This year we once again crowned Valencia the #1 Best Place To Retire In The World in our Overseas Retirement Index. This sun-soaked city on Spain’s Mediterranean coast offers an unparalleled quality of life surrounded by beauty, cultural richness, and community.
Valencia is a vibrant, exciting city boasting golden-sand beaches with bright Mediterranean waters and warm, sunny weather year-round. Its infrastructure is excellent, including its public transportation system and health care facilities.
Plus, it’s safe, affordable, and friendly, with a welcoming community of locals and expats from around the world.
Valencia is a shining example of how Europe—even an amenity rich, old-world regional capital with an exceptional standard of living—can be more affordable than most North Americans would think. Everything from housing to health care to a bottle of wine costs less here.
The climate is another undeniable draw. Valencia gets about 2,700 hours of sunshine—300-plus sunny days—per year, with mild winters. It’s ideal for active, outdoor-oriented lifestyles, whether you explore Turia Gardens, the riverbed turned-urban park that snakes its way through the city, go for leisurely strolls on Malvarrosa Beach, or play rounds of golf at the many nearby courses.
Valencia has long been famous for its architecture, and to walk its streets is to take in 2,000 years of history, from the medieval Islamic era to futuristic structures that look straight off the screens of science fiction films. The City of Arts and Sciences, a geometric architectural marvel, is perhaps Valencia’s most iconic building.
Life in Valencia is never dull, with lively annual events like Las Fallas, when the streets come alive with music, parades, and larger-than-life sculptures, as well as live opera and theater performances, concerts, sporting events, and a rich culinary scene. You could spend your days sampling traditional dishes and fine wines at charming local restaurants.
Valencia is walkable and well-connected with public transportation, so you can easily free yourself of car ownership and all its associated expenses. It’s also highly rated for health care, with modern facilities and highly trained professionals.
On top of all of this, Valencia is safe, the type of place where you can breathe easy and let worries of crime and violence that may have affected you back home fade away. It has a welcoming community of expats and locals that makes it easy for newcomers to feel at home quickly.
When it comes to launching a fulfilling new life overseas, one that’s rich in adventure but at the same time comfortable and well-appointed, we can think of no better place than Valencia.
Sincerely,
Sophia Titley
Editor, Overseas Property Alert
