When you are working you have to live in an area in striking distance of your place of employment. As a retired person you will be free of such constraints. You have the luxury of being able to make up your mind where to live and of taking time to reach your decision.Unless you have robbed a bank and need to make a quick exit from the UK, there is no sense in rushing off to the first place that comes to mind. You may have a pretty shrewd idea of where you would like to settle, but you have only seen the area during the season when it is at its best.

If you are considering becoming a permanent resident, you need to find out what it is like at other times of the year. Take the weather, for instance. Temperature and rainfall statistics can be a useful guide, but they do not tell the whole story. A wet weekend in Marbella can be just as miserable as one in Manchester, and your favourite spot in the mountains may turn into a quagmire after a storm. The Mediterranean can be pretty rough at times, hurricanes can wreak havoc in the Caribbean and Florida, and some areas of France are prone to flooding.Even if you have set your heart on one particular area, I suggest you keep other options up your sleeve, just in case you cannot find the type of property you want there at a reasonable price.

If you have no success in Spain, you could look at neighbouring Portugal.If you find the coast is overdeveloped, you might venture inland away from the main holiday centres.This chapter is designed to set you thinking about possible locations.

Physical Location

An Island

Islands have always been popular holiday venues; perhaps it is because we are all Robinson Crusoes at heart. However, there are islands and islands, and some of them might prove too small for comfort or too isolated. Malta, for instance, with its 95 square miles is half the size of the Isle of Wight; Bermuda is little more than 20 square miles in area. Fortunately neither can be termed isolated since they enjoy good airlinks with the rest of the world – which is more than you can say for St Helena and some South Pacific islands. On the other hand Cyprus, Corsica (France) and Sardinia (Italy) are sizeable territories.

Car owners also need to bear in mind that the cost of transporting their vehicle to the mainland by ferry can mount up.

The Seaside

Coastal resorts have always been popular retirement locations; you have only to think of Eastbourne, Bournemouth and Torquay in the UK. All of them are geared to the holiday trade, but many are all-year-round resorts with a substantial permanent population. Others are full of holiday homes that remain vacant for most of the year and some may shut down completely out of season. In the high season resorts tend to be crowded with holidaymakers, and wily residents head out of town. Many prefer to live at some distance from the sea in order to avoid the summer crowds.

The Countryside

Some people prefer the peacefulness of the countryside and look for old farmhouses and cottages in picturesque surroundings. Tuscany and Umbria in Italy are deservedly popular, tumbledown properties in rural France find ready buyers in the UK, and people are starting to move away from the Spanish coast into the hills. A place in the country can be very pleasant, but may lack the full range of amenities. In more isolated areas your own transport is essential.

The City

Inveterate city dwellers enjoy the entertainment and cultural offerings that only a large city can offer. Even when the weather is foul there is something to do in Paris, Madrid, Lisbon, Rome and Vienna, and there are smaller cities such as Dublin, Florence, Venice and Seville which can be very attractive to live in. The advantage of cities is that you have everything at your fingertips; on the other hand, property is usually more expensive and the cost of living higher than elsewhere.