Figueira da Foz: The Underrated Hidden Gem of Portugal

Figueira da Foz is a coastal city in the Central Portugal region with a little over 60 thousand inhabitants. However, it is an underrated hidden gem for tourists but also for those who live in the city.

There’s a saying among the Portuguese people that goes something like this: ‘My neighbor’s chicken is always better than mine’. The connection between this saying and the reflection we’re making here is that, usually, people born or living in a particular place tend not to give that place the value it deserves.

That’s certainly the case in Figueira da Foz, a coastal city in the central region of Portugal, with a little over 60 thousand inhabitants. A city and municipality that is famous for its breathtaking beaches, and for bringing together the sea, the river, the mountain, and the lagoons. Definitely, Figueira da Foz has all a territory can ask for: the perfect balance between true nature, urbanism, and tourist potential.

The potential is something that can be a certain characteristic of Figueira. A 2 hours drive from Lisbon, Portugal’s capital city, and a 1-hour drive from Oporto. If you don’t want to take care, you can access other major cities via train, or by sea, being the city’s port as one of the major economic features of the municipality.

With all of these features, you would expect that a city like this would flourish in development, art, and economy. However, that’s not necessarily the scenario. The city is losing inhabitants, mainly due to the high costs of living (house, water, and taxes). Economically, the municipality struggles to attract new investments, even knowing it has the major potential for new green energy industries, like offshore wind turbines. In the tourism department, the city is having a bad time beating the seasonality of the summer times.

Nowadays, tourists are merely passing by and sleeping, at max, 2 to 3 nights for travel. But the most alarming bells ring when are the Figueira inhabitants who are not capable of pushing the city forward. Mainly, poor political decisions have taken Figueira da Foz on a shrinking path.

For over a year now, former president Pedro Santana Lopes, who was also a Prime Minister of Portugal, returned to a position he already held more than 20 years ago. The main question that now needs to be made is: Is Pedro Santana Lopes capable of giving a big rehaul to the city’s future? We will make our part by giving our suggestions over the next weeks.