Puerto Vallarta - One of the best places to retire

We have oft admitted our love of Puerto Vallarta (our winter home town for the past decade) and like some other PV lovers find ourselves sometimes defending the choice. For those of us who know and love this city, we know its a safe lovely place to live, play, eat, and drink. But to many others who read newspapers, watch some TV shows, or even read some comments here on CC, Mexico (and PV) are places to avoid.

So this evening I happened to be doing some internet reading and stumbled on this piece which talks about the 21 best places to retire abroad (Puerto Vallarta comes in #2). Some of the other places they rate we also find interesting places...such as Istanbul (another favorite place of ours) and DaNang (this one caught me by surprise. So we are posting the link to stimulate some thought.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/retirement/retiring-happily-abroad-21-best-places/ss-AAdzFHq?ocid=spartandhp#image=21

We should clarify that this little story comes from "The Street" which is a lesser known (but respected) Wall Street oriented newsletter.

Hank

I agree.

Seems the best would be mobile

October - March in PV

April - Sept... one of the other great spots on your link

These places are all nice and affordable until troubles come calling. Their 911 help lines and medical facilities are not exactly up to N American standard when minutes count and lives hang in the balance.

Interesting list. I would like to know their methodology for selection. My price independent choice would be the somewhere on the Med - at least for a while.

We have oft admitted our love of Puerto Vallarta (our winter home town for the past decade) and like some other PV lovers find ourselves sometimes defending the choice. For those of us who know and love this city, we know its a safe lovely place to live, play, eat, and drink. But to many others who read newspapers, watch some TV shows, or even read some comments here on CC, Mexico (and PV) are places to avoid.

 

So this evening I happened to be doing some internet reading and stumbled on this piece which talks about the 21 best places to retire abroad (Puerto Vallarta comes in #2).Hank

I have traveled extensively throughout all of Latin America for over 35 years; currently I am responsible for border security for a large Mexican multi-national corporation. My opinion comes from a lot of actual experience, not just what I read on the internet or from spending a few months a year in a tourist town.

Mexico is a beautiful place filled with warm, gracious lovely people. However if you are the unfortunate victim of any type of crime, accident or other health emergency - you will be shocked back to the reality that you are in a foreign country with entirely different standards, values and systems.

While I believe that for the most part PV is a safe resort city, travelers should do their own research and avoid listening to a handful of PV cheerleaders on Cruise Critic.

Interesting list. I would like to know their methodology for selection. My price independent choice would be the somewhere on the Med - at least for a while.

The reason we posted the link is we found the selection to be fascinating. And we do agree with quite a few of the recommendations. It does appear that they were looking for a low cost of living, decent weather, good atmosphere. However one issue we have with some of the choices is access to good health care...which is an issue for many retirees. As to your comment about "price independent" that would be a whole new ball game. But a majority of retirees do have cost of living high on their list when looking for places to live in retirement. Personally, I would be very happy living in Puerto Vallarta about 6 months a year (not a big fan of the weather during the summer and fall rainy season). Thailand also has a lot of merit although there would be some internal argument over where in Thailand. Portugal (high on the posted link) has always been popular because of its reasonable cost. But the EU and Euro have caused the prices in Portugal to increase so it has lost some of its draw.

But getting back to the original topic, Mexico gets awful publicity in both the States and Canada. But many critics refuse to acknowledge that Mexico is a very large country and not everyplace is a killing field and crime ridden place. It is estimated that at least 1 Million Americans have chosen to live their retirement years in Mexico, and for those who understand the geography of the country and where to live...this makes a lot of sense.

DW and I first visited Mexico on several cruises (to both the eastern and western coasts) which is when we started to like the country. But once we started to spend significant time in Puerto Vallarta (10 years ago) we quickly developed a strong attraction to Mexico. We have been blessed to have traveled to approximately 100 countries (on both cruises and land trips) and travel is in our blood. Although we could choose to live nearly anywhere in the world during the winter (which is when we prefer to leave our part of the USA) we have chosen Puerto Vallarta. And when DW and I discuss alternatives that exist anywhere else in the world we keep coming back to Puerto Vallarta. Having been exposed to an awful lot of the world, PV still calls our names :). Can we explain this logically? Probably not. But we do know that we will be back again this coming winter (and hopefully the next). We also know that we when we get on the aircraft to fly to PV, both DW and I have smiles painted on our faces.

So, you mention the Med and we also love a lot of Med areas. But it is not where we want to be in the cold winter. And then there is the cost of living issue. The Mexican Peso is currently at a record 16:1 (against the US dollar) which makes Mexico even more attractive.

Hank

I have traveled extensively throughout all of Latin America for over 35 years; currently I am responsible for border security for a large Mexican multi-national corporation. My opinion comes from a lot of actual experience, not just what I read on the internet or from spending a few months a year in a tourist town.

 

Mexico is a beautiful place filled with warm, gracious lovely people. However if you are the unfortunate victim of any type of crime, accident or other health emergency - you will be shocked back to the reality that you are in a foreign country with entirely different standards, values and systems.

 

While I believe that for the most part PV is a safe resort city, travelers should do their own research and avoid listening to a handful of PV cheerleaders on Cruise Critic.

This is rather a subjective subject. In my experience most people are somewhat prejudiced whether it be language or racial group and this, more than anything, distorts their opinions.

I have spent many months in Florida ,Spain ,Portugal, Southern France, as well as some weeks in Australia, New Zealand, Venezuela and other destinations and for various reasons I have chosen PV for my second home for the past 15 years.

I would spend much more time in the south of France however my wife's French is not as good as it could be. The weather in PV is excellent ,the people very friendly, restaurants are excellent and plentiful, bridge games abundant, excellent hospital care and all this at a very reasonable cost.

Finally my wife and I feel safer in PV Than the Ottawa, Ontario area so imagine how much safer this would be for the majority of Americans.

My wife and I love the place but by all means if you or others feel differently you should go someplace else. To each his own.

Robert

...

 

Mexico is a beautiful place filled with warm, gracious lovely people. However if you are the unfortunate victim of any type of crime, accident or other health emergency - you will be shocked back to the reality that you are in a foreign country with entirely different standards, values and systems.

 

While I believe that for the most part PV is a safe resort city, travelers should do their own research...

Your words ring true to me. Things are really, really different in Mexico. I didn't necessarily say bad, just really different and you need to be ready.

... As to your comment about "price independent" that would be a whole new ball game...

Yep, it is like the car magazines having both price dependent and price independent rankings.

My price dependent ranking is to stay put at home. I have thought about living on the other side in Baja to be able to live on the beach, but still can't see myself calling it home full time.

...

So, you mention the Med and we also love a lot of Med areas. But it is not where we want to be in the cold winter. And then there is the cost of living issue.

 

Hank

I still like to be able to have easy access to snow skiing in the winter which is possible living in certain parts of the Med.