When I decided to get a subscription of Croissant it was solely for the fact that I still can’t afford to have a full-time contract with a co-working space. I got into this freelancing life recently, I have a few clients, but my income still doesn’t allow me that expense (or demands that amount of time).

With my 7 days free trial, I decided to try more than one of the 18 places available in Lisbon just to see which one would suit me better.

I had no idea a whole new world would open in front of my eyes.

The thing is, I didn’t realize immediately that I don’t have to choose only one or that my needs might change. That’s the beauty of Croissant. You immediately gain access to the 18 different places available in Lisbon. And they are all different. I felt like the sky is the limit.

I tried a few ones in Lisbon and here is my take out so far.

My first criteria to choose where to go started by being its location or how easy it would be for me to get there, which means their closeness to metro stations. Eventually, to some of them, I ended up returning for different reasons.

In all of them, I checked in with the app and got a friendly quick tour of the space. I was very well received and in no moment felt treated differently from their full-time visitors.  

So, they were all very similar in many ways. Great Wi-Fi, great desks/tables to work, nice people receiving me.

The amenities and the ambience were what I found very different from place to place. In some places coffee is free and you even get small snacks and fruit to nibble on. In others, coffee was still very affordable. One of the places I visited was very very quiet. People would move around but no sound was heard. If you coughed, it would go unnoticed. This is now my go to place when I need to really concentrate. On the other hand, when I need a boost of a creativity, I prefer the louder place.

All the places had phone boots, but in some co-working spaces, those were more often occupied then others, so when I know I’m having an important call, I take that in consideration when choosing where to be.

Finally, some are dog friendly and those are my favorite ones as I love taking my dog around instead of leaving her home alone or just to pet other people’s dogs on my breaks.

Croissant is offering all CreativeMornings members  a 7-day free trial and a 15 euro discount off your first month. Give it a try and let us know how was your experience. What do you value in a co-working space.

Post written by Elisa Baltazar in collaboration with Croissant.

Photo by Roman Bozhko on Unsplash