As we enter the holiday season, I am seeing a lot of posts about how to ship packages to Portugal, specifically from outside the EU. In most countries, this is a no-brainer: an item is shipped, you wait, and the package arrives. Easy, right? That’s how the mail is supposed to work.
Well, in Portugal, it’s a bit more complicated than that.
When I moved from Thailand to Portugal in 2019, I had to ship most of my belongings. I shipped one box of valuables via DHL and the rest I sent through the standard Thai/Portuguese mail systems. I paid the shipping fees and export taxes in Bangkok, and then flew to Porto.