Hua Hin ranks seventh spot on the world's 21 best cities for retirement abroad

[webfact]

Hua Hin ranks seventh spot on the world’s 21 best cities for retirement abroad



HUA HIN: -- Hua Hin and Chiang Mai have been listed in the seventh and eighth rankings of the world’s 21 best cities to retire overseas in 2015 by Live and Invest Overseas.

The leading online resources for people looking to move abroad released their annual index of the 21 best places for retirement overseas in 2015.

Number One on the list for the second successive year was Algarve in Portugal. The coastal region is the top pick due to the low cost of living and real estate. Algarve also has a robust expat community, beautiful weather and affordable, quality health care.

Second on the list was Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, which is a wellknown resort town. There are top-notch hospitals and an airport with many direct flights. Next on the list were Cayo in Belize, Languedoc in France, Abruzzo in Italy, Medellin of Colombia, Hua Hin and Chiang Mai.

Ranked on the seventh spot, Hua Hin was described as a coastal town full of resorts on the beach and popular among foreigners who love to play golf, tennis and to eat. The resort town has good health care service, low crime rate and only two hours drive from Bangkok.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/hua-hin-ranks-seventh-spot-on-the-worlds-21-best-cities-for-retirement-abroad

-- Thai PBS 2015-07-29

[Kerryd]

I'm guessing the "low crime rate" isn't the reason that Hua Hin makes the list but Pattaya doesn't !

And here I was thinking I was living in a "family friendly" destination !

[NCC1701A]

they left out the key words in the end of the title of this article. "...For people without much money"

[krisb]

Medellin Colombia is listed.

People seriously retire there?

Think that list is written by a retired drug Lord.

[clockman]

Now let us here the true story? Thailand is no longer a cheap country. It is third world, but selling first world!

[NickJ]

Many of the older and heavier bar girls seem to retire there as well.......

[bdenner]

Where's the khee horse and smelly fish market in that picture?

[impulse]

Interesting that Medellin and Puerto Vallarta beat out Hua Hin...

Seems like Medellin has cleaned up its act, but Puerto Vallarta???

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/05/04/canadians-mexico-gangs-puerto-vallarta-guadalajara_n_7206800.html

[sirocco]

yes it is pleasant to live in Hua Hin, there was the Gulf, very good hospitals but to 7th position, for retirees, do not laugh. Not for the disabled or parents with young children.

Much traffic, not enough traffic lights, sidewalks, when there are, are completely smashed, roads with potholes.

It is better for these age groups.

[Nerone]

Medellin Colombia is listed.

People seriously retire there?

Think that list is written by a retired drug Lord.

Should i take seriously and article like this?? Come on...Abruzzo...Medellin...ah ah! You made my day!

[Jonathan Fairfield]

RELATED

The 7 best places to retire overseas

7. Hua Hin, Thailand

Cost of living: $975 a month

American dollars will go pretty far in Thailand, where retirees could live for roughly less than $1,000 a month. (A one-bedroom apartment can be rented for about $400.) Retirees would find golf, spas and amusement parks, but the main draw is the beach. The city has a strong community of expats from European countries that U.S. retirees can befriend. People age 50 and up can qualify for long-stay visas if they show they have a pension of about $1,900 a month or open up a Thai bank account and deposit at least roughly $23,400 about two months before they apply, according to the study.

The health care system there is also both advanced and affordable, Peddicord says, making it so that some people may choose to forego medical insurance and pay for treatment and checkups as they need it. (Generally, the options are to buy health insurance local to that country or to buy a global policy that works in multiple countries but is more expensive.)

The savings found abroad can be substantial, but as with most destinations on the list, people will need to be motivated by more than money when they decide to make the move, Peddicord says. For some retirees, the distance from family and the changes to standard of living may outweigh the low costs. “When you just begin thinking about [retiring abroad] at a superficial infatuation level, it’s a very exotic, romantic, sexy idea,” says Pedddicord, who lived in Ireland and Panama before moving to Paris. “But the truth is that once you get into it, it’s not easy.”

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/get-there/wp/2015/07/28/the-7-best-places-to-retire-overseas/

[TheKnave]

"Call someplace Paradise, kiss it goodbye..." - Don Henley, The Last Resort.

Something like this ruined Nong Khai, very sad to see. I think Hua Hin has been well on its way for a while, however. Let's hope no one discovers the coast south of there...oops!

[blazes]

Whoever wrote this must have been basing judgements on the HH of ten years ago.

If anyone plans on living on a budget of $975 a month, they must be prepared for conditions just a few steps up from homelessness. Mind you, homelessness in a warm country is infinitely preferable to being stuck in Liverpool or Boston or.....[fill in your own preference] at any time of year.

Cuba is about the only safe place [for a gringo] in North, Central and South America. Alas, it is not possible to stay there long term.

[Keesters]

Neither city would appear in my top 100.

[rebelplatoon]

That 7th ranking is not including rising sea levels, I guess...

[Keesters]

I'm guessing the "low crime rate" isn't the reason that Hua Hin makes the list but Pattaya doesn't !

And here I was thinking I was living in a "family friendly" destination !

So what are the "crime rates"? Do you have any evidence to support.

Edited July 30, 2015 by Keesters

[realenglish1]

They left out Panama.

It has a US quality infrastructure since the Panama Canal is there Financial Requirements are only 1,000 USD per month not 800,000 Baht in an account ( 35,000 USD) as required here in Thailand.

Rents are about the same. Food a little less. If you marry a Panamanian you can stay forever without reporting to immigration.. If you want permanent residency you only have to show $5.000 dollars and they will give it to you without a problem and you can work there as well. you do not have to make or pay a minimum amounts to yourself unlike here in Thailand.

Lots of people speak English there because of the Panama Canal. You only have to report to Panamanian Immigration once and that is it. No annual or quarterly reports.

Weather is great. The people are nice.

I have been seriously considering moving there. They really welcome westerners Not like here in Thailand. It has a stable Democracy .

Thailand needs to wake up to the benefits of having us here or soon you will see we will leave for better places

Edited July 30, 2015 by realenglish1

[mikebell]

Panama sounds interesting. My standard of living here has remained the same but now costs 50% than when I first came.

Are the senoritas comparable to Thai ladies?

[Kerryd]

They left out Panama.

"#10 - El Valle, Panama"

#17. City Beaches, Panama"

[asdecas]

I am delighted that there is almost nowhere on this list of desirable locations to retire to which I would give a second thought.

Long may people settle in these places, I shall be elsewhere, unlisted.

[robertthebruce]

For once something positve about ''Thailand''... but wheter i believe it or not , is another story..

[Kondiao]

Panama sounds interesting. My standard of living here has remained the same but now costs 50% than when I first came.

Are the senoritas comparable to Thai ladies?

Sitting here in my little apt in Phoenix, AZ (that is, the U.S. of A.), and reading these comments on the post about Hua Hin I am reminded of the rationale I had for moving to Thailand at over 60 years of age, several years ago. I lived in Krung thep and Pattaya and Chiang Mai and visited Mae Hong Son and Chiang Rai and a few other places (yeah, so what?) but never made it to Hua Hin.

First on reading the article I thought about making the effort to give H.H. a try if I get back to that corner of the 3d world - if the VA hospital ever gets my health level back to where I can travel and function again/if I don't die waiting - but then I read more sobering, depressing comments about H.H. from farangs who actually exist there - broken pavements, high rents, pot holes..... and I decided to give it a miss.

About the relative attractiveness of Thai ladies vs Panama ladies I have my opinion: the opinion of one not troubled by facts since I have never been there, nor even known a Panamanian lady, and I will share it with you here:

\

I went to Thailand under the impression that Thai women were officially the most beautiful on the planet and I found definitely untrue. Hell, the women of Senegal, West Africa are, in general better all around than Thai ladies IMHO, having lived there 1979-82. And the world-famous "Smile," of the Thais I found to be less dazzling than the bright, open smile and unrestricted laughter of Senegalese women, without the dainty hand covering the mouth. In fact I found the smiles of Pacific Islanders I have met in California to outshine the fabled Thai smile - it is a big, slow, long-lasting production that makes you think the smiler is so into just you.

In my experience, Latinas that I have known if California - native-born and from Old Mexico and Columbia and Cuba have generally presented a more rounded and richer experience than the Puu yings of LOS. More dramatic curves, chocolate icing.

So I am pre-disposed to think the ladies of Panama are worth a shot - once I get back in action again, if I don't die of old age first, waiting for Tx at the VA maybe I will head South to the canal country. Mission: a comparative study of the charms, blessings, attributes of the Panamanian senioritas vs. Thai ladies. Somebody got to do it. Easier langauge to handle, easier Immigration regulations

I'll try to send y'all a report sometime in 2016 tell you the uncensored truth.

[Tinker2]

As with many of the so called Best Places to Retire lists, there are always drawbacks. Income, Standard of Living, Immigration.

HH meets the requirements of many expatriates, and retirees. However, paradise is its not. As previously mentioned, streets/roads are in shocking conditions. The infrastructure simply cannot cope with the many existing developments, never mind the newer ones. It is in MHO a faded old resort town, trading on the past. Many of the Thai people here are not even from this area, imports from Issan, and basically peasants with attitude, and aggressive and only interested in money.

HH restaurants, poor service, poor quality food, whether you go cheap or expensive. HH centre, a cesspool of rundown bars. Stores selling the same crap year in year out.

[whaleboneman]

I'm guessing the "low crime rate" isn't the reason that Hua Hin makes the list but Pattaya doesn't !

And here I was thinking I was living in a "family friendly" destination !

So what are the "crime rates"? Do you have any evidence to support.

How on earth would anyone know crime rates in a land where people pay to walk away?

[whaleboneman]

They left out Panama.

It has a US quality infrastructure since the Panama Canal is there Financial Requirements are only 1,000 USD per month not 800,000 Baht in an account ( 35,000 USD) as required here in Thailand.

Rents are about the same. Food a little less. If you marry a Panamanian you can stay forever without reporting to immigration.. If you want permanent residency you only have to show $5.000 dollars and they will give it to you without a problem and you can work there as well. you do not have to make or pay a minimum amounts to yourself unlike here in Thailand.

Lots of people speak English there because of the Panama Canal. You only have to report to Panamanian Immigration once and that is it. No annual or quarterly reports.

Weather is great. The people are nice.

I have been seriously considering moving there. They really welcome westerners Not like here in Thailand. It has a stable Democracy .

Thailand needs to wake up to the benefits of having us here or soon you will see we will leave for better places

I cancelled a planned trip to Panama a few years ago when the government soldiers started killing off indigenous people in the north. Development is very important there.

[Robert Campbell]

RELATED

The 7 best places to retire overseas

7. Hua Hin, Thailand

Cost of living: $975 a month

American dollars will go pretty far in Thailand, where retirees could live for roughly less than $1,000 a month. (A one-bedroom apartment can be rented for about $400.) Retirees would find golf, spas and amusement parks, but the main draw is the beach. The city has a strong community of expats from European countries that U.S. retirees can befriend. People age 50 and up can qualify for long-stay visas if they show they have a pension of about $1,900 a month or open up a Thai bank account and deposit at least roughly $23,400 about two months before they apply, according to the study.

The health care system there is also both advanced and affordable, Peddicord says, making it so that some people may choose to forego medical insurance and pay for treatment and checkups as they need it. (Generally, the options are to buy health insurance local to that country or to buy a global policy that works in multiple countries but is more expensive.)

The savings found abroad can be substantial, but as with most destinations on the list, people will need to be motivated by more than money when they decide to make the move, Peddicord says. For some retirees, the distance from family and the changes to standard of living may outweigh the low costs. “When you just begin thinking about [retiring abroad] at a superficial infatuation level, it’s a very exotic, romantic, sexy idea,” says Pedddicord, who lived in Ireland and Panama before moving to Paris. “But the truth is that once you get into it, it’s not easy.”

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/get-there/wp/2015/07/28/the-7-best-places-to-retire-overseas/

[chilli42]

Surely this is a joke. Only a moron would nod In agreement.

[northernphil]

I retired there 11 years ago and it was ok , My gf at the time ( now wifey ) got forced out of our bar/restaurant by the local hoods and we moved very far away up north.

Last year we went back for a holiday, Traffic jams , Bankokians parking anywhere they want , they come in the hundreds at weekends . Will never go back again.

[Robert Campbell]

Lived in Hua Hin area for three years and Thailand for ten years. You can live for $1000 a month. But you surely won't be playing golf and dining out in restuarants. You'll be living like an old person in a rest home. Not because you can't go out but because you have no money.

[Kerryd]

I'm guessing the "low crime rate" isn't the reason that Hua Hin makes the list but Pattaya doesn't !

And here I was thinking I was living in a "family friendly" destination !

So what are the "crime rates"? Do you have any evidence to support.

You mean stats proving that Hua Hin's crime rate is lower than Pattaya's ? Besides simply comparing the number of reported crimes in each city to the perception of the people living in those cities ? The author of the report credits her editorial team and "network of correspondents" for the data used to rate the various factors on their list. I'm not going to splash out the cash for the "full" version of their report in the hopes that it will have definitive data on how they determined Hua Hin's crime rate to be "low".

A comparison on numeo.com shows this:

Suffice to say that Hua Hin is perceived to have a much lower crime rate than Pattaya.

Note that when I previously researched crime stats to compare Pattaya with other major tourist destinations of a similar size, many reporting agencies suggested that crime is often under-reported in those places so as not to scare off tourists. In other places it isn't reported due to ineffective policing/record keeping/gov't administration (i.e. no one is bothering to keep track of those things).

As I was doing some research this morning I noticed this article is one of many (very many) "Best Places to Retire in 2015 articles".

There is the:

8 of the best places to retire abroad list;

10 Best Places to Retire in 2015 list;

18 Best Places to Retire Overseas in 2015 list; and the

20 Best Places to Live Overseas in 2015 list, just to note a few and we're just over halfway through the year !