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    How Much Will It Cost You To Live Overseas?

    The only honest answer is, we have no idea. And neither does anyone else. The only one who can answer that question is you. Here’s the most important thing to understand about budgeting your new life overseas…

    Super Cheap

    • Chitré, Panama
    • Santa Marta, Colombia
    • Phuket, Thailand
    • Dumaguete, The Philippines

    Cheap

    • Medellin, Colombia
    • Boquete, Panama
    • Kyrenia, Cyprus
    • Hua Hin, Thailand
    • The Algarve, Portugal

    Affordable

    • Valencia, Spain
    • Cascais, Portugal
    • Las Terrenas, The DR
    • Pisa, Italy
    • La Rochelle, France
    • Mazatlán, Mexico

    Luxury

    • Ambergris Caye, Belize
    • Kotor, Montenegro
    • The Panama City Beaches
    • Paris, France
  • Resources

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  • Home
  • Countries

    Top Destinations:

    Whether you’re looking for fun and sun, a peaceful retirement, or the chance to earn some extra income, you’ve got a real world of opportunity open to you… In short, we’ve done our best to narrow down your best options, but only you can decide the right country for you.

    • Spain
    • Portugal
    • Panama
    • Belize
    • Colombia
    • Cyprus
    • Mexico
    • France
    • Montenegro
    • Browse All Countries

    Best For:

    • The Best Places To Retire
    • Health Care Abroad
    • Cost Of Living
    • Investing in Real Estate
    • Establishing Residency
    • Gun Laws In The World
    • English-Speaking Countries
    • Safest Places For Retirement
    • Best Places In Latin America
  • Budgets

    How Much Will It Cost You To Live Overseas?

    The only honest answer is, we have no idea. And neither does anyone else. The only one who can answer that question is you. Here’s the most important thing to understand about budgeting your new life overseas…

    Super Cheap

    • Chitré, Panama
    • Santa Marta, Colombia
    • Phuket, Thailand
    • Dumaguete, The Philippines

    Cheap

    • Medellin, Colombia
    • Boquete, Panama
    • Kyrenia, Cyprus
    • Hua Hin, Thailand
    • The Algarve, Portugal

    Affordable

    • Valencia, Spain
    • Cascais, Portugal
    • Las Terrenas, The DR
    • Pisa, Italy
    • La Rochelle, France
    • Mazatlán, Mexico

    Luxury

    • Ambergris Caye, Belize
    • Kotor, Montenegro
    • The Panama City Beaches
    • Paris, France
  • Resources

    Global Living

    • Living & Retiring Overseas
    • Raising A Family Abroad
    • Foreign Residency & Citizenship
    • Offshore & Diversification

    Making Money

    • International Real Estate
    • Banking
    • Employment
    • Investing

    Follow Us:

    • Meet Our Experts
  • Real Estate

    Buying Real Estate For Cashflow

    • Discover tips and strategies used by global property investing veterans

    Explore Our Latest Posts

    • Learn how to invest and purchase property abroad…

    Go To The Overseas Property Alert Site

    • How To Become Independently Wealthy And Fund The Lifestyle Of Your Dreams
  • Conferences

    Upcoming Events

    • Explore Our Events Site

    Live and Invest In Spain Conference

    Offshore Wealth Summit

    Greece Workshop

    VALENCIA, SPAIN

    Sep. 17-19, 2025

    PANAMA CITY, PANAMA

    Oct. 15-17, 2025

    VIRTUAL

    Nov. 13, 2025

    LEARN MORE
    DISCOUNT
    LEARN MORE
    PRE-REGISTER
    LEARN MORE
    PRE-REGISTER
    • MORE EVENTS

    Contact Our Events Team

    Toll-Free U.S. and Canada:
    1 (888) 627 8834
    From Outside North America:
    1 (443) 599 1221
    Working Hours
    Monday – Friday 08:00 am – 17:00 pm EST.

    Reach us with your questions by email at: events@liveandinvestoverseas.com

  • Store

    Unlock The World

    • Access Your Library

    Overseas Havens Reports

    • Expats' comprehensive destination guides

    Conference Kits

    • Hours of coverage  from our latests conferences

    Lahardan Books

    • Titles on living and investing around the world
    • Explore Our Store
    Your passport to a life well-lived abroad

    Services

    overseas living letter offers affordable retirement guidance
    The Simon Letter Wealth Protection Insights
    Global Property Advisor Global Investment Opportunities

    Our Customer Service team is here to assist with any questions or concerns CustomerService@LiveandInvestOverseas.com

  • My Library
Live and Invest Overseas
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Home How to

How To Figure Out The Best Place To Retire Overseas

City, Small Town, Beach, Or Mountain— Which Is Your Dream?

by Kat Kalashian
Jul 27, 2020
in How to, Retirement/Living
0 0
positano in italy seaside town on Mediterranean

Image Source: iStock/Aleh Varanishcha

Out of this big old world of 195 countries, how in the world do you figure out where in the world to go?

If you’re just beginning to think about the idea of going overseas, whether for retirement or otherwise, this is a huge, daunting question.

Where do you start?

My favorite piece of advice for beginning to tackle this conundrum is to picture what you want to see when you wake up and pull back your curtains. What is outside that window? When you open your door to greet the new day, what is it that’s greeting you back?

One thing informing that panorama is climate. When you look out your bedroom window, are you looking at palm trees and sunshine? Streets powdered with snow? Flowers blooming against a backdrop of mountains and valleys? Does the scene change from month to month… or does the climate hold steady throughout the year?

This first consideration will help you narrow down the regions of the world you could be considering. Thinking very generally, you’re choosing from among three categories: tropical, temperate and seasonal, or mountainous.

Each of these options has its pros and cons.

Many, for example, start this retire-overseas thinking process thinking they want tropical. However, tropical can be a big adjustment for someone who’s never lived outside the Northern Hemisphere.

The length of daytime never changes, the temperature and humidity never waver… it’s all the same all year long. I had a hard time after a few years in Panama, because I missed the change in seasons and the different lifestyle opportunities that each season offers.

If you want some change throughout the year, don’t forget that extremity of seasons is customizable to your preference. Seasons bring a lovely rhythm to the year, and the good news is that many places with seasons don’t often see snow. If you’re just looking for a more temperate winter, it’s not hard to find. In fact, in some places the seasonal difference is negligible… maybe you wear a sweater or light jacket in the colder months of the year.

If you’re considering living in the heights, keep altitude limitations in mind—it’s not the best choice if you have a heart condition, for example.

Of course, this is again customizable. There’s a big difference between Medellín at 5,000 feet and Cuenca at 8,400. They both take some getting used to, but I’ve known many who can’t stomach Cuenca’s altitude—they wind up sick and miserable. The same people are OK after a couple days in Medellín.

Next think about the architecture and infrastructure that is typically found in a place with your chosen climate…

Do you see city streets with frozen puddles and icy lampposts? Quaint townhouses sunbathing along a small street on a spring-like day? Steep roofs few and far between as you gaze across a rocky, undulating landscape? Or is it simply sand and ocean as far as the eye can see?

This question backs you into considering the type of lifestyle you’re seeking big picture. Again, you could roughly divide your best retire-overseas options into types: city, small town, beach, and mountain. These are very general classifications, but breaking the world down this way can help you focus and progress your plan.

When you think about cities, consider the differences between modern and historical cities. Historical cities can have all the major amenities of a metropolis, but they were built hundreds of years ago. This means small cobblestone streets that don’t accommodate large cars (or maybe any cars at all).

Cobblestones are charming, but they aren’t easy on the legs and back—important to keep in mind if you like to walk. These cities are also less accessible for those with mobility limitations. You might not find ramps, for example, at the crosswalks or in stores… or anywhere.

When you think about beaches, consider the level of development you would be most comfortable with. Do you want to live in an established beach town where you might have to contend with tourists in season? At the other extreme, you could find an all-but-unknown beach where you’d have to install your own electricity and water source if you bought land to build a house.

When you think of mountains, remember, again, if altitude might be a health concern for you. Also consider if you’d be happy to be landlocked in a mountain retreat… or would you be happier with water nearby? Many popular mountain destinations feature nearby lakes… and some countries on our list of the best places to live or retire overseas even have mountain ranges near the coast.

One of the most important questions to ask yourself—no matter where in the world you’re thinking of retiring—is whether you’d prefer becoming part of a gated community or flying solo in a more local neighborhood. There’s no right answer, and each choice has its pros and cons.

Next consider your type of accommodation. Do you want to buy a place of your own? Build one? Do you dream of a house on land with room for gardens… or do you want a lock-it-and-leave-it condo so you’re free to travel when wanderlust calls?

How much room will you need? How much maintenance do you want to take on? If you’re not planning to live in the destination full time, will you have to invest in a caretaker while you’re away?

Answering these questions should help you draw yourself a pretty good picture of what you want your life overseas to look like.

Then you can shop that picture across the globe. Where could you find the lifestyle you’re imagining for yourself?

I pose these questions today not theoretically but with the hope that you’ll take the time to sit back in a comfortable chair and jot down your answers in each case.

That homework done, starting tomorrow and continuing through the rest of the week, our Live and Invest Overseas editors are going to do their best to help you connect your personal dots with the world map.

We’re going to take you on a tour of the world’s best places to think about living or retiring overseas right now.

This won’t be your average, run-of-the-mill tour. We’re not going to simply serve up different appealing destinations. We’re going to square them off against each other.

No place is perfect. Every destination has its pluses and its minuses and comparing them is the best way to find the place that’s best for you.

First up tomorrow: Portugal’s Algarve versus Spain’s Costa del Sol…

Kat Kalashian

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Kat Kalashian

Kat Kalashian

Kat Kalashian has grown up around the world, living in the United States, Ireland, France, and Panama, and has traveled extensively in her few years. Growing up as a young expat she is familiar with the trials and tribulations of an overseas move and the adjustments that must be made in every new destination. After living in Panama for seven years, she and her husband relocated back to Paris, France, in 2018 where they now live full-time with their American-born cat, Panamanian-born dog, and two French-born daughters. She's now been living in Paris for over 10 cumulative years, and enjoys being able to explore France and the rest of Europe at every opportunity. As head of Live And Invest Overseas’ European Division, she is Editorial Director of Europe Uncovered, a monthly subscription service, MCs the Europe based Live And Invest Conferences, and scouts out new locations for coverage on the Continent.

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Best For:

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BROWSE ALL COUNTRIES

Budgets

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To Live Overseas?

Super Cheap

  • Chitré, Panama
  • Santa Marta, Colombia
  • Phuket, Thailand
  • Dumaguete, The Philippines

Cheap

  • Medellin, Colombia
  • Boquete, Panama
  • Kyrenia, Cyprus
  • Hua Hin, Thailand
  • The Algarve, Portugal

Affordable

  • Valencia, Spain
  • Cascais, Portugal
  • Las Terrenas, The DR
  • Pisa, Italy
  • La Rochelle, France
  • Mazatlán, Mexico

Luxury

  • Ambergris Caye, Belize
  • Kotor, Montenegro
  • The Panama City Beaches
  • Paris, France

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