Working Holiday in Portugal

From mid-January until mid-February in 2015, I worked in Casa d’Alagoa Hostel located in sunny beachy Faro, Portugal in the stunning Algarve region in the south of the country.

Before arriving, I had never visited Portugal, nor had I stayed in this particular hostel as a guest. I had solely communicated with Nuno, one of the owners, through HelpX messages and then through personal emails.

Situation breakdown: a previously confirmed HelpX-er cancelled at the last minute, which opened up an immediate opportunity. I was in southern Spain when I got a message from Nuno and arrived at Casa d'Alagoa's door within 4 days of receiving this initial invitation. This is not a normal timeframe, but it certainly isn't rare either. Plans change, and luckily this time it was greatly in my favour!

The three-year-old hostel was owned and operated by two Portuguese men, Diogo and Nuno. Diogo had previously worked in the hostel industry in Lisbon.

Both men currently lived in Faro and were around the hostel during most regular business hours, but wanted volunteers for hours they and their staff were unavailable.

The hostel team consisted of four full time staff and two or three HelpX volunteers at any time. This group, both locals and volunteers, was wonderful and formed my little family during the time I was in Faro.

As HelpX-ers at this particular hostel, we were responsible for night and weekend shifts at reception.

Like you could imagine our daily tasks included: setting out breakfast for guests, checking people in and out, assisting with the daily dinner preparation (everything but the cooking), and being helpful for the team and guests alike.

We usually received our schedule a few days in advance, which was plenty of time to make outside arrangements (day trips, bike rides, hikes, etc.) if we wanted to do so.

If you were not scheduled to work, you could, and were encouraged to, do whatever you wanted. I took great advantage of this. During my working holiday, I was able to easily visit Lagos, Lisbon, Sintra, and Porto, in addition to leisurely exploring Faro and the Algarve.

Having a home base at Casa d'Alagoa allowed these shorter trips more versatility because I carried with me only a small backpack and could easily change my schedule according to new opportunities or simply on a whim.

For example, on the way to Porto from Faro, I hopped off of the train in Lisbon, caught another short train, and spent a day at the stunning town of Sintra. If I had all of my belongings with me like usual, this would have been much more difficult, though not impossible.

Because of my interest in running my own hostel one day, during this working holiday I was able to pick the owner’s brains about their experiences and glean interesting perspectives and new information that I had not previously considered for my endeavour.

To me, this was one of my favourite aspects of this experience. That being said, HelpX is not solely hostel working opportunities, though they are plentiful.

Leaving Portugal, I had fallen in love with the culture and the concept, as well as the reality, of Working Holidays and knew that it wouldn’t be my last!

Breakdown of this HelpX Experience

Accommodations

HelpX-ers had their own 3-bunk dorm room; with a bathroom en-suite. At first all three HelpX-ers were girls, towards the end we were joined by a guy. Either way, we all shared a room.

Language Requirement

I don't speak any Portuguese, and for this experience it was not a requirement. You can specify language skills and preferences in your HelpX profile. HelpX hosts would detail if language skills were a requirement or preference in their profile, too.

Working Hours per Day

8-hour night shift or 8-hour morning weekend shift depending on hostel scheduling needs. These were never scheduled back to back and some days you would not be required to work at all. The scheduled was posted and shared a few days in advance.

Provided Meals

Breakfast and Dinner included daily. We were also able to use any items in the hostel pantry to make lunch/dinner if we didn’t want what was being served - pasta, rice, sauces, fruit, etc. I picked up a few items at the local market, but in month there spent next to nothing on food. I happily opted for the homemade dinner almost every night because both owners were great chefs and it was usually a traditional Portuguese dish.

Drinking

Though the hostel sold alcohol (beer and wine), if we wanted to drink we had to pay for it. Every now and then Diogo would pour us a beer from the keg for free, but I usually picked up a cheap six-pack or bottle of wine from the market if I wasn’t scheduled to work and wanted to be social with guests or hostel staff. The owners were liberal with our drinking at the hostel as long as everyone was in (moderate) control.

Transportation

The hostel had bikes for rent, which was free of charge for HelpX-ers. Faro is fairly small and definitely walk-able, but if we ever needed a lift the owners would give us a ride, such as when I was leaving and needed a ride to the nearby airport. Any exploring done on our own time was on our dime; luckily, the transportation in Portugal is very affordable and reliable.

Have other questions about my experience at Casa d'Alagoa? Leave a comment or send me a message and I’ll try my best to answer it for you.