to drve too far to thier holiday rental when they get off a flight.

We get visiters and holiday makers all year round so any accommodation based business will do well, i know several people here that already have very good businesses here.

I cant recommend any properties to you here on the forum, my advice is just start researching the region on the web, get to know what is available for sale in the region and at what price.

You will find the prices of property here in the Tomar region are slightly higher than some more remote regions further north and east, these higher prices are a result of this region being very saught after, lots of people want to live here, there are good employment opertunities here, so a lot of the locals from smaller towns and villages move here and to other larger towns to find work, go to uni and have more to do, this leads to property here selling faster and at a slightly higher value.

As has been mentioned before, if your just looking for a house for you to live in, then you can choose any region that you like, but if you want to run a business and make an income, it is very important to buy and start that business in the right place. otherwise you will spend more money buying a place that is suitable for this type of business but get no return, therefore it would have been better to buy a cheaper smaller place and leave the extra money in the bank or invest in something else to make you an income. location is key to this type of business, some people do get it wrong and assume that if they open a b&b build a website, people will just come...they wont!

do a search around the web for b&b and guest houses, rental cottages etc, for the region one hour north of Tomar, you will find plenty of websites where the owners have been forced to place images of Tomar and the lake on the site to try to attract attention, so the gur~est will think its near by the lake, only to find when they arrive that its not....and done come back or recommend your place to others, better to have a place where you are close to these attractions rather than just try to trick your clients as some do.

[Mr.Blueskies]

"I have also seen properties advertised (with sea view)

They do not mention that to see the sea, you would need to have a
telescope and a very tall ladder. lol

[PETERFC]

Hi Mr Blueskies

I saw one that had a great looking pool. I enquired about the property went to view and there was no pool. I was told that's how it would look with a pool installed. I walked away.

Last time i looked at anything from an Illegal agent.

Peter

[Mr.Blueskies]

"You have no imagination Peter !

[John999]

Too old to see the investment opportunity

[Jamesie]

Hi Aisling

Welcome to the forum !
A good place to look is around the Vila Nova de Poiares area as it is only 20 minutes from Coimbra and the new 18 hole golf course will be built there in the next couple of years.
Also around Lousa as work has started on upgrading the rail link from Serpins to Coimbra. Property prices are reasonable and there are not many B&Bs around.

[Aisling]

Thanks a million this is great information It leaves me a lot to get on with checking things out etc etc.

[Jamesie]

Good luck with your search.
If we can be of assistance please contact us
Regards
Jim.

[Paul Sard]

Originally Posted by Aisling

Hi,

This is my first time to use this forum not quite sure if im using it correctly but here goes.

My Husband and I (We have two children aged 14 and 4) and we want to move to Central Portugal to set up our own B & B. What we are trying to find out is this area over run with B & B's already.

We have been to Portugal many times and find the people to be so friendly and lifestyle very relaxed.

Aisling

Hi Aisling

Its always good to know that someone have chosen Portugal as a Home and in your case as business location as well

[John999]

It is true that. This country is one of the friendliest countries in the world. It is in 7th place, regarding the international critic. Get it right and you will love it
John999