In this report, I first share my retire early in Coronado Panama for $1606 per month estimated cost of living.
Then, I will show you a few places you must see in Coronado including a Golf and Beach Club Tour, an interview with a golfing ex-pat living in Coronado, and what daily life looks like including a few of our favorite restaurants and grocery stores.
Finally, I will end this video with my early retirement livability factors, such as walkability, food, social considerations, visa information, healthcare, weather, and real estate. But you do not need to take notes. Just click the first link in the notes below this video to get access to all of this content in writing including Google Map links.
I will start with our cost of living estimate for two people, but first I want to answer the question, who would love to live in Coronado Panama?
Who would love to live in Coronado Panama?
Over the last few weeks, I showed you a cool mountain town called Boquete, a gorgeous island in the Caribbean called Bocas Del Toro, an international city with a beautiful high-rise skyline, Panama City, and a small town ex-pat community on the Pacific side called Pedasi.
But, a few of you have asked what life is like in a quaint golfers paradise just one hour from Panama City called Coronado. That is the subject of this video. Come to our webpage at the first link in the notes below this video for links to all of these precious videos and all the links I share in this video.
Well, if you would like to live in a golfers community or if you just want to live in a small town on the Pacific Ocean closer to the best hospitals and shopping of Panama City, Coronado might just be the place for you.
Coronado is one of the first vacation towns developed in Panama and is visited yearly by both Panamanians and international tourists. There are full-sized grocery stores and restaurants that range in price from expensive international foods down to local restaurants (or fondas).
Spanish colonialists first enslaved the local people of this area of Panama and later purchased slaves to create the first agrarian culture that continued to flourish into the late 18th century. The city of Coronado as it is now known was founded in 1941 by Robert Eisemann.
It has become the weekend home for many of the wealthy people living in Panama, both foreign and nationals. It has become even more popular since 2020 when many people that formerly worked in Panama City Monday through Friday, have started working remotely from their beach homes.
But there are also moderately priced neighborhoods in and around Coronado and there are buses that run to and from Panama City every 30 minutes if you prefer not to by a car.
Cost of Living in Coronado Panama
Here is my estimated cost of living for two people in Coronado Panama.
Rents: Coronado is not as cheap as cities like David, Panama. To rent an unfurnished small 1 bedroom house or apartment, not in a golf compound or in a nice highrise building, but in a more local area of town, you will have to pay around $600-800 per month for a one-year lease on local-style accommodations. If you want to live in a more Americanized place, it could easily cost you another few hundred dollars per month depending on how much space and modern amenities you want. Since this is my estimate of what it would cost me to live here, and I am comfortable with the local style accommodations, I will use $700 per month for rent which does not include utilities. You will not find local-style apartments advertised online. You will need to explore the neighborhoods to find one and talk to the locals and it is not likely to be right in the central part of Coronado. There is also a link to my report about how to find perfect apartments around the world.
Utilities: This is at sea level so you will need AC many nights of the year to sleep. During the day you may be able to turn off AC and turn on the fans until later afternoon when you will need another blast of AC. So your electric bill will range from about $75 to $120 per month depending on square footage. You may be able to reduce that number after a time once you get acclimated to the climate and use fans more often. So I will use $80 per month average for AC since I would rent a small place, 600 to 700 square feet. My gas will run about $6 per month since I save money by cooking most meals at home. Water will be about $15 per month. So my electric, gas, and water would average around $101 per month.
Groceries: Based upon our time there and the money we spent on groceries, we estimate about $340 USD per month on groceries for two people.
Restaurants: If we went out to eat twice per week, once for date night and once for a lunch somewhere, we would spend about $50 per week or $200 per month in restaurants for the two of us.
Cell Phone Data: We need Internet access from time to time when we are out of the house, for Google Maps and other searches. The cost to recharge prepaid service is about $20 USD per month. My android phone will act as a hotspot so we can both be on the internet at the same time when we are out of the house together.
Laundry: We could send our laundry out once per week for about $10 to wash, dry, and fold, so about $40 per month.
Water: The tap water is fairly clean in Coronado, so we decided to just use the Culligan water filter on the tap water. The filters would cost about $5 per month.
Internet: The Internet will be about $50 per month depending on how fast you need your service.
Uber/Taxi/Buses: This is not a very walkable town. Things are spread out everywhere. So we would need a car or motorcycle if we live here. I estimate we would average about $120 per month for transportation for insurance, gas, and repairs. We would buy a used vehicle for around $3 to $5 cash so we wouldn’t have any payments.
Alcohol (Optional): Local beers called Panama and Balboa were about $0.80 USD each. In bars and restaurants, those prices are easily double or triple. So for two people, we estimate about $100 per month for alcohol since we would drink more at home.
Golf Membership (Optional): If you are a golf lover you will probably save money overall by taking a membership in the golf club. According to our host, the membership costs around $10k and $300 per month to join. That would give you access to the golf course. You would probably make some friends there and blow another few hundred at the bar and restaurant there but I will let you decide that when you are making adjustments to my below numbers.
|
Coronado |
Expense (USD) |
|
Rent |
700 |
|
Groceries |
340 |
|
Utilities |
101 |
|
Restaurants |
200 |
|
Cell |
20 |
|
Laundry |
40 |
|
Water |
5 |
|
Internet |
50 |
|
Transportation |
150 |
|
Recurring Total |
$1606 |
|
|
|
|
Alcohol |
100 |
|
Optional Total |
$1706 |
|
|
|
|
Golf Membership |
300 |
|
Golf and Alcohol |
$2006 |
The above cost of living is for 2 people but is just an estimate on the low end. For a full understanding of what it would cost you to live here, visit Numbeo Coronado and add anything you spend money on in your home country that is not mentioned in the table. Our costs of living are generally much lower than a new traveler’s because we are great bargain hunters but there are a few people that live much cheaper than we do.
Never move anywhere until you have visited first personally to verify the living costs for your lifestyle and needs. I am not guaranteeing these prices. These are just my notes and estimates from the time of my visit and this post. Your costs will likely be drastically different depending on your lifestyle and the time since this post.
Most ex-pats report spending more money per month than the low-end estimate we are reporting here. You will hear more typical living costs in the range of $1800 to $3800 per month. But people spending that much also have higher incomes or pensions. They often report spending more on eating out and drinking more alcohol in local bars and restaurants. Many also have cars and more expensive apartments.
If you are going to try to retire cheap offshore, make sure to have emergency funds available should you have some unexpected large expenses. To learn more about that, read my report called, the Two Biggest Risks of Retiring Early for Cheap Offshore.
Okay, now I will share a few things you must see in Coronado.
Coronado’s Best Restaurants and Grocery Stores
There are links to our favorite restaurants in Coronado, our favorites on top. There were another few restaurants we tried that did not make the list. We are only listing the ones below that we liked enough to go back again.
Luna Rossa Ristorante Pizzeria: We loved this thin crust pizza. After-tax and tip it turned out to be like $20, so it was a bit expensive for our blood. But they include the olive oil, the balsamic vinegar, the chili flakes, and the parmesan cheese which was nice.
Delicias Margot: A local restaurant in Panama is called a “Fonda.” This was one of the highest-rated Fonda’s in Coronado. Make sure to try the coconut dessert too. This was $7.75 for 2 people including coffee for breakfast.
Playa Hotel Golf & Beach Resort: This is the beach club portion of the resort we stayed. But I think it is open to the public. The grilled veggies were nice and the Panamanian rive chicken reminded Qiang of Malaysian food.
La Parada Malibu: Just jump on any collectivo (mini-bus) on the freeway heading towards Panama City and jump off when you get to this bus stop, or tell the driver you want to get off at Parada Nueva Gorgona bus stop. Then just walk two blocks to the restaurant. The food has a real Caribbean feeling as the owner-chef is from Haiti and his co-owner wife is Panamanian.
Here is where we shopped in Coronado for groceries. They seem to have about the same pricing so just look for differences in inventory. They are right across the street from each other so just walk between them when you go shopping.
There is also a Mcdonald’s, a Subway Sandwiches, and a KFC all within eyesight in case you are looking for your fast food fix.
Where We Stayed
This is where we stayed. We paid more than we normally would because we wanted to be able to show you the highlight of living in Coronado, which is access to the amenities of the Coronado Golf and Luxury Resort. So we rented the following place inside the gated community. We paid $322 for one week including the cleaning fee and Airbnb booking fee.
But if you are willing to book well in advance for one or more months, and do not need to be inside the gated golf community, you can get a better deal. When I checked today, the following place was available for the entire month of April 2022 for $622.
When I checked today, the following place was available for the entire month of April 2022 for $760, including utilities and internet.
Interview With Coronado Expat
Our Airbnb landlord was from Germany. His name is Matthias. He first visited Panama Panama in 2007 but moved here permanently in 2010. He obtained his residency at that time. He spent the first two years in Panama City.
He felt Panama City was too hot, too humid, and too wet in the rainy season, so he looked around for a better place. He started living in Coronado on weekends but built his house inside a gated golf community in 2012.
Matthias left Germany after the 2008 worldwide financial crash reduced the amount of money he would be receiving for retirement. His story is similar to mine in that way. He tells his story in a separate YouTube video and shows us the home he built.
Like everything else we discuss, that video interview is on the webpage at the first link below this YouTube video.
Coronado Golf and Luxury Resort
Ex-pat Matthias from the above interview lives inside the gated community at the Coronado Golf and Luxury Resort. The membership includes a golf course, tennis, swimming pool, spa, restaurants, and beach club. There is even a shuttle that runs members back and forth between the luxury golf resort and the beach resort.
Qiang and I take you on a tour of the resort amenities in the YouTube video which is also on the webpage at the top link below.
Coronado Livability Factors and Overall Retirement Desirability Score
Here are some of the factors I think about when I consider a place for retirement potential. After I discuss each factor I will assign an overall retirement desirability score to Coronado.
Walkability: Low Desirability. Coronado is small but it is fairly spread out. So you will need a vehicle, a motorcycle, or a bicycle so you won’t get frustrated when you need to run errands. We feel like we would need a car if we moved here so that is low walkability in my world. But Coronado is on the Pan-American Highway that runs from south of Panama City all the way north through the USA and Canada to Alaska. So once we get to the bus stop on the Pan-American Highway we could take buses north and south without any trouble and they are cheap and reliable. We would use the buses to get to Bocas Del Toro, David, Boquete, Pedasi, El Valle, Panama City, and other favorite places around Panama. We even rode a bus up to Costa Rica.
Internet: Medium. The Att Speed Test in our apartment wifi was 5. 3 Mbps download speeds and 3.7 Mbps upload speeds. So the Internet speeds were fine for our purposes. If you need a certain Internet speed for your business, I suggest reading my process for finding the perfect apartment which fulfills all of your needs. Just make sure to speed test the Internet before you sign on the dotted line when you are renting an apartment long-term.
Food: Medium. If you have lived in a small town like this before then you may already be used to having fewer international restaurants choices, so this town might be medium desirability for you. But if you are from a larger city with more food choices, the choices may get boring for you after a time, so low desirability. But a few of the restaurants were closed while we were in town so maybe things will get better when the pandemic is over.
Weather: High. The warmest months are April through October when daytime highs average around 30C, 86F, and nights average around 24C, 75F. But the other months are almost the same with average daytime highs around 29C, 84F, and night lows average around 24C, 75C. But my sense is that it is actually much warmer than that because the humidity is around 80 to 85% year-round. The rainy season is May through December when it rains around 23 days of the month which is about 10 more days per month than the other months.
Things to Do: Golfing, boat fishing, tennis, beach, swimming, biking, cooking, gym, yoga, restaurants, running, coffee shops, deep-sea fishing and sailing, and day trips to Panama and El Valle.
Healthcare: Medium. There is a small clinic on the main street in Coronado that is well-reviewed and can handle basic common ailments, but for more serious problems, they will stabilize you and then transport you to Panama City. Medical care is much cheaper in Panama than in the USA. If you are curious about what care we got in Panama city and what it costs, read my Panama City report.
Social Considerations: Medium. If you decide to retire in Coronado, you will want to learn some Spanish. You will find many people in day-to-day life that speak English in Coronado, but your life will be more full if you are able to communicate meaningfully with everyone around you. We speak very little Spanish but since Coronado is a tourist area, people knew enough English to help us whenever we asked.
Expats: Medium. Nobody seems to know for sure, but some estimates are 300 to 500 ex-pats live in and around the Coronado area, mostly Canadians, Americans, and Europeans. There is an active Facebook page where many ex-pats in Coronado seem to be helping each other with information, ideas, and solutions. There are several other ex-pat Facebook groups you can find by searching ex-pats in Coronado Panama, but this one doesn’t allow ads, which I like. I suggest people go to these kinds of resources to find answers to questions that only an ex-pat would know. But make sure to make friends with both locals and ex-pats for a richer experience living here. I explain why in my report, The Top 10 Mistakes International Retirees Make.
Real Estate: Medium. At the time I wrote this report, I was curious how much a small condo would cost in the Coronado area not located in a gated golf community. So, I checked Craigslist for Panama and found this furnished move-in-ready, 2 Bedroom Condo for sale in Coronado for $90k USD.
It probably won’t still be available long, but I at least wanted to have an idea of what a place big enough for me would cost if I moved to Coronado Panama. This is much cheaper than anything else I was down there, so you may have to dig deep for a few months to get something similar.
I also did this quick search because ex-pat real estate agents seem to say that anything near Coronado starts at around $300k USD which sounded high to me.
But I never recommend buying real estate until you have lived somewhere for at least 2 to 3 years. In fact, I have a report explaining Why Retired Expats Should not Buy Real Estate Overseas for the first 2 to 3 years of living somewhere new overseas. Make sure to read that before deciding to buy real estate overseas.
Visa: High. Citizens of many countries are given a 90-day visa-free tourist stamp upon arrival in Panama. Citizens of the USA and Canada are still getting 180 days. Source. If you fall in love with Panama and decide to retire here, you can apply for a retirement visa. The retiree residence status requires that an applicant demonstrates an income or pension of only $1,000.00 USD per month and $250.00 USD for each dependent. You can certainly travel to Panama on a tourist visa and later change your status in Panama. We have provided a link to all of the other requirements such as a health certificate and police report. Source.
Safety: High. Panama is generally one of the safer countries to live or travel in Central and South America. But do read the US State Department’s travel advisory just to hear the worst-case scenario. But I judge safety at the neighborhood level rather than the country level. We felt safe in Coronado. But make sure to read my report on how to travel the world safely, including in your home country. I provide all of my tips and tricks that have kept me safe for 14+ years traveling the world.
Coronado Retirement Desirability Score: Medium. If you would like to live in a smaller town in Panama that has a few hundred ex-pats to help give you a soft landing, that is safe and friendly people, a very simple easy-going life, and you love to golf, then Coronado might be right for you. Coronado will be right for you if you want to live near the ocean in a smaller city but just a short drive or bus ride from a large city with amazing shopping, hospitals, and restaurants where life is quieter and less congested. If you are an avid golfer with a little more money than we normally like to spend, then Coronado Panama will be highly desirable for you.
Thanks for reviewing our report, retire early in Coronado Panama for $1606 per month.
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