You'll find it almost impossible to get anything for €300 for that spec. If you truly have to have a swimming pool then probably the closest option you can get is a house in the countryside. You should be able to get something semi decent for < €500 a month or less if you gave up on the requirement for swimming pool. Even in sunny Portugal though you'd only be using a pool from June to early October at best and it'll be difficult to get a short term let of a house with a swimming pool over this period as people can make a lot more from holiday letting over the summer months.

I find once you live somewhere and not in holiday mode anymore people rarely use their swimming pools so I wouldn't rate them as a must-have.

If you want to know more I'll speak to you when I see you in Seoul in 2 months

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I read that too... in short it looks like BS. The only bit that I think is quite possibly true is that company are meant to have a monopoly and might very well want the government to crack down on online gambling - in fact I think I read on a portuguese poker forum that this was the case, however so far any action from the government is limited at best and I don't think extends to getting ISPs to block sites, frankly they got far bigger concerns.

My own experience of it - I'm not a sports bettor usually but have never had any probs doing it online the few times I've had. I know bwin have been forced to stop advertising here. In regards to poker all the regular sites that are available anywhere else in Europe are available here. I've never had any issues, and my ISP is the main national one TMN. I haven't heard about other people being blocked, if it's happening I'm not aware of it. The way legislation is going though that could all change somewhere down the line. If I had to guess and it's just a guess based on the way things work here (slowwwww) it'll take a while to be regulated - perhaps more than 2 years, but I think it'll ultimately get regulated here. I wish they did it EU wide, instead of piecemeal country by country, give the money earned to the bailout fund or some other worthwhile cause like Berlusconi's whoring fund

yeah tbh just a sign of how fragmented the EU is now- you really do wonder what we`re paying all those MEPs for now. Spain, Portugal and Italy never gave a flying **** about rulings in the european courts and EU law- no surprise they`re taking illegal moves to clamp down on the gambling. It`ll be 15 years at least before a pokerstars.eu at this stage

I'm the Brit and the gyopo is American, the NZ'er is married to a Korean so his Korean is v good which is useful. I think we'll be the only guys from Daejeon so just shout out Daejeon (pronounced day-jon) randomly and one of our ears will pick it up!

With Regards2Portugal, I dont need my own pool, but a communal pool is fine. Just want to turn up, have a couple months there, chill in the sun, grind some poker at night, lounge around at the pool, have a few beers. Generally want 4 months because I intend on going to SEAsia from Oct-May and get outta there for rainy season.

I could go further into it but it's not the politics forum so don't want to go off tangent on this area, but yeah suffice to say it's a pity the way the EU has gone in recent times alright.

By the sounds of this the Algarve is your only realistic option. I'm far from an expert on the Algarve tbh. In general it's more expensive there than the rest of Portugal due to the high percentage of ex-pats that live there. But imo it does have the best weather - milder and less rainy winters and if you're near the coast normally (2 summers ago Algarve was scorching) not excessively hot like other regions can be. If you were to share with others then €300 a month would be doable I imagine, I doubt if you could something niceish just on your own for that sort of money.

I've also been asked via PM a couple of questions which I'll answer here

1. if bwin was only forced to stop advertising, but still accepts bets from Portuguese IPs?

AFAIK this is the case. I read two articles http://pokerpt.com/forum/post303101....t=bwin#p303101 , http://www.dn.pt/inicio/portugal/int...ent_id=2234839 (obviously these articles are in Portuguese - so use a translating tool - should be able to give you the gist of it) which suggest to me that Bwin have been forced to stop advertising and sponsoring here but nothing I read suggests that they have been forced as yet to stop operating here. But let me be clear I haven't placed a bet since last summer so I'm not a big sports bettor and it's possible that things are happening that I'm not aware of - I do know people who are regular sports bettors and haven't heard that they have to stop, but I will ask.

2. Which areas of Lisbon would you recommend when looking for an apartment (would looking for a modern, furnished 1bedroom apartment up to 800-1.000 EUR per month incl. all utilities).

I'm not at all an expert on Lisbon especially in terms of the good areas to live. I only go there to visit 4 or 5 times a year and stay centrally. For 800 to 1000 euros I think you can find yourself a nice one bedroom apartment no problem though and at that price it should virtually be by default in a good area. If you want to go out and party it up - the main area for this is the Bairro Alto - this is within walking distance of the centre (though a steep walk as it's on a hill - like much of the old city)

The best thing to do really is google estate agents (imobiliarias in Portuguese) there - www.remax.pt is one of the largest estate agents and many private renters use sites such as olx http://lisboacity.olx.pt/casa-partam...luguer-cat-363 - of course to contact private renters you'd need to communicate in Portuguese. A good way to enjoy a cheap trip to Lisbon imo is to stay in a good hostel there then you could check out the different areas and get a feel for what would suit you - Lisbon has some of the best hostels going. just check them out on hostelworld.com or one of the other hostel booking sites.

it is not true.
even tough scml has the monopoly of gambling in portugal.

sorry about not updating as much as i could, but im having same real life issues atm.

but you can ask what you want as usual.

Hi, I'm coming to Lisbon from Helsinki, Finland as an exchange student for 5 months in the beginning of February and I have few questions. Are cash games rolling every day at Casino Lisboa? Stakes? How good are the games? What kind of tournaments? Or should I rather go to Casino Estoril?

Do you know anything about my school Universidade Nova de Lisboa?

What Portuguese people generally think about Finnish people after this and all...? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXw5f...layer_embedded

Thank you!

dont know for sure about the cash games in casino de lisboa.

they do have tournaments and a lot of sattys for those.

in casino estoril there is always a running game of NL200 (with an electronic dealer) and an upper room where they play NL1000 or higher by request.

i guess games are pretty soft if you have experience.

also lots of tournaments and sattys for them.

your university is a great one and has a great reputation. it is also located at the heart of the city.

most educated portuguese people admire a lot the people and the way they organize society in the scandinavian peninsula.

girls are also mad with that biotype, so you should do great here.

Thank you for the info! Sounds great Can't wait to get there!

If I would go to the university in lisboa would I be able to study there without knowing portugiese?

At least New University of Lisbon have courses in English for both exchange students and locals. Though I'm not sure if you can do your whole studies in English but I would assume you could.

Hey, D33P, thanks for creating this thread . I've cancelled my flat here in Austria and I am looking to move elsewhere in late February. Portugal only just recently crossed my mind as a serious option, even if it is just for the next year.
Growing up in London, I'm naturally attracted to large cities, however I would also really like to learn how to surf and don't necessarily want to have to make long trips every day to get to a surf spot. If I were to move to Portugal, I would also like to learn Portuguese whilst I'm there, so language school or language teacher considerations are also of interest to me.
What area would you suggest I look in. Algarve?

if surfing is a big plus i would say Ericeira (nearby Lisbon) and Costa Vicentina (the shores of Alentejo).

As you are more attracted to large cities i would recomend Ericeira.

very hard, as close to impossible imo.

@ D33P

Thanks, will check it out.