8 AMAZING Cities for Slow Travel in Retirement

8 AMAZING Cities for Slow Travel in Retirement

[Music] Hello, welcome to our video today. This is the eight places we would like to recommend you to go to visit for a slow travel. Yeah, when we see other creators do their lists, we always look at them to get inspiration. Maybe we want to go to these places and then others we’ve been to a lot of them and we yeah sometimes agree, sometimes disagree, but it’s always interesting to watch them. And we really felt it was an opportunity to share what we have thought of a lot of these places as we have now been around the world twice. So these are our top eight and we are going to count them down in order. So for number eight we have Kyoto. Kyoto is a big city is full of places to go to see. Very historic feel. I mean very modern. Yeah. But it’s got that old Japan areas. Um still very quaint. It doesn’t have a lot of the skyscrapers you get in the other major cities. Uh so it’s got a more intimate feel. We felt we it actually turned out to be I think our favorite place in all of Japan and we went everywhere in a couple months. So, uh the other great thing about Kyoto is it’s in the area in the middle of the the main island next to Osaka, Nara, and Coobe. And Nar is where the deer are and Coobe is where the beef is. And then Osaka is an amazing but it’s a big city. Um but lots of things to do but Kyoto has that history. Uh the gates and all that stuff. So just a beautiful area. Mhm. A lot to see in there. So, you may be been asking if Kyoto is the enough for spend a month in there. And yes, it is because it’s in an area where you can travel very easily to the other different cities like he was mentioning. So, easily a month and going to see different parts of the Kyoto himself and in other areas. Yeah. And because of the high-speed train system in Japan, you can get to Tokyo or uh Kanazawa or some of these other places in a couple hours. And oh, by the way, they have a lot of the small jet, regional jet, um bounce around the other parts of the islands all the way up to Hokkaido if you happen to be there the right time of year when it’s not too cold. Exactly. Unless you really want to see the snow again, which we do not. No, we don’t. Number seven on our list is Antalya, Turkey. Now, Antalya is a Mediterranean coastal town. Wonderful old town. We really enjoyed our time there. We’ve actually went back. We liked it so much. It is definitely on the list of places to go in Turkey because you get to see a lot of the history, plus enjoy a warmer weather. Um, beautiful area, lots to see. Just really can’t recommend enough. Um, we spent over a month there twice. So, yes, you have plenty to see even without leaving the Antaly area itself. Yeah. And it’s very popular right now because although the prices are a little bit higher than when we went there, uh it’s still very very cheap place to go and you know you can find apartments and food for a very reasonable prices. Yeah. One of the other great things about Turkey is it is close enough to Europe. Now it’s not a short flight but it’s you know a half a day flight. Um but it’s outside the Shenzhen. So if you are trying to get out of Shenzhen and maybe you just don’t want to go to Eastern Europe or with you know the war going on over there and some of the concerns in those countries get farther away it’s an amazing place and you you know hit it on the way you know go through Istanbul. Exactly. One thing I will say about about Turkey though is it’s like the size of the continental United States. So there’s a lot more than just a few towns. You can spend months upon months upon months there and not see everything. So Antalya definitely should be at the top near the top of the list, but there’s a lot there. Yeah, highly recommend it. Number six, Daang, Vietnam. Daang is the number one retiree city right now in the world. So very, very popular with nomats, beautiful beaches, delicious food, and very close to Hoyen. Yeah, another great city that lots of people love. I don’t necessarily consider them separate places to to but if you’re there they have a completely distinct feels. Tanang is a goodsized city. I mean it’s a very modern nice city um separate areas of town beyond the beach to enjoy. We actually stayed in the city center off the river with the dragon bridge and all that is. Now we made us a series of videos about our stay there including the hotel we stayed at which we consider to be the number one value hotel in the world for affordable luxury. We stayed there nearly two months. We could have stayed longer. The weather been better for us. But, uh, Daang deserves its place on everybody’s list. Highly recommend going. You can definitely spend at least a month there and use it as a base to explore that part of the coastline. Number five, Valencia, Spain. Super deliciosa. How do you remember English? Oh, sorry. The paella in Valencia is to die for. All the food there, the wine, the drinks, the the scene. Valencia is is absolutely one of our favorite cities. It’s a little, I think, crowded. It is so popular now. Um, it didn’t really have a lot of the issues with the over tourism push back that’s been going on in Barcelona and other places, but it was starting there. So, that’s why it’s not higher up this list, but it is absolutely worth going. I might recommend shoulder season right now so you avoid the winter and you avoid the peak summer when they get a little overrun. Um but stunning place, great place to base yourself to see the Costa Co Costa Brava. Um absolutely love that area. Yes, it’s one of the my favorite cities because you have so much to see in there. The si science center, the castles, the beaches are huge and of course the food. Like I said before, the food is super delicious and very, very affordable. Yeah, you can spend all month just walking around the core of the downtown area and hitting the beach areas and never run out of things to do, never be bored. You know, it’s it’s just an amazing city and an amazing region. Um, so the saddest part about it is it’s in the Shenzhen zone, so it’s hard to do that and many other things because you run out of 90 days really quickly. At number four is the first giant city on our list, but it’s a great city. Absolutely worth going to. One because it’s a good value. Two, because it’s an amazing city. Um, you can do everything and eat everything and not worry about your budget in the least. And that is Bangkok, Thailand. It’s on everybody’s list because it should be on everybody’s list. Yeah, it’s so much to see and do do do in there. the one month it was going to be like you don’t feel that it’s amazing how much things you can go to see how many temples I mean a little bit of everything every day and the great thing about it is Bangkok is not on the beach but it’s not that far from several really great beaches we went to Huah Hen Patea Jontienne and all the way over to Kosame which is kind of the closest island um time of year we were there we couldn’t really go down to southern Thailand and and some of the other major places because it’s the wrong time of year. It’s monsoon season. We weren’t really prepared for that. But we do look forward to getting back to Thailand and we will spend a month in Bangkok without a doubt. Um some great value hotels, some really nice luxury without breaking the bank, but you know, it should be on your list no matter what. But don’t worry about running out of things to do. And ladies, they have huge malls in there. probably 10 of the top 20 malls in the world. And now number three is Istanbul. Istanbul has a place in our hearts because it’s where we get engaged. It’s one of the most stunning cities in the world. I mean it’s so easy, so big you can spend easily a month in there and don’t see everything. Oh god. Yeah. Yeah. And the great thing is is is Istanbul is, you know, if you don’t know, it sits across the the span sits across the Bosorus River. On one side is Europe and the other side is technically Asia. Um, and they’re completely different fields. The old town, the historic centers and all of the activities and big stuff is on the European side. Not all of it, but but you can stay right across the river, go across the bridge or take a ferry boat and stay in the Asia side with these cute neighborhoods, more intimate feel um and still be minutes from back in the old town and some of the most amazing sites, the sisterns and all these things in in um Istanbul. Just oh yeah, just so many stunning things to see. Like you said, you’ll be out every day seeing different things and that month will fly by. Now, I do want to mention that Turkey has gotten more expensive over the last few years. It is not an inexpensive destination to go to Istanbul. Other parts of Turkey, yes, Istanbul because it’s such a major city. I mean, it’s one of the top five, you know, cities of the world probably in our at least in our opinion. Um, so it’s not inexpensive, but from a value perspective, the history, everything you get to do, it’s definitely not a break your budget city. We’re going to mention some of those as a bonus here at the end. But on to number two. Okay. And number two is Portima, especially Albor, which is just next to Portim Mao. So, it’s a beautiful, beautiful beach city, beach town, I would say, is because it’s really not that big, but the views are stunning. So, if you’re there as shoulder season, you can get some great weather, be able to enjoy it a little bit more. or the restaurants aren’t quite as overcrowded. The beach doesn’t get as overcrowded, but it’s stunning with all of the the nearby cities and towns along the lake or lake along the ocean. Um because at that point it’s still the Atlantic Ocean, not the Mediterranean. And you just they’re cliffs and gorgeous beaches. The water’s cool, but not ridiculously cold most of the year, unless you’re a wuss. Um, but yeah, and Portuguese food is some of the best in the world and some of the least expensive for European food. It’s just we loved it. And the wine is Yeah. And we we’ll be doing a video about well several videos about moving to Portugal and then why we ended up deciding to leave Portugal. It isn’t because we didn’t love it because as you can see it’s number two on our list. Yes. And number one on our list is not surprisingly Aleante, Spain. You know, just because it’s a beautiful city and has a beautiful beaches. The castle is located in a place where you can see the entire Mediterranean. It’s gorgeous. It’s amazing. The location is perfect. Yeah, it is a tremendously walkable city. They’ve done a wonderful job building things up. you can stay a little bit out of town, save a little bit of money, and be really close to everything. I mean, we’re talking 10 to 15 minutes away, not way down the coast or anything, but you also are on the coast of Spain where you could drive a few hours either direction and see so many amazing of these of these hillside towns, beaches, etc. Um, Alakante is similar to Valencia in because it’s in the same region, but distinct and different. Um, so you get a lot of the same great food, but it isn’t as crowded. It is now, of course, one of the more popular areas. So, it’s gotten a little more expensive, a little more crowded. Again, shoulder season is your friend. Winter is okay if you don’t mind having to wear a jacket all the time. We prefer to walk the beach. So, we kind of like that late spring, early summer, or later in the fall. Yeah. And comparing actually now that you mentioned that comparing the weather in Valencia to Alicante is a little bit warmer in Aleante. So, we enjoy that weather more than Yeah. And as for whether you can stay a month, well, we’ve been there twice. So that should tell you something. In our, you know, two plus years of actual travel out of our three and a half year of of of overall having left the US, we’ve been back twice because it’s our favorite and we got married close to there. So absolutely love Alakante. Put it on your list. Put the top of your list. Go when it’s a good time, when you can find good value. But you will not regret being in Alakante as long as you can be long as you want. So now for the bonus. These are some of our favorite cities. A lot of people would put them in their top eight 10. They’re on ours, but because they’re a little more expensive or a lot more expensive, they didn’t make our budget list because again, we’re, you know, we have that middle budget 4,000 or so, but we try to stay across an entire year, um, an entire trip to a region. And these are the ones that you have to save somewhere else or stretch your budget to go to. It’s really not as much fun if you try to stay on a really tight budget in some of these cities. So, number one, number one is Paris. And it’s another one that has a very special place in our heart because we spend a month there for our honeymoon. Yeah. Awesome. Yeah. We actually stayed uh slightly outside of the core of downtown in the 17th Oranges Mall, which is where Sakraur and Mard are. We had a 10-minute walk to those beautiful churches and and neighborhoods. stay in this really beautiful residential, but you can hop on any one of three different subway lines and get into the core of downtown to any of the other sites in minutes. Yeah, it’s so much to see in a month. The a month will go really fast. Yeah, if we could have afforded it, we probably would have spent more than a month, but yeah, that was that was stretching the budget. Uh but yeah, it is it’s absolutely worth it. Now, a secret is because the train system in in and around Paris, but across Europe, most of Europe and France, you can stay an hour or two outside the city and it’s a day trip into the city. Don’t look just in the core city. You don’t have to walk everywhere because of the transit system there is so amazing and that can really help your budget. If you can save four, five, six, 800, maybe $1,000 on your housing, that’s a that goes a long ways for the extra things you want to do in Paris and paying for all the train tickets. And talking about this list, the next one is a number two, which for us is Greece. I really don’t understand why I love Greece so much. I’ve been there three times and it’s I haven’t seen all the islands, but we visit like four islands in our last trip and I’m in love with that place. It’s so gorgeous. Yeah, you like all the white buildings and and of course the ocean, the Mediterranean Sea. Yeah, great. It’s beautiful. Um it is tough on the budget. Now, the food is actually really inexpensive and there are some places for housing that are pretty good. Uh, but if you’re trying to island hop, the fairies add up quickly. When you have it two people or more, you’re trying to drag the family around. It gets expensive pretty quickly. Um, especially trying to get on the high speed. So, the value was tough, but boy, the food, the people, the islands, the water, it’s an amazing place. Yeah, people are very, very sweet in there. And know you go to the restaurant, they always always give you the dessert for free, which is, you know, it’s a plus. But we love desserts. Oh yeah. So, number three on our list of places that are a little hard to budget but definitely worth it and definitely some of our favorite places is an island that we spent three months on because we loved it so much. We actually extended our visa as a tourist visa to stay on Madera, which is part of Portugal, but is actually an island off the coast of Morocco. So, you’re down even farther south. It is a subtropical island, basically a volcanic island. They grow all of the tropical fruits there. It’s a wonderful place. It’s beautiful. It’s nature personified. It is not a lot of beaches because it’s a volcanic island, but it is stunningly beautiful. It’s a great place for exploring. The food in Madera is even better than the food of mainland Portugal. So, highly, highly recommend if you get a chance to get over there as part of maybe your trip to Portugal and Spain and Europe. Um, it is worth the time. Can you spend a month there? If you like to get out and hike or golf, it may be absolutely worth it. If you only want to spend a little bit of time, great. Yeah. Or if you if you are into the hiking in Mada is going to be heaven for you. Absolutely love love love that place. I look forward to the time when we’re ready to go back and see it again with fresh eyes. You can see why we wanted to make this video. We love these places and we really want to give you some perspective on not just are they amazing places but why we feel they’re good for slow travelers, retirees, you know, places you want to go and spend an extended period of time. But these are the kind of places you do need to save elsewhere to afford because if you try to fit them all into one trip like we did, it blows your budget up. So, um, wonderful places. You can absolutely, you know, we recommend them. If you have any questions, please ask any questions that you have and like and subscribe. Yep. We look forward to showing you some more of our wonderful adventures that we’ve been having. But that’s for another video. Take care. Thank you. Bye bye.

Looking for the best slow travel destinations for retirement? In this video, we reveal our Top 8 affordable cities for retirees, plus 3 bonus spots for those with a little more room in the budget. These destinations offer the perfect balance of low cost of living, safety, culture, and comfort — ideal for budget-conscious retirees who still want a touch of luxury and adventure. From Southeast Asia to Europe and beyond, discover where your retirement dollars stretch furthest. Whether you’re planning your first long stay abroad or designing a slow travel retirement lifestyle, these locations deliver affordable luxury, freedom, and unforgettable experiences.

This video is a travel vlog, as part of our series on Affordable Luxury Travel in Retirement. Subscribe to our channel if you want to upgrade your retirement travel life.

Our Favorite Destinations
00:00 – Intro
00:32 – #8 Kyoto
02:11 – #7 Antalya
03:39 – #6 Da Nang
04:40 – #5 Valencia
06:27 – #4 Bangkok
07:40 – #3 Istanbul
09:14 – #2 Portimao/Alvor
10:26 – #1 Alicante
12:12 – Bonus Budget Busters
12:48 – Paris
14:07 – Greek Islands
15:23 – Madeira

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