• About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms
  • Unsubscribe
No Result
View All Result
Live and Invest Overseas
FREE REPORT
BEST PLACES TO RETIRE
*No spam: We will NEVER give your email address to anyone else.
  • HOME
  • COUNTRIES
    • Top Destinations
      • Portugal
      • Panama
      • Belize
      • France
      • Colombia
      • Dominican Republic
      • Thailand
      • Mexico
      • Spain
      • Argentina
    • Browse All Countries
    • Best For
      • Retire Overseas Index
      • Health Care
      • Cost of Living
      • Investing in Real Estate
      • Editor’s Picks For Retirement
      • Establishing Residency
      • Starting an Online Business
      • Single Women
      • Playing Golf
  • BUDGETS
    • Super Cheap ($)
      • Cuenca, Ecuador
      • Chiang Mai, Thailand
      • The Philippines
      • Las Tablas, Panama
      • Granada, Nicaragua
    • Cheap ($$)
      • Algarve, Portugal
      • Medellin, Colombia
      • Boquete, Panama
      • Carcassone, France
      • Buenos Aires, Argentina
    • Affordable ($$$)
      • Abruzzo, Italy
      • Barcelona, Spain
      • Las Terrenas, Dominican Republic
      • Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
      • Costa de Oro, Uruguay
    • Luxury On A Budget ($$$$)
      • Ambergris Caye, Belize
      • Paris, France
      • Panama City Beach Area
  • Real Estate
  • ARCHIVES
    • Living & Retiring Overseas
    • Raising A Family Abroad
    • Foreign Residency & Citizenship
    • Offshore Diversification
    • Our Latest On Coronavirus ⚠️
  • Making Money
    • International Real Estate
    • Banking
    • Employment
    • Investing
  • CONFERENCES
  • BOOKSTORE
Live and Invest Overseas
  • HOME
  • COUNTRIES
    • Top Destinations
      • Portugal
      • Panama
      • Belize
      • France
      • Colombia
      • Dominican Republic
      • Thailand
      • Mexico
      • Spain
      • Argentina
    • Browse All Countries
    • Best For
      • Retire Overseas Index
      • Health Care
      • Cost of Living
      • Investing in Real Estate
      • Editor’s Picks For Retirement
      • Establishing Residency
      • Starting an Online Business
      • Single Women
      • Playing Golf
  • BUDGETS
    • Super Cheap ($)
      • Cuenca, Ecuador
      • Chiang Mai, Thailand
      • The Philippines
      • Las Tablas, Panama
      • Granada, Nicaragua
    • Cheap ($$)
      • Algarve, Portugal
      • Medellin, Colombia
      • Boquete, Panama
      • Carcassone, France
      • Buenos Aires, Argentina
    • Affordable ($$$)
      • Abruzzo, Italy
      • Barcelona, Spain
      • Las Terrenas, Dominican Republic
      • Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
      • Costa de Oro, Uruguay
    • Luxury On A Budget ($$$$)
      • Ambergris Caye, Belize
      • Paris, France
      • Panama City Beach Area
  • Real Estate
  • ARCHIVES
    • Living & Retiring Overseas
    • Raising A Family Abroad
    • Foreign Residency & Citizenship
    • Offshore Diversification
    • Our Latest On Coronavirus ⚠️
  • Making Money
    • International Real Estate
    • Banking
    • Employment
    • Investing
  • CONFERENCES
  • BOOKSTORE
No Result
View All Result
Live and Invest Overseas
No Result
View All Result
Home Countries Portugal Algarve

Retirement And Property Costs In The Algarve, Portugal, Versus Costa Del Sol, Spain

Portugal Versus Spain… The Algarve Versus The Costas

Kathleen Peddicord by Kathleen Peddicord
Aug 20, 2021
in Algarve, Comparison, Portugal, Real Estate, Spain
0
Coast In The Algarve, Portugal, Versus Costa Del Sol, Spain
331
SHARES
4.4k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

We have named Portugal’s Algarve region as the world’s best place to live or retire overseas for eight years running.

Have our editors grown too tired to research new locations?

Did I cut their travel budgets?

Are we simply stuck in a rut?

Or maybe we lack imagination?

Nah…

Those aren’t the reasons Portugal continues to take top honors in every live- and retire-overseas survey we produce.

The truth is, we keep trying hard to identify somewhere in the world we like better than Portugal… but can’t.

Portugal… and, specifically, its Algarve coast… checks every box on the would-be retiree’s list.

The weather is the best in Europe. The health care is excellent and can be free if you establish legal residency.

Yes, you read that correctly. Health care that qualifies as among the best in the world can be available to you at no cost in this beautiful, welcoming country. Anyone ponying up for medical bills and health insurance premiums in the United States understands what a colossal benefit free health care amounts to.

Establishing legal residency in Portugal is straightforward and possible, if you intend to live in the country, by showing as little as 1,400 euros of income per month.

The Algarve coast boasts many of Europe’s best beaches and golf courses. The food is fresh and local, with seafood a specialty. Thanks to a longstanding connection with the British, lots of English is spoken in this part of this country, which is generally safe, the local residents welcoming of foreigners.

The coastline is dramatically beautiful, the inland landscapes charming, and this is one of the most historic points in the world, the spot from which Henry the Navigator launched the Age of Discovery, bidding his men to “sail on… sail on”…

What more could you want?

As I said, we’re having trouble finding an answer to that question, which is why we continue to rank the Algarve as the world’s number-one place to live or retire overseas.

Of course, though, it’s not the only sunny, sandy option in Europe.

Another—much better-known—choice is Spain’s Costa del Sol, home to one of the world’s biggest communities of expat retirees.

How do these two regions compare? Let’s take a look…

The Costa del Sol

Costa del sol Spain
Image Source: iStock/mfron

The Costa del Sol is the extremely popular southern coastal area of Spain’s Andalucía region. It’s bordered by the busy towns of Nerja and Marbella, with Málaga as its centerpiece and an easy, four-hour drive away from Portugal’s Algarve.

The scenery on the Costa del Sol is stunning, with mountains rising dramatically out of the sea creating sheer drops to the sea far below. The coastal motorway through the region offers a drive without equal.

The trouble with this coast is that it became too popular too fast and, from the start, tourists, expats and property developers were allowed to flood into the region unchecked. Builders erected hundreds of thousands of poorly planned and sometimes illegal properties. The seizure (without compensation) over the past several years of many of these illegally titled properties has been big news in Europe’s vacation market.

One could argue (and I would agree) that the rapid commercialization of this area has had big and negative effects. The last word I’d use to describe much of Spain’s Costa del Sol would be “charming.”

The Algarve

Sunset at Algarve coast, Carvoeiro, Portugal.
Alamy/Jan Wlodarczyk

Compared to Costa del Sol, Portugal’s southern coastal region—known as the Algarve—has changed little over the last two decades. The Portuguese people are polite, laid back, and in no particular hurry to fill the Algarve with apartment towers (though, as in every part of the world where man has made his mark, some poorly planned and overbuilt areas exist).

I would describe this coast as among the most charming I’ve known anywhere.

The culture that populates these rugged hills and coastal plains remains centered around village life. Each village with a mother church and communal well, or fonte. Modern conveniences are available in the larger towns, but, happily, this coast’s more than 100 kilometers of sandy beaches and 39 golf courses have managed to avoid many of the trappings of the modern world.

Unlike some development in Costa del Sol, property construction in the Algarve is carefully controlled by a system of planning and permissions. Portugal has worked hard to avoid the problems experienced in Spain by imposing increasingly stringent planning systems. One consequence of this—both a positive and a negative, depending on your point of view—is an under-supply of new-built properties.

In addition—and speaking very generally—property prices are lower in the Algarve than in the Costa del Sol. Values have risen, in some cases dramatically, over the past eight years but now are softening and remain a bargain compared with pricing on Spain’s costas.

Sincerely,

Kathleen Peddicord signature
Kathleen Peddicord
Founding Publisher, Overseas Opportunity Letter

Tags: 'Property In Spain'cheapest place to retire in europecost of living in portugalcost of living in spaincosta del solCosta del Sol real estateproperty in Algarveproperty in portugalproperty on costa del solreal estate in portugalreal estate in spainRetire To Algarveretire to costa del solRetire To PortugalRetire To SpainSpain propertySpain'weather in Portugalweather in spain
Share147Tweet77
Previous Post

Top 22 Places Where You Can Retire For US$1,500 A Month

Next Post

Cost Of Your Ideal Property In The States Vs. Overseas

Kathleen Peddicord

Kathleen Peddicord

Kathleen Peddicord has covered the live, retire, and do business overseas beat for more than 30 years and is considered the world's foremost authority on these subjects. She has traveled to more than 75 countries, invested in real estate in 21, established businesses in 7, renovated historic properties in 6, and educated her children in 4.

Kathleen has moved children, staff, enterprises, household goods, and pets across three continents, from the East Coast of the United States to Waterford, Ireland... then to Paris, France... next to Panama City, where she has based her Live and Invest Overseas business. Most recently, Kathleen and her husband Lief Simon are dividing their time between Panama and Paris.

Kathleen was a partner with Agora Publishing’s International Living group for 23 years. In that capacity, she opened her first office overseas, in Waterford, Ireland, where she managed a staff of up to 30 employees for more than 10 years. Kathleen also opened, staffed, and operated International Living publishing and real estate marketing offices in Panama City, Panama; Granada, Nicaragua; Roatan, Honduras; San Miguel de Allende, Mexico; Quito, Ecuador; and Paris, France.

Kathleen moved on from her role with Agora in 2007 and launched her Live and Invest Overseas group in 2008. In the years since, she has built Live and Invest Overseas into a successful, recognized, and respected multi-million-dollar business that employs a staff of 35 in Panama City and dozens of writers and other resources around the world.

Kathleen has been quoted by The New York Times, Money magazine, MSNBC, Yahoo Finance, the AARP, and beyond. She has appeared often on radio and television (including Bloomberg and CNBC) and speaks regularly on topics to do with living, retiring, investing, and doing business around the world.

In addition to her own daily e-letter, the Overseas Opportunity Letter, with a circulation of more than 300,000 readers, Kathleen writes regularly for U.S. News & World Report and Forbes.

Her newest book, "How to Retire Overseas: Everything You Need to Know to Live Well (for Less) Abroad," published by Penguin Random House, is the culmination of decades of personal experience living and investing around the world.

Related Posts

Seafront promenade and Costilla Beach in Rota, Costa de la Luz, Cadiz, Spain
Europe

Rota, Spain: Cheap, Safe, And Beautiful European Life

by Sophia Titley
August 11, 2022
0

Seven years ago, Stephanie and her husband set off on a journey to explore the world. Stephanie stepped away from...

Read more
Seville, Spain

Retire In Spain: Enjoy A European Lifestyle Without Sacrifices

August 9, 2022
Le Notre Dame cathedral in Paris to the left and La Sagrada Familia cathedral in Barcelona to the right

Paris Vs. Barcelona: Finding Your Retirement Haven

August 8, 2022
Waterford City, Ireland

Buying Property In Ireland Wasn’t What We Thought It’d Be

August 3, 2022
Panorama of the city of Porto in Portugal

News From Readers Living And Retiring In Portugal

July 31, 2022
Sunrise on the Monte Gordo beach, Portugal

Rent Cost: Comparing U.S. Markets Vs. Overseas Markets

July 28, 2022
Senior man working on his laptop lying on deck chair on the beach during sunset

7 Easy Ways For Making Money Overseas Quickly

July 19, 2022
Next Post
Main avenue of the city of Mazatlan on the shore of the beach.

Cost Of Your Ideal Property In The States Vs. Overseas

Start Your New Life Today, Overseas

A world full of fun, adventure, and profit awaits! Sign up for our free daily e-letter, Overseas Opportunity Letter, and we’ll send you a FREE report on the 10 Best Places To Retire In Style Overseas Today.







Get Your Free Portugal Report Today!

​​Simply enter your email address below and we'll send you our ​FREE REPORT — Portugal: The World’s #1 Retirement Haven.

LIOS Resources


  • New To LIOS
  • Ask An Expert
  • Media Center
  • Contact Us
  • FAQs

Quick Links


  • Best Places To Live
  • Best Places To Retire
  • Finding A Job Overseas
  • Real Estate

Sign up for our free daily e-letter, Overseas Opportunity Letter, and get your FREE report: The 10 Best Places To Retire Overseas In 2022

  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms
  • Unsubscribe

© 2008-2022 - Live and Invest Overseas - All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Countries
  • Budgets
  • Archives
  • News
  • Events
  • Bookstore
  • Newsletters
  • About Us
  • Members Area
  • Contact Us

© 2008-2022 - Live and Invest Overseas - All Rights Reserved.

The World’s Best Places To Be In 2022?

Discover Them Here…

Sign up for FREE and learn how to live the good life on a modest budget, find bargain property, and more. Plus, check out our free report on the 10 BEST PLACES TO RETIRE.

RETIRE OVERSEAS AND LIVE LIKE ROYALTY

Get Your Free ​Portugal Report Today!
 

​​Learn more about ​​PORTUGAL ​​​and other countries in our free, daily Overseas Opportunity Letter​​​​​​​​​. Simply enter your email address below and we’ll send you our FREE REPORT — Portugal — The World’s Number #1 Retirement Haven