# France Or Portugal?



## woodbine

I'm 55 years old, single, male and early retired. I plan to leave The UK this year, but can't decide on whether to settle in France or Portugal. I want to live in or near a village or small town - not in the cities.

Can anyone give me reasons to choose one over the other? These reasons may be climate, culture, food, cost of living, general quality of life, friendliness of the natives, public health/medical services, etc, etc.

Also, if anyone has any prefences for areas to live in in their preferred country, please say.

Thanks in advance for your views and help.


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## Bevdeforges

OK - one big caveat here for France. "Early retirees" have to have "adequate financial resources" to qualify for an "inactif" (i.e. not permitted to work in France) visa. Normally a person working would be registered with the national health here and would pay their cotisations in through their job (along with cotisations for retirement, family allowance and all the other social insurances). As a retiree, if you have a pension, you qualify for the national health cover based on your pension income from your home country. If you'll be relying on savings, it's unlikely you can get a "visitor visa" (the one the give to retirees) unless your savings and investments generates enough income on its own to support you here in France.


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