What are the best international schools in Lisbon for expats?

Nobody publishes an inspected ranking of Lisbon's international schools, and most lists online are ordered by who paid to appear. The honest way to shortlist is curriculum first, then commute, then whether there is a place in your child's year group.

Sorted by curriculum

Full IB continuum (PYP, MYP and Diploma). Oeiras International School, St Dominic's International School and International Sharing School Taguspark are the only three in greater Lisbon that run the whole programme, according to schools.reviews. If you expect to move country again before your children finish school, this is the route that transfers most easily.

British (IGCSE, then A Level or the IB Diploma). St Julian's in Carcavelos is one of the two schools that schools.reviews says consistently runs a waiting list, along with OIS. King's College School Cascais and the British School of Lisbon complete most British shortlists.

American. CAISL, the Carlucci American International School of Lisbon in Linhó, Sintra, is the only US State Department supported school in Portugal and offers the American high school diploma alongside the IB. TASIS Portugal, also in Sintra, is the other American option.

National systems. The Lycée Français Charles Lepierre and the Deutsche Schule Lissabon teach full French and German curricula at a fraction of the British and American fees, if the language suits your family.

What to weigh after curriculum

Geography decides daily life. Most of the large campuses sit west of the city, along the Cascais line or near Sintra, so choosing a school usually means choosing Oeiras, Carcavelos or Cascais over central Lisbon. We map that decision in where to live in Lisbon for St Julian's, OIS or CAISL.

Then ask each school three questions: how long the waiting list is for your exact year group, how many nationalities are in that class, and where its leavers went to university in the last three years. Those answers separate schools better than any list.

Fees for every school above are in how much international schools in Lisbon cost, and the choice between public, private and international is in our schools and childcare guide.