Best Canadian Retirement City?

[F80Dreamer]

Hello fellow Canadians, question for the group. I am a Canadian citizen currently living in Texas. I am about 6-7 years from retirement (US retirement is 55 years old at my company!) and my wife and I are planning on moving back to Canada. It's definitely home for us. We grew up in Toronto, but most likely won't end up back there due to cost, congestion, etc...we are both pretty active, love the outdoors, and great restaurants. We are leaning towards Kelowna...recently made a trip out there and just loved it.

Any insight for me on kelowna or other cities you would consider? Thx!

[Canuckles]

Would hate to give up the secret but my hometown has become retirement central. Check out Victoria, B.C., I golf almost 9-10 months​ of the year.

-surrounded by water, which means cooler in summer and warmer in winter. Victoria has half the rain of Vancouver and 50% more sun.

- little to no snow yearly

- cost of living is okay, prices (houses in particular) have been creeping up since the boomers and foreign investors uncovered our beautiful city.

It might be a good fit.

Cheers,

[F80Dreamer]

Originally Posted by Canuckles

Would hate to give up the secret but my hometown has become retirement central. Check out Victoria, B.C., I golf almost 9-10 months​ of the year.

-surrounded by water, which means cooler in summer and warmer in winter. Victoria has half the rain of Vancouver and 50% more sun.

- little to no snow yearly

- cost of living is okay, prices (houses in particular) have been creeping up since the boomers and foreign investors uncovered our beautiful city.

It might be a good fit.

Cheers,

Thanks, Victoria is also on our list. Had a business trip out there a few years ago and was blown away by the beauty

[schnell325]

Or up the road from Victoria is Qualicum Beach, Parksville and Courtenay/Comox. Island life is wonderful

[swntr]

Vancouver , flipping house and get loaded while you retiring and golfing...








IM KD, bubble's gonna burst

[EvoFire]

We do love Kelowna, but we've found out in the last little while that the hard water in Kelowna is causing a lot of skin issues with my wife.

[xfactor]

Penticton, BC is another spot. Not too bad from Kelowna but feels a bit different. Super chill and very close to some nice twisties for the weekend. Also, Prince Edward County or St Catherines if you don't mind the Southern Ontario winter.

[Sassicaia]

100% without question the answer is Kelowna. When I started reading your first sentence immediately Kelowna came to mind. In my opinion that area is the jewel of Canada. That said its not for everyone, but as an avid traveller I keep coming back to how great that particular area is. It doesnt have everything, but it checks a lot of boxes.

1.) It has amazing weather spring to fall. This is a personal preference of course, but you get the dry and hot weather unlike anywhere else in the country.

2.) The lake is clean, beautiful and gives the chance to own a boat

3.) its has something like 17 different golf courses within the city limits.

4.) You are 40 minutes from some of the best snow for skiing/snowboarding you can find, and owning a condo at the mountain is affordible.

5.) Wineries

6.) Amazing fresh local fruit

7.) Great place to own a nice car! Perfect climate and roads for great drive, and even a great private race track near by.
http://www.area27.ca/

8.) international airport

9.) the girls walking around in the summer are pretty awesome

There are some not so great things:

1.) The city of kelowna itself is a bit dumpy, with horrid architecture and city planning

2.) Some of the locals don't give the city the best name. It can be a bit red neck, and racism is present.

3.) While there are one or two great restaurants its not really great for food. That said quails gate winery has one of my all around favorite places to eat. I go there every time a visit.

I go to kelowna often for just hanging out, and have been all across Canada and around the world. Its an undiscovered gem. Don't rule out the fact its proximity to Vancouver, the US boarder and the rest of BC. Its a perfect place to retire.

[Montreal M2]

Not Montreal

[snowmuch]

What about Alberta? I've lived here for over 10 years now and the people is frenziedly and air is clean. The only thing is the harsh winter

[JohnnyCanuck]

I just came across this thread and it's very timely as my wife and I are having this very conversation. Through some planning and sheer dumb luck, I can stop working any time after the end of this year (I don't actually intend on doing it quite so soon but it's an option).

We keep looking at those awesome ocean view homes in and around Hammond Bay in Nanaimo and keep getting tempted. Since we own investment property in Vancouver, we could even punt our renters and make the move now and I could stay in Vancouver Sunday through Wednesday nights, work from home in Nanaimo on Fridays. The concern about a place like that is that we wonder if we'd miss the convenience of urban Vancouver (we're in the Olympic Village area ... must be 30 restaurants within a 10 minute walk and another 100 within 30 mintues). Anyone done that kind of move?

[F80Dreamer]

Originally Posted by JohnnyCanuck

I just came across this thread and it's very timely as my wife and I are having this very conversation. Through some planning and sheer dumb luck, I can stop working any time after the end of this year (I don't actually intend on doing it quite so soon but it's an option).

We keep looking at those awesome ocean view homes in and around Hammond Bay in Nanaimo and keep getting tempted. Since we own investment property in Vancouver, we could even punt our renters and make the move now and I could stay in Vancouver Sunday through Wednesday nights, work from home in Nanaimo on Fridays. The concern about a place like that is that we wonder if we'd miss the convenience of urban Vancouver (we're in the Olympic Village area ... must be 30 restaurants within a 10 minute walk and another 100 within 30 mintues). Anyone done that kind of move?

Is nanaimo cost of living decent?

[JohnnyCanuck]

Hard probably to put in perspective as compared to Texas, but for what our 1000 sq. ft. townhome in Vancouver is worth, we could buy this, Or, we could do this and pocket $400K.

Food and utilities are more expensive but other costs (gas, insurance, etc) are probably lower. That's pretty much a wash.

[F80Dreamer]

Very nice! Hoping by the time I move back the US dollar will still be strong.

[GERMAN M3]

Can't blame you for wanting to move back home and retire.