Serenity Portugal Reviews 

My wife and I moved to Portugal from the United States in early 2024. We signed up with Serenity soon after we arrived, as they were recommended by ex-pat friends of ours. They have since exceeded our expectations! Initially, we signed up so they could help us navigate the Portuguese health care system. Not only did they do that, they have recommended and helped us set appointments with doctors and surgeons that have been excellent! The team is always responsive to our concerns and questions. They have also managed to source medication that I need to take every day, but that is not available in Portugal. I didn't think they would be able to do it as my local pharmacy tried for weeks to source it, but ultimately they were unable to. Yet, Serenity accomplished it! Thank you to the entire Serenity team for everything you do!

Our journey with Serenity has been excellent. Everyone has been accommodating. Tiago, our nurse case manager, has helped us in various ways and is truly an asset to the company. We feel very fortunate to have him navigate our health needs and appointments. We think he is the best, and the services of the company.

I left a contact request using their "Contact Us" form on website. Waited 2 days but did not get any response.

I called them twice during their working hour, none answered and call went to autoanswer. I left a call back request message in autoanswer, again I did not hear back from them.

As “pensioners” we recently immigrated into Portugal under D-7 permanent resident visas. Also, as pensioners, upon our arrival in Portugal accessing good health care services was a primary need for us and we found the health care landscape to be rather disorienting. There are public health care services and private health care services and the first challenge we encountered was asking ourselves should we use just access one or the other or do we need both? Come to find out we were naïve thinking that we would just go with private health care because if we are paying for that, then clearly that is the better option. Not so...

Fortunately, from a posting I saw on the internet, I discovered some very favourable comments about a “health concierge” service called Serenity – located in Lisbon but serving all of Portugal. We made contact with them and we were immediately impressed with Joana, who is fondly referred to as the “orchestra conductor” for this very busy team. She was very informative and within moments we knew this service was a match for our needs. Importantly, we considered the costs for Serenity services to also be *very reasonable.*

One of our very first needs was finding a private health care policy that made sense for our situation and needs. These folks are expert in this regard and are connected with an amazing health care insurance broker who also provided us with stellar service. As we learned, not all private health care policies are alike and in fact, most of them would have quickly proven to be a disappointment for our needs. However, we landed with what I am believing is the best of the best for private health care policies – thanks to Serenity.

We have now been in Portugal for almost half of a year and we consider ourselves to have been very fortunate indeed to have found this service. We have settled in Porto, in the north of Portugal, but this distance from Lisbon makes no difference for providing us with support. This team is very knowledgeable about the health care landscape for the entire country.

Also, in a very impressive reality, this team is all nurses who have worked in both private health care as well as public health care settings and so they are intimately familiar with these services at a very first-hand level. In addition, the Case Manager we have been provided has truly been amazing in his support during our first few months although I quite suspect that all of the Case Managers are equally as impressive!

Now, when we have a medical need, we contact our Serenity Case Manager who locates the clinic or hospital as well as practitioner who best matches our need and our insurance. Our Case Manager also arranges the appointment for us. This process just couldn’t be any more efficient!

In addition, the Director of Serenity is an amazing physician who clearly has an impressive vision for this organization. Also, in the works is a “health care concierge for veterinary services.” Our dog is a very important member of our family and we are ready to join that service once it becomes available.

As an impressive feature, this team also provides occasional online information sessions, at no cost, which have proven to be very supportive. There was a recent session on understanding your medical appointments and the do’s and don’ts. We also benefitted from a session on emergency services and what happens when one calls 1-1-2 to include an explanation for the different types of ambulances that might respond.

So, in reflection, I don’t know how well we would have settled into the health care landscape had we not had the close at hand support of our Serenity team. Actually – I do know – we would have almost certainly been frustrated and going in circles. I am not sure who came up with the name of Serenity for this health care concierge organization --- but it fits – because our own personal health care landscape is now lovely, calm and peaceful.

Rafaela helped us navigate the mysteries of the Portuguese health system for two years, first in Lisbon, and then in the Algarve. We needed two specialists, and she found them for us.
She also helped us secure appointments when no one at a doctor’s office would return our calls. We definitely recommend Serenity for Expats!

We used Serenity for the first year we moved to Portugal. Marta was great in helping us find all the follow-up appointments we needed in this first year and we are very grateful for the help. We recommend Serenity to help you enter and understand the health system here in Portugal.

The serenity is sign of cure.They cooprate above my expectations.i will recmend to remember this name every visiter or migrant from usa .canada.uk.They will feel so comfortable like me.The staff as well as top management is so curing and cooperative.

Helpful with prompt and kind response

My husband and I used Serenity for our first two years in Portugal. Our case manager, Sofia, and the rest of the Serenity team helped us navigate the Portuguese healthcare system effortlessly. They helped us find good doctors and dentists, made appointments, scheduled various examinations, and were always available to answer any questions. We highly recommend them.

As a retired American living in Portugal since 2021, I highly recommend Serenity-Portugal! My first year I tried to navigate local healthcare options on my own, which resulted in a lot of my time researching and often ending up with frustrating appointments. Too often this had to do with the level of English spoken there not matching what had been claimed in my online research (as I am working on learning Portuguese) or unexpected costs not covered by my insurance.

Those frustrations went away when I joined Serenity, with the Wonderful Marta as my case worker, and the Amazing Esténio setting appointments for me. They steered me thru a scary bout of chest pain, linked me up with a pain specialist for chronic knee pain (successfully handled with an MRI, therapy, and finally a custom shoe insole to reduce the difference in leg length), thorough general physical exams (including no fewer than four heart tests!), investigation of sleep apnea, and even a prescription for some nasty eczema on a hand that was handled entirely online. With the exception of the online eczema piece, Marta found me medical professionals who spoke English, took my insurance, and were conveniently scheduled for both time and location. The annual cost of the service is far less than I paid when I had attempted to find treatment myself, going to internet rabbit-holes and too often finding frustration with both language and insurance coverage. The funds I (mis)spent that first year would have easily covered the annual Serenity fee.

I am quite healthy and never have been one to rush to the medicos. But I feel I have a good sense of when to turn to the professionals rather than doing things on my own. Serenity-Portugal have been like professional locksmiths, allowing me access to a system which is unfamiliar and too often frustrating for me.

I am now on my third year with them. Initially I thought I would try just a year, get established with local doctors, and take it on my own from there. Now I do not see that happening, and plan to continue with them for the foreseeable future, even when my language skills become more functional.

While Marta and I have successfully communicated generally by email, it is reassuring to know they are also available by phone or WhatsApp.

I highly recommend Serenity-Portugal to anyone in a similar position as mine, and look forward to continuing my involvement with them!

I remember when we were first researching Portugal as a place to retire, my husband heard about a company called SERENITY and he was super intrigued….fast forward we took the leap to live in Portugal permanently - and landed in the beautiful southern coast, The Algarve. It was such an enormous leap for us to leave our lives in the United States. We had to navigate everything new and we didn’t know a word of Portuguese except please and thank you. One of the first things we had to do was get new private health insurance, so we decided to also take a chance and join Serenity to help us navigate the health system here. The Portuguese health system is massively different from the American health system and while many Portuguese staff speak English there are a lot that don’t. When we first got Serenity, I thought ‘wow, this is so VIP/luxurious - possibly financially unnecessary?' An online nurse concierge service? BUT BUT BUT….little did we know how invaluable they would turn out to be. Early in our new life here in Portugal/Europe, I came down with food poisoning on a trip to Amsterdam and my husband was able to talk to our dedicated nurse immediately to help advise via phone and text. Then later that summer, unfortunately, my husband developed a terrible bacterial infection and it led to a terrifying incident where I had to call an ambulance in the middle of the night….Our amazing Serenity nurse, Tiago, located in Lisbon, was there on the phone with me the whole time advising on what to do. After finding that my husband had waited through 8 hours in the public hospital, Tiago immediately advised and coached me through getting him transferred to a private hospital via another ambulance and it was a crucial maneuver. He was quickly admitted at the private hospital with what turned out to be a very serious illness - he ended up having to stay in isolation for over a week! So, when we look back and wonder whether it was worth the extra money to spend on SERENITY, the answer is YES YES YES! They are a very special company that really cares and really serves a necessary purpose in helping newcomers navigate the Portuguese health system. Also just being there for you within hours - sometimes minutes - of calling them. Advice on how to get prescriptions/tests/doctors to recommend -holding your hand through a nasty cold. We were lucky enough to meet our nurse Tiago in person at a SERENITY gathering this spring. We are so grateful to him and the SERENITY team. I want to say - if you’re new to Portugal and navigating everything, you really can’t afford NOT to get SERENITY as an extra health care holding hand/assist! We are fans and highly recommend SERENITY!

We moved to Portugal in 2023. We began to try to navigate the private health care system and quickly realized that we needed help. Serenity Portugal, and especially Tiago and Marcia, have been instrumental in helping us choose the right health care plan, book and reschedule appointments, find the appropriate doctors, and understand both the private and public health care system.

In particular, Serenity has been helpful when we're not sure what the next step is and we aren't able to communicate with nuance and fluency to the doctors and hospitals themselves. Or when we know we need a particular service, but aren't sure who takes our medical insurance.

Can you do it yourself? Probably, if you are fluent in Portuguese, have a lot of patience, and are willing to do your own research, and to make mistakes. The medical insurance provider would help us, I'm sure, but with a perhaps more limited scope. Serenity understands the connection between all of the health care needs we are trying to address and can work through our needs before we find the right health care practitioner. That has been invaluable.

Serenity also helped us get our public health numbers (SNS numbers) and to understand how the public system works, which is complicated and used (in our case) for very specific things like immunization records.

It's a relatively expensive service, yes, but for us the value was in the ease with which we could rely on someone who knows the system to help guide us.

My husband and I contacted Serenity prior to moving to Portugal. We both have health conditions, and securing ongoing care was essential.
We relied on Michael’s expert knowledge to navigate insurance options for us. He patiently explained the components of the application process.
Prior to the move, we worked with Sofia so she could line up the correct specialists with appointments immediately after we arrived. Within one week of arriving in Portugal, I could continue medical treatment.
The Serenity team is very responsive and knowledgeable, connecting us with high-quality specialists and facilities.
We feel confident knowing that we have a trusted partner in Serenity by our side. They continue to support us in planning our next steps in health care. We strongly recommend Serenity if you are new to Portugal and need access to top-notch healthcare providers.

We moved from Scotland in 2021.

Our family is myself, my wife, daughter and my mother-in-law. Both my wife and her mum have existing and complex medical conditions. When we first arrived we attempted to navigate the Portuguese public medical system and found it complex and frustrating.

I found out about Serenity on a Facebook live stream just after we moved. We have used their services ever since. It has been essential for us and we find the help and support they offer excellent.

The service is fast and our immediate case manager (Sofia) is effective, professional and very friendly,

We also use their online GP service and the doctors have been very helpful and have solved any medical issue we have encountered. It is very useful to have prescriptions emailed to us without needing to go to the local medical centre.

I would highly recommend Serenity.

We are more than satisfied with Serenity. Our Nurse Coordinator Sofia Costa goes above and beyond for all our needs.She is knowledgeable and supportive. Sofia is amazing.

Our representative Sofia from Serenity is outstanding. She has been so helpful with finding the right doctors and facilities for us, scheduling, and following up on all our healthcare needs. My wife and I have fairly complex health issues and she always works with us to achieve best results with minimum stress. As new immigrants from the USA and not being fluent in Portuguese while trying to navigate the healthcare system is very challenging….we are so grateful that we have Sofia and Serenity on our side!

I honestly don’t know how this service has so many “high star” ratings as our experience with them as been nothing short of disappointing. The entire premise of this company is to exploit the uncertainty ex-pats may feel moving into a new healthcare system and to provide the appropriate navigational support. What is lacking in the reality of the experience is being pushed towards “targeted” providers, being sent Wikipedia articles by registered nurses rather than provider referrals, and unnecessary delays in communication of all of the above. The straw that broke the “camel’s back” for us was being sent a referral to a hospital kilometers away only to be told no other appointments were available for several months for an oncology dermatologist review. I quickly googled and found a highly trained M.D. who was able to see me and laser my trouble spots within a few days. Serenity is a “start-up” designed to drive scale and margin not a health care provider in any traditional sense of that phrase. #currentcustomer #wasteofmoney REGARDING YOUR REPLY BELOW: I am entitled to share my direct experiences with your company where both my husband and I paid for
your services regardless of how you choose to respond or “spin” my experience to your marketing advantage. I believe that is the entire point of Trust Pilot. As far as being “respectful” goes I could have shared much more about my experience but chose not to do so. Interestingly enough, I made a very simple
request of our case manager yesterday regarding the MyCUF app because technically we are still under a paid service contract with you but we have received no reply. If you are able to provide real value I suspect your company will continue to grow regardless of our experience. I just want readers to be aware we found no value in your services, the healthcare system in Portugal is not
difficult to navigate, and selling “fear” of that circumstance strikes me as disingenuous at the very least. If only
you were as responsive to healthcare questions as you are to criticism perhaps our experience would have been better.

We have been clients of Serenity Portugal for over a year and we have been so happy with their service. Serenity takes all of the stress out of finding healthcare providers, scheduling appointments and generally navigating the healthcare system. I’m not sure we would’ve been able to do this without Serenity. Marta is our dedicated RN and Case Manager, and she is an absolute star. She discusses things in detail, asks questions and listens before making recommendations or offering options. We also want to give a shout out to Esténio who supports us while Marta is out. Finally, a huge thank you to Dr. Michael for getting the word out there about Serenity through Expats communities, and I loved seeing the article about Serenity in the WSJ over a year ago—it made the decision to go with Serenity easy. Thank you!

My case manager's knowledge in the field was reassuring when linking me with competent specialists with tact, efficiency and good interpersonal skills. The level of services offered by this establishment outweighs by far their fees.

The Rep assigned to me did not even read the email I sent her. Paula got me an appointment with a completely wrong doctor because she did not even actually read the email that I wrote her. She only read the first word. In turn, this has ruined everything for me, including my future relationships with any doctors since I had panic attack and was too aggressive for his taste.
I went to another doctor after, who immediately said I was being aggressive because I asked him why I was not contacted about the previous days confirmed online appointment for which I waited 2 hours and which the doctor did not attend . Also, my voice was raspy from being sick. I do not know why he thought that so fast, beyond that word spread of my panic attack rage. This is all because a rep named Paula could not bother to actually read what I had sent her. This is not a good option for finding doctors internationally. They do not care and have not even once apologized to me..