Best Places In The World To Retire

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Recently Answered Questions

How much does it cost to maintain a car in Mexico?

Oscar Hererra - SimplePay

Design Week in Mexico, featuring the BMXi3 – Best Places In The World To Retire – International Living

In Mexico, the basic maintenance of a car, including car wash, tires, tune-ups, etc. would be around US $30 to $40 a month. The cost would depend on how old the car is but an average newer car, a 2005 to 2010 make or newer, for example, would not have a lot of tune-up issues. For those kinds of cars, you would generally do a yearly tune-up, which would cost around $100 to $150 per year.

Compared to maintaining a car in San Diego, the cost would be about half in...

What does it cost for a vacation rental in Bocas Del Toro, Panama?

Tyson Merrill - Island Property Management S.A.

Vacation rentals in the Bocas Del Toro area can be found through Bocas Vacations or the Bocas del Toro Travel Group. There are oceanfront houses, condos and apartments available on Isla Colon, Carenero and Bastimentos. Prices range from $30 per night to $450 depending on accommodations and season.

How much do restaurants cost in Corozal?

Mark Leonard

Chicken stew, Belize – Best Places In The World To Retire – International Living

The cost for a restaurant in Corozal can range from from $3 - $6 (US) for breakfast, $5 - $7 for lunch, the same for dinner.

You can buy chicken with some sides for as little as $3. You can go to a few places that are more expensive for lunch and dinner.

(Chicken stew, Belize, pictured.)

What are the worst reasons to retire overseas?

Neil Flemming - VaultMax Global Inc

I haven’t really thought about retirement so I haven’t really thought about the worst reasons for it. Sometimes people can change countries to run away from more personal problems than the actual problems that are associated with the country they’re from. And people think that by moving countries, they will be able to escape their problems. That doesn’t work because I don’t think the person really changes, just the location.

(Runners on...

What are the best things to buy in Portugal as opposed to other places?

Carol Bartlett Ribeiro - Carol Bartlett Ribeiro, Property Consultant

My Portuguese cookbook and dishware – Best Places In The World To Retire – International Living

One of the best things to buy in Portugal is the Portuguese wine. Portuguese wine is not exported as much as in other places, which is a great shame because the wines here are really prize-winning and they are excellent.

Pastries are excellent as well. If you like codfish, that’s good here, but most foreigners don’t seem to like codfish. There’s a huge variety of things that you can buy. There’s silver Portugal, which is very...

If you want the “cheap and cheerful” things, there’s plenty of that as well.

And then you have what they call “custard tarts” which are in the Pastéis de Belém area (about half way between Lisbon Cascais, which is on the coast), and which is almost like a religion here. These are very good little custard tarts.

You really can get everything here in Portugal now and there are many countries that have what they call a “one-shop” where they’ve got mainly South African and British products from England. You’ve got a shop that is a Russian shop. There is an Ikea so the Swedes can get what they are missing from home.

It’s amazing that as small as Portugal is, when you’re down in the Alenteijo, which is an area that is just before the Algarve or even in the Algarve, the food is completely different. The area is different; it’s much more farm land. You have a lot of cork plantations there. As you start going up north, there as well, the food is different. Like any country, the pronunciations are different in the north of Portugal, but you have the same sort of things. You would have perhaps more lamb to eat down in Alenteijo than you would here. But Portugal is a bit of melting pot of everything. So at Christmas time, here they have the codfish on the 24th and then they’ll have turkey or lamb for the 25th and that’s pretty well all over now.

In addition to food, Portugal has arts and crafts. There’s a lot of very, very good pottery and china and porcelain. And, of course, what Portugal is very known for the hand painted tiles, a lot of which are antiques that are extremely expensive.

(Portuguese cookbook and tableware made and bought in Portugal, pictured.)

What's the food like in the markets in Nicaragua?

Barry Oliver - Surfing Nahua

Market in Chinandega in Northern Nicaragua – Best Places In The World To Retire – International Living

In the city of Chinandega or Managua, you’ll almost feel like you’re in the market in the US- it’s pretty similar. The fruits and vegetables sections are even better than in the US. Nicaragua has great fruits and vegetables. I have friends who hated tomatoes in the States because they’re picked green and are then filled with chemicals and sent to supermarkets. I come to Nicaragua and there’s this plump, red, juicy fresh tomato that looks like it’s...

There are also exotic fruits you don’t see in the US that you’ll find in the markets in Nicaragua. The standard foods that you’d find in the US, you’re also going to find in the market in Nicaragua, but you’re going to find a better fruits and vegetables section.

You can also go to other places in Nicaragua to get your food. There are local tin shack markets in Nicaragua that are huge. The biggest tin shack market in Central America is in Managua. You can buy anything in that market- any fruit and vegetable you want. You can find anything you want in these tin shack markets and the prices are just ridiculously low- about a quarter of what you would pay in the US. The last time I was there, they had a helicopter engine for sale.

There are farmers’ markets available as well. Usually, before I go up to northern Nicaragua, I pull on to the city of Chinandega. It’s like a drive through market where there are vegetable stands on the side of the road, you pull up and get everything you need. You can get the bananas, oranges, exotic fruits, and all kinds of good food that you want, and then be on your way. It’s a 3-minute stop and you’re moving on, which is nice and convenient. The farmers’ markets have good prices and quality goods.

(Market in Chinandega in Northern Nicaragua, pictured.)

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Arne and I spent the first Christmas with our landlord and his friends.

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