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      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
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      Best For:

      • The Best Places To Retire
      • Health Care Abroad
      • Cost Of Living
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      • Safest Places For Retirement
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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

        Join our Weekly Newsletter
        Overseas Property Alert

        Sign up for our weekly newsletter to receive expert insights on the best international real estate investment opportunities.






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          VALENCIA, SPAIN

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          PANAMA CITY, PANAMA

          Oct. 15-17, 2025

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          Nov. 13, 2025

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          Home Lifestyle

          What About Costa Rica…?

          by Sophia Titley
          Feb 03, 2025
          in Lifestyle
          0 0
          Aerial view of Tamarindo, in Costa Rica

          AdobeStock/bartsadowski

          As I’m sure you’re aware, our 2025 Overseas Retirement Index has been released. As ever, our editors’ picks of the best places in the world for an overseas retirement are causing quite the stir…

          Indeed, you might number among the readers considering our list of index havens and thinking, “How come [INSERT COUNTRY NAME] isn’t on there?”

          There are hundreds of thousands of appealing, attractive havens around the world, but we can’t include all of them in our annual round-up. Instead, we bring you a short list of our favorites—the places we see as most worthy of your attention right now.

          This means that we need to be extremely discerning and pull no punches when it comes to deciding which havens make the cut and which do not.

          Though some will disagree with us, we have good reasons for excluding certain places. Here’s an overview of the places that didn’t make the cut this year:

          Costa Rica

          “How come you never talk about Costa Rica?”

          This is one of the comments we receive most often at Live And Invest Overseas.

          Costa Rica is popular for good reason. It has beautiful scenery, established expat communities, and generous residency and tax policies…

          The thing is, Panama is right next door and has all of the same appeal at a lower cost, with better infrastructure in an overall safer environment.

          Costa Rica relies heavily on tourism. You could even call it a one-trick pony. Panama has tourism plus services (banking, commerce, insurance, container ports, etc.) and revenue from the Panama Canal and other mega-infrastructure projects.

          Its infrastructure—its highways, bridges, cruise ship terminals, metro service,

          and more—is strong. Costa Rica’s infrastructure (its roads especially, but also its ports and water delivery systems) is of poor quality and in need of major upgrades.

          Also, we can’t forget how Costa Rica rolled out the welcome mat for American and Canadian retirees a couple of decades ago and then changed its mind a few years later, eliminating many of the tax breaks it had previously promised.

          Lately, expats in Costa Rica have told us of the high prices. They say that the cost of living is on par with that of the U.S. in some places. Also, safety has become more of a concern.

          All in all, we prefer to focus our attention on Panama.

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          Indonesia

          We’ve long included Indonesia’s most famous island, Bali, in our retirement index.

          It’s an island paradise with rich culture, beautiful landscapes, and a low cost of living… but we’ve turned away from it in recent years because it’s overrun.

          Bali is a tiny island with a population of 4 million people. It has been rising in popularity for years, supercharged by the advent of social media. When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, as many as 60,000 Russians and Ukrainians relocated here, which tipped the island’s population over the edge.

          Today, Bali is cramped, chaotic, and overwhelmed. Traffic—even when you’re going on foot—is a major headache.

          Some tourists come here with aspirations to party hard and end up disrespecting local culture and marring the island’s reputation for tranquility.

          On top of this, Indonesia passed laws in 2022 that many North Americans would view as restrictive of personal freedom. These laws ban unmarried people from sharing hotel rooms or living under the same roofs, to give you one example.

          Bottom line: Bali is a less desirable place to live than it once was.

          Vietnam

          Vietnam offers extremely low costs of living, dramatic landscapes, and beautiful beach towns… But, for now, it’s staying off our index list because of changes to its residency policies.

          It has become very difficult for prospective expats to gain residency in Vietnam. To qualify for an investor’s visa, for instance, you’d need to invest a minimum of $120,000… which is expensive relative to Vietnam’s cost of living.

          Our indices prioritize countries where the average retiree can reasonably gain the legal right to live in another country (in other words, residency). In Vietnam’s case, the hoops you’d need to jump through have become unreasonable.

          Turkey

          Last year, we had our eye on Turkey, which offers incredible landscapes, amazing history, and affordable property. We named it an up-and-comer for 2024…

          This year, we matched our words with actions and put boots on the ground on Turkey’s Turquoise Coast. LIOS Founders Kathleen Peddicord and Lief Simon scouted the area from Bodrum to Kas, exploring the area’s lifestyle and investment potential.

          Based on their feedback, we’ve reassessed our stance on Turkey.

          Inflation of the Turkish lira remains high, which makes day-to-day costs unjustifiably expensive. Previously, Turkey had a reputation for being a great bargain, which is partly why we were attracted to it.

          Turkey made changes to its immigration policies and revoked the citizenships of people who had become Turkish through naturalization, which is a concern for those aiming for a second passport.

          Lief and Kathie also discovered inflation in Turkey’s housing markets, although they predict that a drop is coming soon.

          Turkey is still a place to watch, and we may revisit this market soon.

          Ecuador

          Ecuador’s been featured in our index on and off since its inception and is well-loved for its affordability, use of the U.S. dollar, friendly visa policies, and attractive beaches and Spanish colonial settings. Unfortunately, Ecuador has fallen on hard times.

          It’s currently in a state of emergency due to wildfires and drought. On top of this, it has become less safe for day-to-day living because of gang violence, drug trafficking, and civil unrest. In fact, The Economist dubbed it “the world’s newest narco-state,” and it ranks as the least safe country in Latin America right now.

          Needless to say, Ecuador is not a country that we currently recommend to expats.

          Sincerely,

          Sophia Titley signature

          Sophia Titley
          Editor, Overseas Living Letter

          Tags: 'Ecuador'costa ricaIndonesiaOverseas Retirement IndexTurkey
          Share83Tweet52
          Sophia Titley

          Sophia Titley

          For Sophia Titley, home is a subjective concept. She was born in Singapore but grew up in Indonesia and Saudi Arabia… and has since lived in Canada, Spain, Colombia, and, most recently, Panama. She studied political science and Spanish at the University of British Columbia, and in her free time enjoys trying new recipes, playing soccer, and salsa dancing.

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                HOME

                Top Countries

                • Spain
                • Portugal
                • Panama
                • Belize
                • Colombia
                • Cyprus
                • Mexico
                • France
                • Montenegro

                Best For:

                • Health Care Abroad
                • Retirement Living
                • Cost Of Living
                • Investing in Real Estate
                • Establishing Residency
                • Gun Ownership
                • English Speakers
                • Safety
                BROWSE ALL COUNTRIES

                Budgets

                How Much Will It Cost
                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

                Resources

                Global Living

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

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                From Outside North America:
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