We did 2 weeks in Portugal a couple years ago, it wasn't enough time to see more than the major cities/areas. But that was partially because we wanted to see all the stuff. We just completed a week in Barcelona. I feel like we had a good sense of what the city has to offer and we got to site see. Originally, I was wanting to spend 2 weeks touring around Spain, but I realized we would only get a couple days in each major city. Hope that helps.

thank you so much.. yes both my grandparents were born there & came to the states when 20/18 respectively

Hi Lloyd! Thanks for reaching out to the IL Community Site. IL has numerous resources you can use to help familiarize yourself with retirement destinations overseas. If you're looking for somewhere relatively close to the US, I'd recommend you check out some of our resources on Belize. You can find a quick overview of the country at this link

Hi Michellene,

Indeed you posted to "new member introductions" instead of the General/Destinations thread so we've just discovered your post buried here... but don't worry at all!

The more you use your IL Community Site the more familiar you'll get with it all...glad you're starting the journey with us here!

As for your question, International Living is all about helping you find the "no cold weather" beach destination of your dreams.

The Annual Global Retirement Index can help you rule out countries that don't meet your criteria AND start to develop a short list of the countries that sound right to you.

I recommend starting with our article titled Discover The World’s Best Retirement Climates: Top 6 Countries For 2025, which you'll find here: https://internationalliving.com/the-best-climates-in-the-world/

In there you'll find great info and links to the index and further resources!

We aim to make the research exciting, fun, inspiring, and actionable, so please enjoy every step of the journey.

Happy exploring...

IL Overseas Editor Jess Ramesch