Tourist Death in Portugal: What to Do When Someone Dies on Holiday

A heart attack in an Algarve hotel room. A drowning at a beach in the Alentejo. A car accident on the A2 motorway. When a tourist or short-term visitor dies in Portugal, the surviving family faces an unfamiliar legal system, a language barrier, and a series of mandatory procedures that must happen within hours.

Here is what happens and what you need to do, step by step.

The First Hour: Emergency Response

Call 112. This is Portugal's single emergency number for police, ambulance, and fire services. Operators speak English. If the death occurs in a hotel, the hotel staff will typically call on your behalf.

Do not move the body. Portuguese law prohibits moving a deceased person until the death has been certified by a medical professional and, in certain cases, released by the police.

What happens next depends on how the death occurred:

• Expected death (known illness, hospice): The attending physician certifies the death and the body can be released to a funeral director within hours.
• Sudden but natural death (heart attack, stroke): Emergency medical services (INEM) or a local health officer (Delegado de Saude) certifies the death. If the cause is clearly natural, the body is released to a funeral director.
• Sudden, unexplained, or violent death: Police secure the scene. The Public Prosecutor (Ministerio Publico) opens a judicial inquiry. The body is transferred to the Instituto Nacional de Medicina Legal e Ciencias Forenses (INMLCF) for a compulsory post-mortem examination.

The Post-Mortem (Autopsy) Process

Any death that is sudden, unexplained, unnatural, or involves an accident automatically triggers a mandatory post-mortem at the INMLCF. This applies to all motor vehicle accidents, drownings, falls, suspected drug or alcohol involvement, and any death where the attending physician cannot certify a clear natural cause.

What families need to know:

• You cannot refuse the autopsy. Portuguese authorities are not legally required to accommodate foreign cultural or religious objections to post-mortem procedures.
• Tissue samples may be retained. The medical examiner can remove and retain tissue samples, toxicology fluids, or organs for diagnostic testing without family consent. Samples may be kept indefinitely in the forensic archive.
• The autopsy typically happens within 3 to 4 working days of the body arriving at the INMLCF facility.
• The body is not released until the autopsy is complete and the forensic examiner authorizes release to the funeral director.

Getting the cause of death report is a separate process. The autopsy report is protected by judicial secrecy (segredo de justica). To obtain it, you must submit a formal written application — including a copy of your passport — to the Public Prosecutor handling the case. The prosecutor will only release the report once the judicial inquiry is officially closed, which can take up to 12 months.

This delay matters because foreign life insurance companies frequently refuse to pay claims until they receive official documentation confirming the cause of death.

Contacting Your Embassy or Consulate

Notify your country's consular office in Portugal as soon as possible:

• US citizens: Contact the US Embassy in Lisbon. They can issue a Consular Report of Death Abroad (CRODA), which serves as the official US record of the death. You will need the apostilled Portuguese death certificate (Assento de Obito) and the deceased's passport.
• UK citizens: Contact the British Embassy in Lisbon or the nearest consulate. The FCDO can provide a list of English-speaking funeral directors and guidance on repatriation. They do not pay for funeral costs or repatriation.
• Australian citizens: Contact the Australian Embassy in Lisbon. They can issue an Australian Certificate of Death of an Australian Citizen Abroad.

Your consulate can also help with emergency travel documents if you need to extend your stay beyond your original travel dates.

Appointing a Funeral Director

By Portuguese law, families cannot directly manage burial or cremation logistics with municipal cemeteries or crematoria. You must appoint a licensed local funeral director (agencia funeraria) who acts as your legal proxy.

If the deceased had travel insurance: Contact the insurer first. They will typically appoint a specialist international funeral director. Do not sign contracts with a local funeral home before checking with the insurer — doing so can void your repatriation coverage.

If uninsured: Ask the hospital, your consulate, or the hotel for recommendations. In tourist areas, several funeral homes have English-speaking staff.

To authorize the funeral director, you must sign a proxy authorization form and provide copies of your passport and the deceased's passport, birth certificate, and marriage certificate (if applicable).

The 72-Hour Rule

Portuguese law mandates that a body must be buried or cremated within 72 hours of death (48 hours after a post-mortem is completed). If a death occurs on a Friday evening before a holiday, the civil registry and cemetery offices are closed, potentially forcing the funeral director to use refrigeration facilities — which increases costs.

Most tourist deaths result in repatriation rather than local burial, so this deadline is relevant primarily for the initial preservation of the body, not for forcing a rushed funeral decision.

Next Steps: Repatriation or Local Funeral

Once the body is released, you have two options:

1. Repatriation — transporting the body or ashes home. This requires a transit permit (Alvara de Trasladacao), embalming, a zinc-lined coffin, and consular documentation. A full repatriation from Portugal to the UK starts at approximately GBP 2,675 and takes 5 to 10 working days.

2. Local burial or cremation — handled through your appointed funeral director at a Portuguese cemetery or crematorium.

For the complete process — from the emergency call through repatriation, death registration, and estate settlement — the Portugal Expat Death Guide covers every step with timelines, document checklists, and agency contact details.

See more Portugal guides →