Best Places In The World To Retire

You will find a very large variety of restaurants here in San Miguel de Allende consisting from taco stands to higher end Mexican and other types of food. You can get a decent lunch for around US $5 or you can also go to a nice restaurant in Centro (the center part of town) and pay $25, which might include a glass of wine. The cost to eat at restaurants here in San Miguel de Allende depends on where you eat.

 

Every once in a while, we go to a nice dinner....

You will find a very large variety of restaurants here in San Miguel de Allende consisting from taco stands to higher end Mexican and other types of food. You can get a decent lunch for around US $5 or you can also go to a nice restaurant in Centro (the center part of town) and pay $25, which might include a glass of wine. The cost to eat at restaurants here in San Miguel de Allende depends on where you eat.

 

Every once in a while, we go to a nice dinner. Recently we went to a nice chef’s table restaurant that offers a seven-course meal for $140 per person. This is very unusual but you can find it here in San Miguel.

 

An average restaurant here in San Miguel de Allende would cost about the same as in San Jose, California. As an example, you can go to Hecho en Mexico and eat hamburger, fries, and a coke for around $7. On the least expensive side of the scale, I have some friends who go down to the taco stand and spend 25 pesos ($1.25) on three tacos and a glass of water.  

 

(Luna's Tapas Bar at the Rosewood Hotel, San Miguel de Allende with Jet Metier of Best Places in the World to Retire, pictured.)

You will definitely see beautiful flowers, plants, and trees in and around Nicaragua. The areas of Estelí, Matagalpa, and Jinotega get a lot of rain and they have really nice weather so these places are where you could get really beautiful flowers.

 

There is also another place, about 25 minutes away from Managua, where you can go and buy plants and take them home to plant it in your garden or your office. When you go to Catarina, you will find...

You will definitely see beautiful flowers, plants, and trees in and around Nicaragua. The areas of Estelí, Matagalpa, and Jinotega get a lot of rain and they have really nice weather so these places are where you could get really beautiful flowers.

 

There is also another place, about 25 minutes away from Managua, where you can go and buy plants and take them home to plant it in your garden or your office. When you go to Catarina, you will find nurseries where plants and flowers are grown for sale. Catarina is a very colorful city because you will find different types of flowers and trees and other types of artists’ works that are for sale. On weekends, you will find lots of cars parked in and around Catarina because lots of people from Managua, Leon, and other areas go there to buy plants, flowers, and trees. It’s a nice place where you can find lots of beautiful items for sale.

 

In Managua, which is the capital, we don’t have a lot of native trees. If you want to see indigenous trees you may see them in the northern parts of the country where they grow by themselves into really big trees. When you go to places in the north like Estelí, Matagalpa, and Jinotega, you will see big trees like large pine trees. In Matagalpa, you can go to Selva Negra, which is a resort in the highlands and there you can be in nature. You’ll find these big trees where monkeys also inhabit.  

 

(Matagalpa, Nicaragua, pictured.)

Surfing in the Algarve is fantastic. Algarve is the second most popular region of Portugal for surfing. The most famous surfing spot can be found north of Lisbon, which is called the silver coast, in the area between Peniche and Nazare. They broke the world record there several times.

 

The Algarve has a fantastic reputation for surfing on the west coast of the region, between Sagres and Aljezur, and we have a number of famous beaches there such Bordeira and...

Surfing in the Algarve is fantastic. Algarve is the second most popular region of Portugal for surfing. The most famous surfing spot can be found north of Lisbon, which is called the silver coast, in the area between Peniche and Nazare. They broke the world record there several times.

 

The Algarve has a fantastic reputation for surfing on the west coast of the region, between Sagres and Aljezur, and we have a number of famous beaches there such Bordeira and Carrapateira. We also have other beaches in and around the Sagres area, such as Martinhal and Baleal. They all have long, sandy beaches and very good surf. They have a fantastic swell and very evenly spaced waves. It’s easy to get a ride and get it in without being hammered by the next wave. But the water is cold so you need a wetsuit to go surfing. 

 

There is also some surfing on the southern coast of the Algarve. The further west you go, the better the surf. There are small surfing spots just off the beaches around Lagos and around Praia da Luz. The distance between Lagos and Sagres is only about 25 kilometers so you don’t have to travel far to get to surf.

 

It’s safe to go into the water in Praia da Luz. The waters there are just like the Mediterranean most days. It is calm with azure colors; nary a wave so it’s very safe.

 

In the western part of the Algarve, you shouldn’t really go into the waves alone. If you have children, they can certainly play in the shallow water but I wouldn’t be far away because a lot of the beaches in that area are very remote and there are not a lot of people there. They don’t necessarily have protection such as life guards and so on. However, most of the southern beaches do have lifeguards.

 

The Algarve has probably the largest number of “Blue Flag” beaches in Portugal. “Blue Flag” is the European Union symbol for quality of the beaches, infrastructure and water quality. The beaches in the west coast has big waves whereas there are hardly any waves on the southern shores of the Algarve, so there are surf conditions to love for anybody.

 

(Swells at the beach at Carrapateira, Algarve, Portugal, pictured.)

There are also so many other retirees around and there is a sense of community amongst the retirees here in Belize.  Before I moved down, my dad was really worried about me, because he was afraid that I would feel isolated and alone with lots of time to fill, and not be sure what to do.  He is in Canada, where everybody is pretty much locked away in their houses, and they have big yards and lots of fencing, so he does not necessarily engage with his community.  In contrast, when he comes down here for a month to stay with us, he has his own friends, and he does his own thing. It is fantastic; really good. Then, my brother will bring his kids here, and we have some more good quality time and new shared experiences, as opposed to your every day, Sunday dinner kind of thing. I get opportunities to make memories and it is even easier down here.