Best Places In The World To Retire

WELCOME. WE INVITE YOU TO VISIT THE MAIN PARTS OF OUR SITE

Recently Answered Questions

How much will I pay in real estate or property tax in Mexico?

Andre Bellon - Bellon Insurance Agents

Modern home in Guadalajara, Mexico – Best Places In The World To Retire – International Living

The home where I live is a big house in Guadalajara, and the property tax that we pay annually is more or less 9,000 pesos ($441). This home is valued at around 4 million pesos (around US $200,000). Real estate or property taxes in Mexico depend on where your home is and how many buildings you have.

(Modern home in Guadalajara, Mexico, pictured.)

How are the rules of etiquette or customs different in Belize?

Chris Leonard - Paradise Found Belize Real Estate and Development

Belize five cent coin – Best Places In The World To Retire – International Living

Belizeans are still very much attached to the whole British connection. When I was in Belize, Prince Harry came to visit. That was the talk then. Everybody wanted to go down and meet him and dance with him and drink with him. As for the hospital, there are lots of students from Britain. The money in Belize still has the Queen’s face on it.

The rules of etiquette and customs in Belize are really not that much different than in the US, at least the parts of the US...

How are the stores and shops in Algarve? How's the shopping in Algarve?

Luis Teixeira da Silva - Algarve Senior Living

Moorish castle of Silves, Portugal – Best Places In The World To Retire – International Living

Shopping in the Algarve is good but not excellent. It’s not like 5th Avenue and it’s not Oxford Street, nor is it the Champs-Elysees, although the Champs-Elysees is quite complicated. You wouldn’t come to the Algarve to do your super-duper Christmas shopping. You wouldn’t come here to find a huge variety of high end luxury items. I can think of only one or two locations where there is a little bit of a cluster of high end stores and people might go there if...

The main focus on the shopping here in Algarve is pragmatic. There are half a dozen or more shopping centers across the Algarve. The largest ones are in Faro and just outside Albufeira in a place called Guia and also in Portimão. Those are the more obvious locations in which to find malls. Then there are smaller shopping centers in next level of towns going down like in Tavira, Loulé, Lagos, etc. And then there is still the existence of smaller shops like the bakery, the green grocer, and the like.

For clothes shopping, electronics, and furniture, we have medium-sized stores scattered in a retail park, which tend to be in bigger cities or alternatively, in the center of town. You might find a special clothes store in the center of Lagos or a special jewelry store in the center of Tavira, or a cork store that sells products made of cork in Silves. You will find these kinds of specialty stores in the towns and villages around the Algarve.

Generally speaking, the prices depend on the basis of comparison, but anyone coming from North America and Northern Europe find that shopping in the Algarve to be generally cheap. However, there are some exceptions. They would never find it more expensive than where they came from but they would quickly get accustomed to the lower cost of living and what they would see is that certain items are more expensive than others. Electricity, cars, fuel, and electronic items are not as cheap in the Algarve as one would expect, given the low cost of living in Portugal, particularly if you are coming from the US, where electronic good are so cheap. Electronics products might be even more expensive in the Algarve than they would be in the US. But generally speaking, if you are coming from the UK, you could easily cut 30% to 40% off your cost of living to live as a good as, if not a better quality of life.

(Moorish castle and hillside town of Silves, Portugal, pictured.)

What's it like to drive in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua?

David Smith - Nicaragua Sotheby's International Realty

Street in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua – Best Places In The World To Retire – International Living

The driving in San Juan del Sur is surprisingly steady. San Juan del Sur isn’t very big: five streets by five streets and you can walk it all in 25 minutes. You’re driving slowly and steadily and it’s easy. Parking is not a problem and it’s very easy.

The streets are wider than you would find in colonial cities. There’s room for parking cars and still enough room for one or two cars to pass one another. The streets are...

How much does it cost to move my furniture and other stuff to Panama?

Lourdes Townshend

Unless you have the specific details regarding the items you're moving, it is not possible to guess the cost. However, it is certainly wise to bring just the few things that you would need in your first month. Everything else, I would keep in storage in your local town until you are completely certain your move is permanent.

Additionally, it is also recommended that you visit the country you want to move to several times before...

What are the best places in the world to retire?

Sarah Booth - Panama Holiday Homes & Buyer's Consultant with My Panama Real Estate

I'm a Canadian living in Panama, which in my opinion is the BEST place to retire. I've had diverse experiences having lived in Mexico and Southeast Asia before settling in Panama. For me, the main reasons are: weather, cost of living, vibrant expat community, friendly locals, great hub for travel (Copa flies direct almost everywhere that I want to visit in Central and South America as well as US), incredible and affordable health care and the language. I loved Thailand, but decided...

Recently Posted Expat Stories

Making new friends in Mexico is EASY!

It seems that everything I do gives me opportunities for new friendships. Even on my first trip to Mexico, as a high school student, I made friends. I would ask questions and the conversations would start. At that time, my Spanish was almost non-existent but it did not matter. Mexico has a tradition of hospitality and the majority of the people that you meet will welcome you. It is even better if you try a few words in Spanish....

Mike Cobb: The Hardest Working Man in Central America, Creating Communities that Evoke Familiar Melodies

These places would seem to the native inhabitants to be neglected lands of unruly bushes and trees with views that were pretty, but where one did not linger while on one’s way to somewhere else. But to Mike Cobb, these were places to turn into communities with a network of pathways close to the cool porches of neighbors one would regularly visit.

In this interview, Jet Metier learns that though not a builder by training or a developer by plan, Mike Cobb...

Pride, Glory and Accomplisment In Panamá

(This video is of the Panamanian band that will be at the 2014 Rose Parade in Pasadena, California. Make sure to click the "make full screen" at the bottom right of the frame so you can see it better. More at bandaherbertolopez.edu.pa)

Pride is a very common trait among the human race. Everyone shines when they talk about their grandchildren, children, pets and accomplishments in their life. But, what about when...