Best Places In The World To Retire

What’s interesting about Quintana Roo (one of the three states in the Yucatan Peninsula, who has within it Cancun, Playa del Carmen and Tulum) is that we have the Cancun Airport.  A lot of people who are retiring to another country do forget some items that are very important, one of which is the ease to get back and forth from your home country. A nice feature about Quintana Roo, particularly, Cancun, is that Cancun Airport is the second busiest airport in Mexico and they...

What’s interesting about Quintana Roo (one of the three states in the Yucatan Peninsula, who has within it Cancun, Playa del Carmen and Tulum) is that we have the Cancun Airport.  A lot of people who are retiring to another country do forget some items that are very important, one of which is the ease to get back and forth from your home country. A nice feature about Quintana Roo, particularly, Cancun, is that Cancun Airport is the second busiest airport in Mexico and they have direct flights to many cities such as Chicago, New York, Saint Louis, Calgary, Minneapolis, and other major US cities. That is a big advantage.

 

To be able to fly down here directly makes it a lot easier than having layovers. There are times when some emergencies pops up and you have to go back to the States and that all adds up. As an example, it takes a lot longer to get all the way down to Central America versus a flight from Chicago down to Cancun.

 

You can fly into the Merida Airport from most Mexican cities, especially Mexico City. They have direct flights from Houston and if I’m not mistaken, from Atlanta as well. There are very good deals going right into Cancun so I know a lot of people whose final destination is Merida fly into Cancun and then pick up one of those big buses at the airport, which takes them right to Merida. Merida is about 4 hours away from Cancun by bus and 2.5 hours by car.

 

(Cancun International Airport, Cancun, Mexico, pictured.)

The Algarve has the perfect climate. It is dry and sunny for most of the year with an annual average temperature of 82ᵒF in the summer and 54ᵒF during the winter. The long summer here lasts from May to September where temperatures range from 75ᵒF in early summer to a heady 89ᵒF in the mid-summer months of July and August. The climate, combined with miles of pristine beaches and calm seas, make the Algarve a perfect holiday or retirement destination. The Algarvean winter is...

The Algarve has the perfect climate. It is dry and sunny for most of the year with an annual average temperature of 82ᵒF in the summer and 54ᵒF during the winter. The long summer here lasts from May to September where temperatures range from 75ᵒF in early summer to a heady 89ᵒF in the mid-summer months of July and August. The climate, combined with miles of pristine beaches and calm seas, make the Algarve a perfect holiday or retirement destination. The Algarvean winter is short and clement. Most of the rain falls during this time but the sun still shines and temperatures never go below 45ᵒF. They vary between 65ᵒF during the day and 50ᵒF at night.

 

It is interesting to note that the East Algarve is slightly warmer and less windy than the west, mainly due to its secluded location away from the open Atlantic Ocean. The climate is mainly dry with some the rainfall in the winter months of November, December, January and February, but even in the winter the skies are blue and sharp with brilliant sunshine and amazing light quality. This could explain the Algarve´s year round popularity with ex pats and tourists alike, also making it a number one European retirement location.

 

(Whitewashed church in Tavira, Portugal, pictured.)

There is quite a variety of restaurants in the area of San Francisco, one of the good areas within Panama City, Panama. I like a restaurant near my house, which is called Maito. Maito is a fusion restaurant that serves different dishes and different cuisines, and they change the menu very often. Maito is a new upscale restaurant that will cost you US $25 to $30 per person to go there, which is quite expensive for restaurants in the Panama area of San Francisco.

 

There is quite a variety of restaurants in the area of San Francisco, one of the good areas within Panama City, Panama. I like a restaurant near my house, which is called Maito. Maito is a fusion restaurant that serves different dishes and different cuisines, and they change the menu very often. Maito is a new upscale restaurant that will cost you US $25 to $30 per person to go there, which is quite expensive for restaurants in the Panama area of San Francisco.

 

There is a mid-range restaurant that is very good called Jimmy's, where the food is around $15 to $20. It is also has a food mixture, like a local restaurant. They serve different kinds of dishes. They have seafood and they have salads.  Jimmy’s is a type of Panamanian restaurant.

 

For lower price dining, there are all kinds of fast food restaurants. I can recall that a combo in McDonald's would be around $5 and no more than ten dollars.  We have all the American brands here in San Francisco, such as McDonald’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Taco Bell.

We just moved homes in Nicaragua so we have no TV, phone signal, or Wi-Fi. It’s nice to have the kids learn how to enjoy life without all the technology surrounding them. They’re playing with sticks and coconuts and are having fun and enjoying it. Our neighbors’ kids are doing the same thing here in Nicaragua. There are plenty of opportunities. For example, my daughter dances and goes horseback riding. She’s got some incredible dance instructors in Nicaragua...

We just moved homes in Nicaragua so we have no TV, phone signal, or Wi-Fi. It’s nice to have the kids learn how to enjoy life without all the technology surrounding them. They’re playing with sticks and coconuts and are having fun and enjoying it. Our neighbors’ kids are doing the same thing here in Nicaragua. There are plenty of opportunities. For example, my daughter dances and goes horseback riding. She’s got some incredible dance instructors in Nicaragua who come through northern Nicaragua. We’ve also got some horse trainers who come through for horseback riding. 

 

On the other hand, my son is into tennis and football (what in the US, we would call “soccer”). There are amazing people traveling the world and moving into Nicaragua and Central America who are amazing tennis pros and are giving my son the help he needs to be the best he can. Nicaragua is a nice, relaxed area. 

 

There are great schools in the area we live in that are extremely inexpensive. Both our kids are doing well in school. For example, my daughter just got her scores back.  A third of her scores were 100’s, a third were in the 90’s, and the rest were in the 80’s. She’s doing very well in school and in extracurricular activities. She just started high school, which begins at 7th grade.

 

What hit me the most about moving to Nicaragua were that the conversations I had with people were all about family and have nothing to do with money, houses, or cars, which is what we talked about in San Diego. It’s really easy to converse with people in Nicaragua and get into important, meaningful conversations. That’s what my kids who are being raised in Nicaragua also learn.

 

(Barry Oliver's son playing tennis, Northern Nicaragua, pictured.)