Retirement destinations

[SkidsFox]

Assuming you had the funds to do so, where would you choose to retire, and why?

 

A UK Hastings. Loads of great music pubs, not overrun by commuters, great scenery.

 

 

B Europe -- Either Madrid in Spain (football bars, decent climate, cheap eating and drinking) or Belgium (best booze)

 

 

C Rest of World   -- Malaysia looks tempting, warm temperatures all year round. Not sure about the high rainfall though. Colombia seems to have a great climate but a bit dodgy crime wise.

[bovril]

Probably Bulgaria. My partner has an apartment in Sofia and I already know the language. Nice weather and I like the food and culture. 

 

Actually thinking about it wtf am I doing in London....

[Leicester_Loyal]

Benidorm for sure

[onekeithweller]

C Rest of the world.

[Raj]

Beaumont  Leys 

[Sampson]

Greece would be my dream destination I think. 

[bovril]

2 minutes ago, Sampson said:

Greece would be my dream destination I think. 

I love everything about Greece. As above I have ties to Bulgaria and if I do retire there I'd like to one day get a place down near the border with Greece. 

[dsr-burnley]

A - Colne, Lancashire.  I live here already and like it.

B - Norway.  English speaking, and not too hot.  Beautiful country.

C - Milwaukee.  Brewers baseball and Packers football.

[Daggers]

3 hours ago, SkidsFox said:

Colombia seems to have a great climate but a bit dodgy crime wise.

It’s an absolutely amazing place to live. 
 

Sure, they can be a bit shooty and kidnappy, but there’s a zest for life you’ll struggle to find anywhere else. 
 

Health service is well shit though. Never get treated by a Colombian doc, they really know the square root of SFA. We got to the stage of flying to Quito to go see German docs rather than risk a moron killing one of us. 

[SkidsFox]

48 minutes ago, dsr-burnley said:

A - Colne, Lancashire.  I live here already and like it.

B - Norway.  English speaking, and not too hot.  Beautiful country.

C - Milwaukee.  Brewers baseball and Packers football.

Have to admit, the lure of hotter climates diminishes as I've got older. But I'm even more adverse to colder climates.

[FoxesDeb]

We've lived in Spain since 2020 and have no plans to move when I retire. Wild horses wouldn't drag me back to the UK, and if money was no object I'd just move to a different property here I think, or possibly Portugal. 

[PAULCFC]

Just going through this and relocating.....amazing how much of s...t you aculamate!Hired a skip for 2 weeks ,then we need another one!We are moving up to Northumberland to be near the sea and a better life for our 2 kids. @FoxesDeb If you need any advice on Portugal,my mother and father in law live there(Albufeira) for 9 months of the year,Actually they have just gone back because it's too hot there for them at this time.We are going over at xmas as long as our move goes to plan.

Edited 31 August 2023 by PAULCFC

[Mythyaar]

For value (and hrs of sunlight) the Turkish side of Cyprus would take some beating.

[Kopfkino]

Northern Spain seems bang on for me. My favourite part of the country for sure. Either somewhere in the Basque Country or the Galician coast around Vigo.

 

There’s the lure of the warmth of southern Spain but the north escapes the intense heat of summer and I think I’d miss some of the UK weather/seasons (as much as I hate it and want to escape it this year) so it gives more than that. Maybe the winter around Granada and the summer in Vigo/Bilbao 

 

A croft on Shetland also has appeals - go full Thoreau. Me, some sheep and a stack of philosophy to read.

 

 

But that’s all a very long way off. I’d like to escape the UK for the winter this year & have been looking at jobs in other lands or taking advantage of a digital nomad visa situation somewhere for a bit.

[Izzy]

Myrtle Beach - South Carolina. The golf capital of the world.

[Parafox]

Mrs Para suggested France.

 

I said, "Non"!!!!

 

This place appeals to me, Apulia, in Sicily as I love Italy, but not the tourist places.

 

"Apulia often escapes the radar of tourists and precisely for this reason, the area is increasingly popular with pensioners as retirees in the region can expect a tranquil experience, although this also means that there is a smaller expat community. Known for its fresh, local cuisine, pensioners who choose Apulia are also in for a delicious lifestyle, and addition to the gastronomy, the cost of living is also lower than other Italian regions".

 

[jonthefox]

Probably Cornwall.

[Bellend Sebastian]

One of the Red Sands sea forts would probably tick most of my boxes

[Paninistickers]

Part of me wants Spain, close to home, the ex pat British bar and football and Sunday roast bollox that I've always mocked. 

 

Part of me wants northern Europe. The healthcare, the community, the safeness, the organisation. 

 

Part of me wants Great Yarmouth. 

 

Part of me wants one last hurrah at somewhere weird and poor and piss my life and money away...Chile or Addis Ababa or Tbilisi

[FoxesDeb]

45 minutes ago, Mythyaar said:

For value (and hrs of sunlight) the Turkish side of Cyprus would take some beating.

We came very close to moving there instead of Spain, it's a beautiful place, but the house prices were climbing out of control as we were searching, and it very quickly lost its value appeal, although the cost of living overall is still pretty cheap I think. The other factor is how difficult it is for travel, for both residents out and other people coming to visit. No direct flights to the north, only through Turkey or from the south of Cyprus, and the south still views the north as occupied territory so the politics and bureaucracy living there is insane.

 

We actually viewed a property virtually with an agent and we were ready to put an offer in, but the agent then couldn't get hold of the vendor so it didn't happen, but looking back we probably had a lucky escape.

[Torquay Gunner]

Lisbon and or Stockholm depending on the season.

[mazarron fox]

I moved to Spain ( Murcia region ) 11 years ago. Love it. Climate very good, very inexpensive nice lifestyle.

[Daggers]

If it’s about the food, then Thailand wins me. If it’s about the crazy, Japan has the pleasure. If it’s about the wife being able to go home frequently to see her idiot relations, Italy.

 

 

[Mythyaar]

Good few destinations here. Think I've been to most of them, though not lived in any.

 

If you don't necessarily have the funds, or inclination to buy a property outright abroad, you could become a travel nomad, certainly throughout the winter months.  I'd be wanting to be back in the UK late Spring to September.

 

My need going forward would be to avoid the dark and rain and cold, and visit places of interest that are off the beaten track.

 

By moving locations regularly say every 4 weeks, you'd then not have issues with applying for VISAs etc. It's something I'm investigating once the kids are grown up and have their own lives.

 

I'd say Europe and/ or South and Central America Oct to Nov and Asia (Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Philipines) December to May, as you've avoided the rainy season. Obviously, you want to move locations that are close to each other to avoid excessive travel costs and carbon footprint. Flights around the Asian basin region are dirt cheap.

 

A couple of inexpensive but beautiful places folks may never have visited which I would highly recommend - Bariloche on the southern tip of Argentina, in the Patagonia region adjoining the Andes. November and December is their spring. It has several huge lakes that you can tour inexpensively. It's a much better version of the Lakes. You can also ski there, it has an Alpine flavour to it - much like Saltzburg. Look out for the Welsh flags too, where settlers arrived at the turn of the last century, and the reason that Argentina Pumas took up rugby union.

 

Another place that I'd recommend is Koh Lanta in Thailand. From Dec to March you have great weather. It's incredibly cheap, easily navigable if you hire a scooter. Lovely relaxed vibe and friendly people.

 

Also Northern Cyprus. 

 

These 3 are all difficult to get to - and that's my modus operandi. The harder places are to get to, the better value you are likely to get, and the less tourists you are likely to encounter, so you're in for a more authentic experience. For Barlioche you'd need to take an internal flight from Buenos Aires (once daily). For Koh Lanta you'd probably need to fly to Krabi from either Bangkok (or another country/ island in Asia) and then take a 2 hour taxi which includes ferry to the island.  Alternatively you could fly to the tourist trap of Phuket and take the speedboat across to Lanta.

 

For Northern Cyprus you need to fly to Istanbul or Southern Cyprus and take a transfer. I haven't been on a tour of the lesser known Greek islands but I'm sure it's the same scenario - buggeration to get to either boat from Athens or internal flights, but when you're there and over the "travel pain" it's more than worth it.

 

Some food for travel thought. Hopefully you can give me some other thoughts/ ideas.

 

 

[Izzy]

16 hours ago, Parafox said:

Mrs Para suggested France.

 

I said, "Non"!!!!

 

Have you noticed how many French words and phrases are starting to infiltrate the English vocabulary these days?

 

"Hors d'oeuvres" for starters...