Best Places In The World To Retire

San Miguel de Allende has a very artistic culture. There are many people involved in all art forms such as painters and writers. 

 

There's a huge writing community in San Miguel de Allende. The city hosts the largest international writers' conference in all of North America, which includes Canada, USA, and Mexico. This takes place annually in February. 

 

There's a film festival every year, where they showcase...

San Miguel de Allende has a very artistic culture. There are many people involved in all art forms such as painters and writers. 

 

There's a huge writing community in San Miguel de Allende. The city hosts the largest international writers' conference in all of North America, which includes Canada, USA, and Mexico. This takes place annually in February. 

 

There's a film festival every year, where they showcase local filmmakers and local actors. Many professionals in different artistic fields have retired in San Miguel de Allende, which has created a very artistic community. 

 

There are at least 40 art galleries in the very small town of San Miguel de Allende. There are 80,000 people in the historic center of the town. San Miguel de Allende is the "Taos of the South" because it has a lot of similarities with the town of Taos, New Mexico. 

 

Establishing my husband's theater in San Miguel de Allende was almost a magical experience. My husband has been a professional actor all his life. He had been working with the local theater group of San Miguel de Allende and was not satisfied with the venues that we had at that time. 

 

He began talking to people and said, "I want to build a professional-quality theater in San Miguel de Allende." People just started to write checks to his name while on the golf course because they knew him and trusted what he said he was going to do.

 

We're starting our third year of theater now. We've done over 20 productions in two years. It worked out very well. Our house seats 135 people. We are not full in every production, but we have a very good turnout for every production.  

 

(Book featured at the San Miguel de Allende Writer's Conference, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, pictured.)

The only airport in Algarve is the one in Faro. Faro is probably the busiest airport in Portugal after Lisbon. It serves flights from many destinations. They have all year round flights into Portugal from many European destinations, including the UK, Sweden, Netherlands, Germany, and the list goes on. There are also seasonal flights from as far away as Canada. There are times when there are direct flights into Faro from Toronto, Canada. It’s quite interesting to see that there...

The only airport in Algarve is the one in Faro. Faro is probably the busiest airport in Portugal after Lisbon. It serves flights from many destinations. They have all year round flights into Portugal from many European destinations, including the UK, Sweden, Netherlands, Germany, and the list goes on. There are also seasonal flights from as far away as Canada. There are times when there are direct flights into Faro from Toronto, Canada. It’s quite interesting to see that there are already some companies in North America that have identified the opportunity of the Algarve for the North American market and they are putting up flights to address those opportunities. 

 

The population of the Algarve is about 300,000 and there are between 5 and 6 million arrivals at Faro Airport per year. It is a fairly substantial airport, which has undergone a number of renovations and expansions.

 

There are a couple of small airstrips in the Algarve as well, which are used for private planes, parachuting activities, and helicopters. The next closest airport is in Beja, which is the province above the Algarve and in Baixo Alentejo.

 

Many people drive in order to catch a flight to Lisbon and then rent a car and drive down to the Algarve or catch a bus going to the Algarve. Lisbon is 300 kilometers, or 180 miles more or less from the Algarve. There are many flights from the US into Lisbon and to Faro. The East Coast of the US is fairly well connected to Lisbon. We have flights from New York, JFK, Miami, etc. On the other hand, we don’t have flights coming from the West Coast. If you are going to Lisbon from the West Coast, you have to go to the East Coast first then take a flight from there into Lisbon.

 

(Airport terminal in Faro, Portugal, pictured.)

 

Normally, people buy apartments. The promoters or the investors will redo...

 

Normally, people buy apartments. The promoters or the investors will redo the building, and then they sell the apartments. Very few people do their own restorations.