Options for retiring in Costa Rica for Single lady.

[sandpiper]

Hi Thanks for this nice forum.  What are the options for a retired  single lady.? Having lived  in several foreign countries,  being seasoned traveler...I'm now looking to the sand and sea to settle near. I have a moderate income and conservative lifestyle... other words "cheap but functional". Any n' all information pertaining to safety and cost of living for one such as I is greatly appreciated in advance. As previously mentioned... I am single and  do not  wish to marry local or expatriate ...most content to be as I be. Oh! yes I am US citizen . Regards Sandpiper

[Russ]

Welcome to the forum sandpiper!

I think your key word is "... sand and sea to settle near"  With that caveat your options are wide open.  It is now true that true beach front property is hard to come by and very expensive in Costa Rica.  Although you don´t necessarily have rule out being very close to the beach, if you want a secluded or undeveloped area.

So from there, you have to look at what kind of community you want to settle in, so some questions to ask yourself are:

What nationality of residents do you prefer to make contact with or do you want a mix?  For some reason certain beach towns seem to attract certain nationalities and some attract a mix of residents. 

How important are different amenities to you?  If you want the widest variety of restaurants, for example, then you have to look at the most developed towns like Tamarindo, Flamingo and Jacó.  However many towns have a good variety of good restaurants, Puerto Viejo or Samara for example. 
Shopping, high speed Internet, telephone service (and others) are all amenities that vary widely from town to town, so if one is particularly important to you, you´ll have to make sure that any place you consider has it.

What activities are important to you?  Popular activities around the beaches are surfing, beach combing, bird watching, sport fishing, scuba diving, snorkeling, sailing, and other water sports.  So some places are obviously better than others, or maybe you want to be at a midpoint that provides you good access to a number of beaches that offer alternatives.  For example, Playa Samara doesn´t have surf because of the reef, but it is a nice mid-point to a number of great surf breaks that can offer good alternatives depending on weather conditions.

You don´t necessarily have to answer these questions here, but feel free to ask any other question you like.  Just offhand I would say that Puerto Viejo, Cahuita and Samara would be good possibilities for you because they attract many different nationalities - which I assume because of your time traveling you would find attractive. Samara is getting a little more expensive, but the Caribbean is still very affordable in terms of property values and the cost of living.