Best Places In The World To Retire

One of the main areas of Puerto Vallarta is Punta De Mita, which is located at the far northwest tip of the bay of Puerto Vallarta. It is very famous and it has the nicest hotels such as Four Seasons and St. Regis. Punta Mita is divided into two sections. One of the sections is the resort area with developments that include condominiums and hotels, and which is where the wealthy people live. The other area of Punta Mita is the Mexican side with a beautiful beach and where you will...

One of the main areas of Puerto Vallarta is Punta De Mita, which is located at the far northwest tip of the bay of Puerto Vallarta. It is very famous and it has the nicest hotels such as Four Seasons and St. Regis. Punta Mita is divided into two sections. One of the sections is the resort area with developments that include condominiums and hotels, and which is where the wealthy people live. The other area of Punta Mita is the Mexican side with a beautiful beach and where you will find locals. Punta Mita is a beautiful place.

 

Another area of Puerto Vallarta that is known worldwide is called Costa Careyes, which is a huge development located south of Puerto Vallarta. It’s on the ocean, with big villas and mansions, and it has little communities where Mexicans live.  Costa Careyes has clear blue water and nice virgin beaches because it is a little far out; it’s about 2 hours south of Puerto Vallarta by car. The municipality it is located in is called Costa Alegre.  Costa Careyes was built by an Italian man who started building a couple of houses and then started selling them. Then he started a hotel and he started building sculptures. It’s has a beautiful park to see because the ocean is very clean. The people are very friendly. The houses are gorgeous. If you don’t want to spend a whole lot of money once you visit Costa Careyes, you can go to the little communities, enjoy talking and dealing with the locals, eating in the little towns and making new friends. The experience itself is just wonderful.

 

Within Puerto Vallarta, one notable place is Nuevo Vallarta. It is only 30 minutes north of Puerto Vallarta so it is very close. It is beautiful with clean beaches, nice resorts, all kinds of activities, and most of the nicer and better hospitals are in this area. They have very good restaurants and a casino, which is just right next to the San Javier Hospital. 

 

Towards the southern part of Puerto Vallarta, there is a little area called Mismaloya. Mismaloya is where the zoo is located. It also has a beautiful botanical garden, clean beaches, and nice houses.  Some of the houses are located in the mountains and some are on the beach. It is a very nice place to visit because of all the nice things in nature that you can see. For people who love a combination of things like going to the beach and a nice tour to a botanical garden, then Mismaloya is the place to visit. People also live there. Most of the people who live there work in either tourism or fishing as their source of living. The expats who live in Mismaloya live there because of the peace and quiet that the place offers, which is what most expats are looking for when they retire. 

 

The good thing about Puerto Vallarta proper is that it has everything. It has the beaches, it has the malecon, which is a beautiful reconstructed boardwalk.  They just re-did the malecon a year ago and it is such a beautiful path to walk on. You will find every single store that you want to visit and the supermarket, too. Living in Puerto Vallarta is just like living in paradise because you have it all. You have peace, shopping, and the beach.

 

Another nice area of Puerto Vallarta is Litibu. Litibu started as a virgin beach until it was discovered by Fonatur, which is the organization that does fund raising for things related to nature like in this case, the conservation of the beaches. So they picked Litibu as a focus of their activities. They allowed Imanta Resort to set up a big development on this beach, taking advantage of the pristine beach, which has white sand. It is a very nice place to visit. There are also people who live there but they are outside of the private resort. You will find both locals and expats living in the towns next to the development.

 

The next place I’d like to discuss is Sayulita. Sayulita is very well-known for its surfing. It has really nice waves that the surfers like. It has some little Mexican towns where lots of expats also reside. It is very charming. It is still like the core of a Mexican town and it is tranquil although it is not as tranquil as it used to be because now, there are lots of people living there. 

 

San Francisco is the next area, north on the coast, after Sayulita. It took about 10 years before it became what it is right now. San Francisco, which is best known as San Pancho (because “Pancho” is a nickname for “Francisco”), is another beautiful beach that is quieter than Sayulita but it has more glamor than Sayulita. There is a polo club in San Pancho and that makes San Pancho very attractive to expats, who like these kinds of activities.

 

Another nice area of Puerto Vallarta is Lo de Marcos. It is a beautiful Mexican town that is very quiet and very tranquil. It is nothing compared to San Pancho nor Sayulita as I have mentioned above.  The beaches in Lo de Marcos are also cleaner and nicer. Because of the peace and quiet of the surroundings, living in Lo De Marcos is just lovely. It is not as crowded as San Pancho or Sayulita because the people who come to live Lo de Marcos are mainly expats. There might not be enough convenient stores or supermarkets there but when you are on the beach and you are looking for a peaceful place to retire, Lo de Marcos has what you are looking for. The prices for both land and food are still reasonable in Lo de Marcos.

 

(Garden gate on property in Lo de Marcos, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, pictured.)

The best reason to retire overseas is to have an adventure – to broaden your experience base, to try something new, and to be open to change, new cultures, etc. The most important reason is to feel like you need something different in your life. You want to change the quality of your life.  That is without saying that the quality of your life may not have been good in the States or wherever you came from, but just to say that you want a different quality of life. A life...

The best reason to retire overseas is to have an adventure – to broaden your experience base, to try something new, and to be open to change, new cultures, etc. The most important reason is to feel like you need something different in your life. You want to change the quality of your life.  That is without saying that the quality of your life may not have been good in the States or wherever you came from, but just to say that you want a different quality of life. A life that gives you another purpose and something that gives you a little more enthusiasm about life. You have to really want to retire overseas in order to try something different because you feel like it is going to enhance your life.

 

(David Truly in Manzanillo, Mexico, pictured.)