What My Portugal Workcation Taught Me About Work, Travel & Life
Living and working from Porto, Portugal for 3 Weeks
The first time I experienced Porto was in April 2025, for my 40th birthday.
It wasn’t my first time in Portugal. Years before, my parents and I had explored the Algarve, Faro and Lisbon, and I’d had a wonderful time. But Porto was different.
Porto was the first time I fell in love in Portugal.
With Portugal.
For most of my life, international travel had been something I shared with my family. Throughout my twenties and thirties, my parents and I had a tradition of choosing a new country to explore together every year. I loved it. I still do.
But turning 40 felt like it deserved something that was completely, unmistakably me.
And something that is very me is spending time with myself. So I booked the trip and spent 10 days alone in Porto.
From the moment I arrived, when the air touched my skin and filled my lungs, something about the city felt familiar.
It felt like home.
People have told me about astrocartography, the idea that based on when and where you were born, there are certain places in the world where you’re somehow more aligned. Now, I am not really an astrology person. I have an affection for the night sky, certainly. One look at the stars and celestial tattoos scattered across my hands and arms will tell you that. But I’ve never been one to plan my life according to it.
Still.
Porto has me wondering if maybe I should look into this whole astrocartography thing.
Because those 10 days felt longer than 10 days, in the very best way. Time softened. I relaxed. I explored. I wandered. And when I came home, I knew I had discovered something I wanted to give myself every year: time alone, somewhere in the world.
I didn’t know it needed to be Porto.
At least, not yet.
When a Vacation Isn’t Quite Enough
In 2026, I took my annual solo trip, this time in Madrid.
It was amazing. I had a wonderful time.
And then I came home.
I went back to work. Back to my routines. Back to normal life.
And something didn’t quite land. It felt like I was missing a piece of the ground beneath me.
I couldn’t quite explain it at first. Eventually, though, I realized the grounding I was looking for was something I had experienced without even knowing I needed it.
I needed to go back to Porto.
Back to this place that was very far away from home and, somehow, incredibly close to it.
I work remotely, and one day I remembered a colleague who had spent about a month working from Italy. I remembered taking calls with her while she was there and suddenly thought:
Wait. I can work from anywhere.
So why not actually do it?
I decided to go back to Porto for three weeks.
Not for a three-week vacation.
To live there.
So, What Does a Workcation Actually Look Like?
One thing about me: I am going to get my work done.
I had a global campaign preparing to launch in the third quarter. I had meetings to attend, strategy to build and work that absolutely still needed to happen.
So I didn’t want this trip to feel like a vacation where I occasionally opened my laptop.
I wanted to know what it might actually feel like to live and work in Porto.
I rented a little one-bedroom apartment with a full kitchen, dishwasher, washing machine, plenty of cabinetry and, delightfully, weekly cleaning service.
I arrived on a Thursday and intentionally gave myself the first few days to settle in.
I found my grocery store.
I joined a gym.
I found my cafés.
I bought groceries at the market.
I did laundry.
I even found a salon that specialized in Black hair and got my hair braided in Porto, which was something I never imagined I would be able to do in Portugal.
I wasn’t trying to squeeze Porto into the margins of a vacation itinerary.
I was building a little life there.
And then Monday came.
I opened my laptop and went to work.
And Something Changed
I have worked remotely for almost my entire professional career. Out of roughly 20 years of working, about 17 or 18 of them have been remote.
So working from home is not novel to me. It’s simply how I work.
But by my second workday in Porto, I noticed something.
I was incredibly at peace.
I started asking myself what was so different. I was doing the same work. Opening the same laptop. Joining meetings with many of the same people.
Then it clicked.
For the first time in a long time, work was something I did during my day. It wasn’t my entire day.
At home, even working remotely can quietly become a loop.
Wake up.
Work out.
Walk my dog.
Work.
Have dinner.
Binge-watch something.
Scroll TikTok.
Go to sleep.
Repeat.
Porto broke the loop.
There’s a five-hour time difference between Porto and the East Coast, so I didn’t need to start working until the afternoon.
Suddenly, my mornings belonged to me.
I could sleep in.
Have an espresso.
Go to the gym.
Come home and throw on something cute.
Go to a museum.
Visit the zoo.
Find a café.
Meet a new friend for brunch.
Wander around the city simply because I could.
And then, around 2 p.m., I opened my laptop.
I worked until about 10 p.m., closed it and went to bed around 11 or midnight, which is when I naturally go to bed anyway.
It was astonishingly easy.
And every day, I got to be every part of myself.
Not just the professional me.
Not just the traveler.
Not just the woman wandering around a beautiful European city drinking espresso.
All of me.
Three Weeks, But Also a Little Life
I arranged the trip so I worked during every week while still taking about a week and a half of PTO altogether.
One week, I worked Monday through Wednesday and then took the train to Lisbon, where my company has an office.
And there I was, working from one of my corporate offices in Portugal, something I don’t even regularly do when I’m home in Maryland.
My weekends and days off became their own little adventures.
I went to events at WOW, the World of Wine museum.
I tried new restaurants.
I wandered through museums.
I sailed down the Douro River.
I revisited places I had loved during my first trip and discovered entirely new ones.
And because I am both a solo traveler and a devoted connoisseur of a beautiful boutique hotel experience, I naturally managed to turn three weeks in one city into multiple hotel stays.
Of course I did.
Falling in Love With Torel Boutiques
I took a day trip to Guimarães, the beautiful historic city often called the birthplace of Portugal, and stayed at the incredible Torel Royal Court.
I explored the city and made my way up to Penha, this extraordinary mountaintop park that felt to me like stumbling into a secret garden.
That stay also started another Portuguese love affair for me: Torel Boutiques.
Interested in staying at the Torel royal court? → Check rates & availability Here
So naturally, back in Porto, I decided to book a spa day at Torel Avantgarde.
Just a spa day.
That was the plan.
The Spa Break package included a three-course lunch overlooking Porto, a one-hour massage and time to enjoy the pools, gardens and property.
Except the service was incredible.
The food was incredible.
The atmosphere was incredible.
The view was incredible.
The property was incredible.
And before I had even made it to my massage, I walked up to the front desk and essentially said, You know what? Give me a room.
😂
After my massage, I went back to my apartment, packed a little overnight bag and came right back.
My spa day had become a staycation.
Zero regrets.
Interested in staying Torel Avantgarde? → Check rates & availability Here
I Like My Souvenirs to Follow Me Home
I have never been particularly interested in souvenirs that simply announce where I’ve been.
I want things I can use. Wear. Touch. See.
Things that quietly fold themselves into my everyday life.
During my little work trip to Lisbon, I bought beautiful jewelry made locally that I now wear regularly.
In Porto, I found a ceramic shop and bought tiny ceramic espresso cups. Now I can drink my morning espresso at home from something that reminds me of mornings there.
The first time I visited Porto, I got one of my favorite tattoos: a paper crane with the shadow of a crane flying above it.
A permanent souvenir.
This time, I got my hair braided.
I brought home objects and experiences and friendships.
I even made a friend in Porto, someone I still keep in touch with and already plan to see the next time I’m in town.
Because there will absolutely be a next time.
Porto Is Part of My Life Now
I could not stop talking about this experience.
I told friends.
I told family.
I told people at work.
Anyone who would listen, really.
Because those three weeks affirmed something for me that my first 10 days there had only begun to whisper:
I need Porto in my life.
Not once.
Not as a place I can check off a list and say, Been there.
Every year.
I plan to return in the spring, perhaps around my birthday, simply to vacation.
And then?
I think another July workcation sounds pretty wonderful.
Maybe three weeks becomes a month.
Maybe a month becomes longer.
Maybe, over the years, I stretch the time further and further until one day I realize that a good chunk of my year is simply spent living in Porto.
I like that idea very much.
Because if you’ve already visited Portugal and think you’ve been there, done that, let me gently tell you:
Nope.
Porto is a world of its own.
The people. The culture. The architecture. The food. The wine. The river. The pace. The feeling of the city beneath your feet.
I love Porto.
And maybe Porto is not your place.
Maybe yours is somewhere else entirely.
But I hope, at some point in your life, you find a place in the world that surprises you by feeling familiar.
Somewhere you arrive and your shoulders drop.
Somewhere the days somehow feel fuller and slower at the same time.
Somewhere you realize that being away from your everyday life has brought you closer to yourself.
Somewhere far away from home that feels incredibly close to your heart.
And when you find it?
Go back.
I know I will.
