I would be interested to know why and how other expats have selected Portugal as their new home. Naturally this applies to those expats that had a say in the matter.
We had been to Portugal for a few short holidays (Madeira, Lisbon, Porto) and found that Portugal had culturally a lot to offer, people were friendly, services good value for money. While we visited the weather was pretty good as well.
When the moment came to make a decision regarding a new home for at least the next few years, a number of countries, including our home countries, came to mind. So we put together a spreadsheet with weighted criteria including those that were a complete no-no. Then we evaluated the countries that came to our mind and it turned out that Portugal had the highest score (based on what we knew or could find out).
The criteria included the ease of getting along with one of our spoken languages, the weather (I don't like winter), proximity of an international airport and flights home in less than 6-7 hours, ease of obtaining a permanent residency. Cost and standard of living was a criteria as well and - at that time - living on an island was a no-no. These days whenever there are moments when we are not so happy about living in Portugal we always remind us of our criteria and these largely stand until today.
So, how did you go about all of this?