As you may know..we are looking for land near Viana do Castelo for two new holiday homes: Yuna Three and Yuna Four. So far we have visited more than twelve plots in Northern Portugal. Finding land would be the easy part, right? Well.. It isn’t. Online, every plot looks good. A view, a price, a few photos. Then you stand there and learn what the photos leave out. This is what we have learned so far.

Looking for land near Viana do Castelo

Agency photos are often taken from a drone, on a clear day, and then edited. On the ground you stand in ferns up to your waist and look at a hedge. Some agencies also add AI images of what you could build. A white villa, an infinity pool, a perfect lawn. Sometimes on a plot where you could never build anything like it. They look great. They have very little to do with reality.
So when we see the perfect picture now, we know it tells us almost nothing. We go and look, and we when we feel a good vibe we go back again at a different time of day to see if we still have that feeling again. If not, the story continue and we move on to the next plot and so on and so forth.

The neighbours you don’t see online

No listing tells you who lives next door. One plot was quiet and green, a really nice spot. Then we noticed the daycare right next to it. Great for families, less so for a place where guests come for calm. At another plot, a dog stood on the roof of the house next door. It watched every step we took, ready to jump. So that ended in a short visit. And one plot had a wonderful view over a green valley, with a paper mill a few kilometres away. On some days, you can smell it. In summer the wind usually blows from the north-west, exactly from that direction. So again another no go.

Fire and forest

Northern Portugal is green because it rains a lot. The forests are beautiful, but it can also burn. Since 2021, Portugal has strict rules for building near a forest. In areas with a high fire risk outside towns, you often cannot build a new house at all. Where you can, you have to keep a strip of up to 50 metres around the house clear of anything that burns easily. Every year! That changes how you look at a plot completely. A house tucked into the trees sounds lovely. In practice it means clearing, permits and a lot of extra expenses. And you cannot simply cut everything down. Cork oaks and holm oaks are protected, and you need permission to remove them. We wouldn’t want to anyway. They are part of why we love this region. Cork oaks have thick bark that is hard to burn, and some say they can even help protect a house. A plot full of eucalyptus is the opposite. It burns like paper. It does smell nice, though. This is yet another obstacle on the journey of this ‘fun’ new chapter for Yuna.

What you are allowed to build

An advert can call a plot building land, while the municipal plan says otherwise. Every municipality has its own zoning plan, the PDM. It decides whether land is urban or rural, how much you may build and how high. Often only the strip along the road is building land. The rest is farmland. Then there are the rules for holiday rentals. Whether you can get a new licence (Alojamento Local) also depends on the municipality. So before we buy anything, we ask the council for a formal answer, a so-called PIP (pedido de informação prévia). It takes time but it also saves a lot of regret. So highly recommended to do these things before you go any further.

Can the lorry get there?

We will most likely build with modules made in a factory. That is quick and clean on site. But the modules arrive on a large lorry, and a crane lifts them into place. So every plot now gets one more test: can a lorry reach it? A narrow lane, a sharp bend, a low wall or overhanging trees can rule out a plot that looks perfect. We now check the route as carefully as the view.

The slope, the water and the foundation

Many plots with a view sit on a slope. That is why they have a view. But building on a slope costs more than you think. You need retaining walls, more earthworks and a stronger foundation. A pool on a slope needs even more. And if you hit granite, digging gets slow and expensive. Water matters too. In winter it can rain hard here in the North of Portugal, and all that water runs downhill, straight through your plot. Without good drainage, it ends up under your house. None of this shows in a listing. It can still take a large bite out of the budget.

Why we don’t do this alone

We have help. The team at Find Land Portugal searches with us and checks every plot we find. They are sharp, and they are not afraid to say no. When a plot is not right, they tell us: don’t do it, and here is why. That is why we never buy on a feeling. We look, we ask, we check. Only then do we decide.

What we look for now

After twelve plots, our list is short and very practical:

  • Calm, with an open view, ideally of the sea
  • Building land in the PDM, confirmed by the council
  • No dense forest right next to it
  • A route a lorry can drive
  • A gentle slope, not a steep one
  • Neighbours we would like to have ourselves

We haven’t found it yet. But every visit teaches us something, and it makes us look at Yuna Three and Four with fresh eyes. When we find the right plot, you will read it here first. Staying with us in the meantime? Ask us about it. We’re packing more stories than this blog can hold.