Who We Are | Vila's Story

Picture this: the year is 2020. She’s getting ready to go travelling for 6 months, to meet exciting people with unbelievable stories.

Then COVID hits. Suddenly it’s 2021 and she’s sad and lonely, working from home and slowly going crazy.

So she joins a coworking space (RIP Porto I/O). At first, she is shy and unsure. She meets lots of interesting people from all over the world, and they’re all very nice.

They start meeting in the kitchen. Coffee turns into lunch. Lunch turns into Thursday happy hours. And soon they become friends, family.

Most of them planned to stay in Porto for a few months. Five years later, they’re still here. And Ana’s life is completely different. She found community. She found her people. And she realized she wanted to create a place where locals and expats could find that same magic.

That’s how Vila was born. Out of our founder’s true appreciation for the expat community in Porto. For their openness. For their curiosity. For their braveness.

Moving countries is not easy. Being adventurous is sometimes hard. We come from all over the world, but we all want the same thing: to find a place where we belong.

Vila exists to be that place. A space where you can actually get work done, walk downstairs into the garden, and meet people who become friends.

The place where you walk in unsure and shy, get invited for lunch with our amazing members, and before you know it, you belong in Porto.

The place where you find your people. Because the right people turn a city into a home.