Best Places to Live and Retire

[JASON HOLLAND- COUNTRY EXPERT]

One of the questions I’m asked most often about Costa Rica is the best place to live and retire. The answer, as you can imagine, is complicated. First you have to ask yourself what’s important to you and what sort of lifestyle do you want. That will determine the regions you should check out.

If you want a temperate climate, mountain views, and easy access to North American style shopping and the best medical care in the country – check out the Central Valley and towns like Grecia, Heredia, San Ramon, and Atenas.

For dry and sunny – and quite warm – weather with a beach nearby – try the northern Pacific coast and towns like Tamarindo, Playas del Coco, and Playa Flamingo.

For a quiet, rural setting with awesome lake views and a spring-like climate year-round – you should head to Arenal. You’ll find expats are going there in increasing numbers.

In the Southern Pacific, you’ll find the “classic” Costa Rica of steamy jungle and Robinson Crusoe beaches where no one else is around. Ojochal, Dominical, and Uvita are places to check out down there.

Hopefully, this gives you a starting point for your own research. Costa Rica is a small country. But it has a very diverse mix of climate and scenery. There is plenty of information on all these regions and more on your Costa Rica Insider member page.

Let me know if you have any further questions about any region of Costa Rica.

[KEN NOVAK]

We have already made two trips to CR, studying the different areas for possible retirement. This year we spent 3 weeks, starting at Uvita and moving every 3-4 days up the coast, as far north as Tamarindo. Many of the beaches were empty,and we were told that many of them have bad undertows that are very dangerous. One area that we were at, the owner of the house we were looking at mentioned that in the past year they had lost 52 people to undertows. Which are the best and Safest beaches on the Pacific side, and are there good areas on the other coast (we did not get there)?

[JASON HOLLAND- COUNTRY EXPERT]

Hi Ken,

The Pacific coast can be pretty wild, with strong currents. But there are some safe beaches. The beach at Tamarindo is swimmable, as is the one at Playas del Coco. On the southern and central Pacific, you have Herradura and Manuel Antonio that I know of. There are many more, it’s just a matter of doing some research and asking locals as well when you arrive at a specific beach.

There are some great beaches and places to live on the southern Caribbean coast. Check out towns like Cahuita, Puerto Viejo and Manzanillo, as well as the surrounding areas.

Jason

[SUSAN BIDDLE]

Hey Ken,
you might consider checking out the Playa Carillo area if having a beautiful safe swimming beach nearby is a priority for you. It is a very accessible community about 5 min south of Playa Samara which has pretty much everything you need for daily living (grocery stores, shops, lots of great restaurants, banks, layers, dentist and even a language school if that’s an issue). There are a lot of expats in the vicinity also. Most importantly, the beach is spectacular and great for swimming! Playa Samara also has a fabulous swimming beach but it is a bit more exposed so it’s better for the surfer crowd. Playa Carillo is protected by a reef so it’s better for swimming. Good Luck on your search!

[KEN NOVAK]

Good Morning Susan,
You are absolutely right about Playa Carillo, we spent 6 days there on our last trip. I asked the question because we haven’t seen all the areas and just wanted to be sure that the Samara area is the best. I think we still would like to see the southern Caribbean area before we make a decision. My concern there is medical availability if needed.

[JASON HOLLAND- COUNTRY EXPERT]

Hi Ken,

The southern Caribbean has a lot of safe swimming beaches. And great snorkeling right off the sand.

One disadvantage of the area is the lack of medical care. There a few small public and private clinics. But for anything major you have to head to Limon, which is about two hours north, or even San Jose, which is about four hours away.

Jason

[Author]

Posts