In this report, we share the best places to retire in Central America.
Best Beaches, Highlands, and Colonial-Era Cities in Central America
We spent 280 consecutive days in Central America in 2021. In this video, we are going to share our top 5 beach locations, our top 3 colonial-era cities, and our top 5 cooler highland locations in Central America.
In this report, we will just share our favorites. But full reports for each city we visited including detailed information such as weather, visas, walkability, food, rents, utilities, and things to do are available at VagabondBuddha.com.
I left the United States in 2007, I have visited 67 countries over the last 15+ years, and I have over 100 detailed reports that help people decide where to retire cheap in paradise based upon their budget, lifestyle, and needs.
After we rank the best beaches, best highlands, and best colonial-era cities, we will share 5 things that annoyed us during our 280 days in Central America.
The Dominican Republic is not technically in Central America, but we are including it in this comparison because it is one of the cheapest places to live nearby in the Caribbean Sea. Here is a table showing how many days we spent in each country. We did not visit Honduras, El Salvador, or Belize on this trip, so they are not in the ranking.
|
Country |
Days in 2021 |
|
52 |
|
|
131 |
|
|
31 |
|
|
37 |
|
|
29 |
Top 5 Beaches in Central America
We decided to include cities on lakes in Central America in this beach category. Remember, this is the top 5 retire early cheap locations. There are some nice beaches in Central America that won’t make this list because they are presently price gouging tourists and ex-pats and thus no longer considered cheap. The links in the table are to the written reports for each place. Dan and Qiang ranked, with #1 being best, #2 second best, and so on.
|
City |
Country |
Dan |
Qiang |
|
Guatemala |
1 |
1 |
|
|
Panama |
2 |
3 |
|
|
Nicaragua |
3 |
2 |
|
|
Dominican Republic |
4 |
4 |
|
|
Costa Rica |
5 |
5 |
Top 3 Colonial-Era Cities in Central America
These are the top 3 colonial-era cities in Central America that we would consider retiring early for cheap for us. You will need to do an exploratory visit to verify if one or more of these locations would be suitable for you. The links in the table below are to the full written reports for each place. This report is just a ranking of Dan and Qiang’s favorite places, with #1 being best, and so on.
|
City |
Country |
Dan |
Qiang |
|
Guatemala |
1 |
1 |
|
|
Nicaragua |
2 |
2 |
|
|
Panama |
3 |
|
|
|
San Jose |
Costa Rica |
|
3 |
Top 5 Cooler Highland Cities in Central America
These are the top 5 cooler highlands cities in Central America that we would consider retiring early for cheap. You will need to do an exploratory visit to verify if one or more of these locations would be suitable for you. The links in the table below are to the full written reports for each place. This report is just a ranking of Dan and Qiang’s favorite places, with #1 being best, and so on.
|
City |
Country |
Dan |
Qiang |
|
Guatemala |
1 |
1 |
|
|
Guatemala |
2 |
2 |
|
|
Panama |
3 |
3 |
|
|
Nicaragua |
4 |
4 |
|
|
Costa Rica |
5 |
|
|
|
San Jose |
Costa Rica |
|
5 |
Four Annoying Things About Central America
Medical Services: Smaller cities and villages may not have the best emergency services. Many do have clinics for common ailments. But, you will generally have to travel to larger cities or even the capital cities for specialized medical procedures.
Food in Tourist Areas: The food in restaurants can be quite expensive in more well-known touristy areas especially the beach towns of Costa Rica and Panama. But when you go to less touristy areas, you can often find local foods starting at around $4 per entree.
Transportation: Detailed information about public transportation is not published online in some parts of Central America such as smaller towns in Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Guatemala. But there are exceptions. Panama City has detailed information on Google Maps about where to catch buses and when to jump off for connections between buses.
Wifi Speeds: Wifi speeds seem to be more localized. We had very good and very bad unreliable speeds within the same neighborhoods of the same city. Wifi speeds are more related to what service a landlord uses and how much bandwidth they are paying for. So I suggest testing Wifi Speeds with your smartphone (Att Test) before finalizing any long-term apartment rentals. Here is my complete process for finding great cheap apartments no matter where you are in the world.
Accommodations: You have to pay 20% to 50% higher for furnished apartments that you rent online like at Airbnb.com compared to what you can get with your feet on the ground walking neighborhoods. So if you are planning on staying for a few weeks or months, just get a palace for the first few days and then look for a better deal in your favorite neighborhood after you arrive. I explain how I do that in the same report I already shared about finding great cheap apartments
Thanks for reviewing our report “Best Places to Retire in Central America.”
Visit VagabondBuddha.com if you would like to see our catalog of over 100 eBooks we have created teaching you how and where to retire cheap in paradise all over the world. While you are there, make sure to grab a free copy of my eBook, How I Fired My Boss and Traveled the World for 15+ Years.
This is Dan of Vagabond Awake, the Youtube channel for VagabondBuddha.com. The world is your home, what time will you be home for dinner?
