Whether it is sandy beaches or rolling hills, there is a place for every retiree in 10 best places to retire in Belize!
Belize is a tiny country in Central America. It was a former colony of the British Empire, and it gained its independence in 1981. Today, Belize has the lowest population density among all Central American countries. Its society is comprised of many ethnicities such as the Maya, Garinagu, and Creoles. As a result, its culture is a rich mix of the varied practices of its people. The cultural mix is very evident in its food, as Belizean food integrates Mexican, Creole, and Mayan recipes.
Belize has a rich ecological diversity. As part of the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor, it boasts a high biodiversity of both marine and terrestrial life. Jaguar preservation is taken seriously in Belize. The Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary is a 400 square kilometer area which was founded in 1990. Its aim is to preserve the local fauna and flora in the area, and at the same time, act as a sanctuary for jaguars, the first of its kind in the world.
Next to Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, the Belize Barrier Reef is the second largest in the world. It runs 300km north to south on the eastern coast of Belize and extends up to 40km into the ocean from the country’s southern borders. This makes many of the country’s coastal towns the best places to retire in Belize. In fact, Charles Darwin described the reef as “the most remarkable reef in the West Indies” in 1842. As evidence of its beauty, importance and vulnerability, it was also declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1996. One very famous marine landmark is the Great Blue Hole, a submarine sinkhole 300 meters across and 124 meters deep. Located in Lighthouse Reef, it was ranked by Discovery Channel as number 1 on its list of the 10 Most Amazing Places on Earth. Jacques Cousteau, the explorer who made the Hole famous, declared that it is one of the best diving spots on Earth. Considered as a bucket-list dive for many divers, the Great Blue Hole is truly a sight to behold!
Don’t limit your retirement choices to the Americas! Check out these 20 most affordable international cities to retire and select from premium and exotic destinations around the globe!
To rank the 10 best places to retire in Belize, Insider Monkey searched the web for articles, blogs and publications for recommended retirement spots in Belize, which yielded 10-12 areas. Since data for Belize such as costs of living and physicians per capita were insufficient, we resorted to a different method of ranking. If an area appears in a certain article, we give it a score of 1 – the higher the final score, the higher the rank on our list. Selected sources for ranking were International Living, Transition Abroad, CNN, Washington Post, Forbes to name a few. Information on different cities was obtained from Expat Exchange, Belize Retirement Guide, Best places in the World to Retire and Investopedia.
Now let’s check those paradise places for people in golden years!
