10 Great Affordable Places to Retire Abroad

Cayo District, Belize

What it is: A mountainous, largely agricultural frontier district in western Belize, threaded with rivers and rainforest.  

Estimated monthly budget for a couple: $2,179

Why retire there: Belize is tropical, affordable and English-speaking, which has put it on a lot of retirees’ radars. While many tourists and expats make for Caribbean islands like Ambergris Caye, the inland Cayo District offers a dramatically different landscape of hills and rivers, rainforests and Mayan ruins.   

“The Cayo District is a beautiful, welcoming and quirky little corner of the world,” says Peddicord. “Here, the burdens and concerns of the rest of the world feel far away and unimportant.”

Home to about 100,000 people, Cayo is the largest of Belize’s six geopolitical districts by land area, spanning 2,061 square miles and offering some of the country’s best opportunities for outdoor exploration, especially in the Mountain Pine Ridge and Chiquibul forest reserves. Peddicord particularly recommends Santa Familia, a laid-back village along the Belize River that includes Carmelita Gardens, a small, self-sufficient community of Belizeans and expats.   

Potential drawbacks: “Health care and hospital infrastructure is not Belize’s strong suit,” says Peddicord. “Generally, the infrastructure is lacking. You need to go and spend time in Belize and make sure that you’re OK with how underdeveloped it is.”

Crete, Greece

What it is: The largest of the Greek Islands, with an estimated 18,000 expats drawn to its Mediterranean climate and deep history.

Estimated monthly budget for a couple: $1,830

Why retire there: “If warm sunshine, cold cocktails, friendly locals, orange sunsets, turquoise waters and pink sand beaches are your thing, you’ll find them all in Crete,” Peddicord says. But as Greece’s largest island, with some 600,000 residents, “it offers more lifestyle options than your typical island,” she adds, from major cities like Chania and Heraklion to charming beach towns, mountain villages and pristine wilderness. 

Home to the Minoans, who flourished during the Bronze Age and are considered Europe’s first advanced civilization, Crete was for millennia a crossroads of Europe, Africa and Asia Minor.

Peddicord nominates Chania as the best choice for expats, a “labyrinth of homes, museums, boutiques, restaurants, bars and ancient churches,” with ancient city walls and a charming Venetian port. But due to its size, Crete offers a range of affordable places to retire, she says. Rents in some areas are as low as $500 a month, and a taverna meal typically costs around $18. 

Expats can use both public and private health care facilities, but most are clustered around Chania and Heraklion, with more limited options in rural areas.

Potential drawbacks: Outside the main population centers, you’ll want to learn basic Greek to get by day-to-day, and if you live in a rural area, expect limited health care access.

Hua Hin, Thailand

What it is: A royal beach town on the Gulf of Thailand that’s home to roughly 65,000 residents, with about 5,000 expats, many of them retirees.

Estimated monthly budget for a couple: $1,440

Why retire there: Thailand is “arguably the cheapest place in the world to live well,” Peddicord wrote in her previous book, At Home Abroad: Retire Big on Little, and Hua Hin is her top choice for retirees considering the country. 

A quiet fishing village until the late 1870s, when Thailand's King Rama V sent his half-brother, Prince Nares, to find a coastal retreat for the royal family, Hua Hin grew into Thailand’s first true beach resort town. Despite decades of development since, it has held on to its laid-back beach town feel, Peddicord says.

“What expats particularly enjoy about Hua Hin is its cleanliness, the widespread use of English, the lack of corruption and the low-cost high standard of living,” she says. Mountains, caves, waterfalls and abundant wildlife can all be found just outside town, with abundant beaches and golf courses being its primary draws.

Potential drawbacks: The culture shock of moving to Thailand “is going to be dramatic,” Peddicord says, and the distance can make it challenging, and expensive, to stay connected to family and friends. “It’s going to be a more outside-the-box choice,” she says. “For some people that’s exciting and invigorating, and for other people that could be just too much to take.”

Las Terrenas, Dominican Republic 

What it is: Resort town of about 26,000 on the Caribbean coast in the northeastern Dominican Republic, with roughly 6,000 expats from Canada, the U.S., France, Italy, Germany and elsewhere.

Estimated monthly budget for a couple: $2,225

Why retire there: “It’s the Caribbean, but it’s not at the price tag of, say, Turks and Caicos,” says Sophia Titley, author of the Live and Invest Overseas newsletter Overseas Property Alert. “You get all the benefits of life by the sea — living on or near a white sand beach with the swaying palms, everything you could want in terms of Caribbean appeal — just much more affordable.”

A full-service hospital opened in Las Terrenas in 2021, meaning locals no longer need to travel to the capital city of Santo Domingo nearly 100 miles away for major medical care.

Another thing that separates Las Terrenas from your average tropical paradise: a large community of European expats, who started moving there in the 1970s and ’80s and opening small businesses. “You can, for instance, go buy a baguette at a French boulangerie or a German sausage,” Titley says. “It has an international flavor to it; it’s more than just a sleepy little beach town.”

Potential drawbacks: While expats report feeling safe in Las Terrenas, crime is a risk in the Dominican Republic, Peddicord says. “You should take basic precautions against petty crime while living here.”

Mendoza, Argentina

What it is: A city and region in the foothills of the Andes, with more than 2 million residents and a world-famous wine culture.

Estimated monthly budget for a couple: $2,000

Why retire there: If you love vacationing in Napa or Bordeaux but can’t afford to live there, this might be the place to retire. Mendoza City is a bustling hub of about 1 million, surrounded by what Peddicord calls “vineyard land, grape country,” famous for its Malbecs and a mecca for mountain recreation. 

She says the region boasts “more than 150,000 hectares of vineyards and more than 500 wineries, all with the towering white-capped Andean mountains as the backdrop.” Outside the city, it’s an unspoiled playground for nature lovers, offering horseback riding, biking, whitewater rafting and skiing.

The provincial capital offers wide, leafy avenues, bustling plazas and cosmopolitan restaurants in “one of Argentina’s most affordable cities,” Peddicord says. You can rent a semi-furnished two-bedroom apartment for around $800 a month, and a bus ride costs less than $1. Argentina also has universal public health care, regardless of residency status, along with plentiful, affordable private insurance options in major cities.

Potential drawbacks: Argentina is a long way away. If you want family to visit or anticipate returning regularly to the States, “you have to factor in that inaccessibility and the cost of travel,” Peddicord says. The country has also been plagued for decades by economic woes, notably currency devaluation and high inflation, and Mendoza City, though largely safe, has high-crime pockets that are best avoided.

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

What it is: A Pacific coast resort city with nearly 300,000 residents, plus a sizeable expat population of around 45,000 during the busy winter months.

Estimated monthly budget for a couple: $3,305

Why retire there: “There’s just something about this place that draws people in,” Peddicord says, from spring-breakers to digital nomads to retirees. 

The surroundings might have something to do with it. “With the ocean on one side and the mountains on the other, there’s a wealth of activities at your fingertips,” she says, ticking off sailing, snorkeling, whale watching, hiking, horseback riding and ATV adventures. There’s a long-standing, tight-knit expat community to help you get settled and an “extensive and impressive health care system,” Peddicord says, including an international clinic with English-speaking doctors who offer consultations for as little as $40. 

Puerto Vallarta is among the safer cities in Mexico and has a bilingual tourist-police unit serving non-Spanish speakers. The U.S. State Department does advise against travel in the surrounding state of Jalisco because of crime concerns but exempts Puerto Vallarta and the Riviera Nayarit coast to its north from the warning.  

Potential drawbacks: As Puerto Vallarta’s popularity has grown, prices have risen, making it the most expensive destination on this list, though still relatively affordable by North American standards.

Sardinia, Italy

What it is: Italy’s (and the Mediterranean’s) second-largest island, after Sicily, located about 110 miles off the country’s west coast.

Estimated monthly budget for a couple: $2,180

Why retire there: Roughly the size of New Hampshire, Sardinia has more than 1,100 miles of coastline featuring rocky coves, pebbled bays and white sand beaches — 49 of them boasting Blue Flag status, an internationally recognized mark of high environmental and water quality standards. 

Prime landing spots for expats, Peddicord says, include the capital, Cagliari, which offers a rich cultural scene, good health care and more English speakers than elsewhere on the island; and Alghero, a more laid-back city with a distinct Catalan heritage.

“If you’re happy to get off the beaten track and live among locals, you can find homes renting for as little as $400 a month, considerably reducing your overall budget,” Peddicord says. Sardinia is also considered one of Italy’s safest areas. 

Potential drawbacks: Sardinia’s international community is relatively small, so settling in socially will require more effort than in a bigger expat hub. Outside the capital and tourist areas, English may not be easy to come by, so learning Italian is a priority. And while Italy’s health care system is widely regarded as world-class, facilities are less extensive in Sardinia than on the Italian mainland.

Tarragona, Spain

What it is: A coastal Catalonian city of about 140,000, once the Roman capital of the Iberian Peninsula.

Estimated monthly budget for a couple: $2,008

Why retire there: “Tarragona today is a wonderland of wide boulevards, golden sand beaches, biscuit-colored brick buildings and lush parks,” Peddicord says. “This is authentic Spanish life with the same big city conveniences, great weather, rich history, beaches and sunshine, but without the hustle, bustle, high prices or tourist hordes”

One of Tarragona’s big draws is its low cost of living — you’ll pay less for housing, groceries, transportation and eating out here than in bigger cities such as Madrid and Valencia. The historic marina and the Royal Tarragona Yacht Club, one of the oldest institutions of its kind in Spain, are top-notch facilities for boating enthusiasts, and the nearby Costa Daurada region has several golf courses.

The climate helps too: Hot, dry summers give way to mild, wet winters, making Tarragona “a good choice if you enjoy mostly warm weather with some seasonal variation,” Peddicord says.

The city has a low crime rate and a solid mix of public and private medical care, reflecting Spain’s high-quality health system. The bright lights of Barcelona are less than an hour away by high-speed train.

Potential drawbacks: Tarragona’s smaller size means fewer international amenities and a smaller expat community than Barcelona or Valencia. English may not be enough for every daily interaction, so learning Spanish or Catalan will help.