# retiring in the canaries



## g4jnw (Oct 21, 2013)

I have been researching where to retire to and have broken it down to 3 places, Gozo (Malta) , the Canary islands and Cyprus.

My research has taken years but i'll be 63 in a few days and would like to retire at 64.

My son is moving to Grancanaria in May with work so we feel like its time to make a plan.

We have our house up for sale (no we don't want to rent before anyone asks!) we intend to move into rented in the UK for 1 year and then make the move.

/SNIP/

Forgetting the money we will have for our house as it will be a fall back and help us live until we get retirement pension, is it possible to live on the UK retirement pension if we are renting say a 2 bed apartment.

My wife is 10 years younger than me and would hope to find part time work but as neither of us speak spanish we are both realistic enough to rule any work out.

We prefer island communities as we used to live in the Hebrides.

I have tried to compare Gozo to the Canaries cost for cost and am finding it difficult, we intend to rent rather than buy.

Also being realistic we would prefer to live in an area where there is an expat community.

Personally i prefer fuerteventura of all the Canary islands but were going again to Lanzarote in a few days for 2 weeks.


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## Cyberia (Apr 10, 2015)

Gozo is very bleak in winter with little open and mild to cold winds blowing for months on end.

Cyprus is a bit better as there are lots of people but weather can be pretty horrible much of winter.

Even if you spoke fluent Spanish you would find work very hard to get there. There is no chance (unless you have a needed craft) of getting work otherwise.

Fuertaventura though it can be warm to hot in winter has a wind that sand blasts people on the beach there then.

You cannot just put the money on the counter and buy a house anywhere in mainland Spain or the islands. You will need to get an NIE number first (which you then get changed into a Residencia, and also get a Padron) to buy somewhere, to open a bank account and many other things. Getting an NIE is not expensive but where at one time you could get it the same day, people now complain that it takes a month.

An expat community can be good, if you don't end up drinking your days away with some cronies. You need something to keep you busy in your new life.

Buying a place anywhere is not the same as visiting it for a few weeks holiday. You will need to choose carefully.


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## g4jnw (Oct 21, 2013)

Thanks for your comments, we would not be buying, only renting - I do have hobbies here, i go fishing quite a bit and am a radio ham too so am used to filling in my time, my wife also has hobbies but would like to do some work if it were possible, if not its no big deal. The residence forms applies right across the EU so i know quite a bit about that as it applies to other countries we have looked at.

I know that on my pensions - NHS and retirement we could live on in Gozo ok, including rental, without touching our savings (approx 1300 euro per month) but am not sure about the canaries.

Not too worried about bleakness in winter, were used to living in the Hebrides where we would move back to in a heart beat BUT the winter is too cold for me now.

Ideally life style would be a mix of spanish and expats but NOT in the centre of a city.

Would welcome comments on whether its possible to live on the above.

We tend to be pretty frugal where we are now, usual stuff, we grow our own veg, my wife bakes and i make bread and my wife makes wine, my wife is actually excellent with hedgerow wines, she supplied 120 bottles for her sisters wedding and they all went. I love fishing but can't say am an expert by any means.


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## 90199 (Mar 21, 2010)

I would advise that you rent, my first choice was Gran Canaria, having first arrived there from Trinidad in 1962, however I eventually settled 200 odd miles further west on the Island of El Hierro.

We have 2 properties and a car here and live easily on 1000 GBpounds a month, excluding nights out and holidays. However we do not rent anymore.

I tend not to mix with other people from the U.K., the main reason being that there are only three more besides us on the island. We mix with locals, people from the European part of Spain, and others from Africa and South America.

I live in the capital, Valverde, however it is sleepy Valverde, no more that a quiet small town, we have a fair sized garden and grow fruit and veg, plus lots of flowers.

Below is a link to photos of the Meridian Isle of El Hierro, maybe one day you might visit.


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## Cyberia (Apr 10, 2015)

g4jnw. Just sent you a private message.


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## titania (Jan 3, 2013)

I'm in the north of Tenerife. I don't know Gran Canaria, but if it's more or less the same with rentals, you'll be hard-pressed to find a 2-up-2-down for less than ca. 7 to 800 euros per month a bit more in the south, a bit less in the north. For half that price, you might find a large studio or 1-bed apartment in an inland town. For that price here, you'll get electricity and water included. In my rent, there's 35 euros for water and 60 euros for electricity. I have never used more than these amounts, and I do use both quite a lot. Most rentals are furnished. Leases are often for less than a year.

Any household goods are about the same price as continental Europe, particularly white goods. For groceries, you'll find most food is very much cheaper than UK or France or Italy or Portugal. You also will not find the choice you have in the UK.

I am still struggling to find good cuts of meat, the beef is terrible, the pork, apart from chops, is hard as a shoe sole. Lamb comes frozen from New Zealand. Veal is just not veal and tough. There is no corral chicken, only imported industrialised French chicken. Duck is imported and is about the only meat that's about edible. Quails are imported from the UK but 2nd choice. Ham is OK and you can find almost English bacon. You can find eggs from hens raised in grass.

Fish is imported from everywhere in the world, frozen. Fresh fish comes from Morocco or Mauritania and, well the quality/taste leaves a lot to be desired. Hake is the dominant fish. I have occasionally found good fresh salmon. Shrimps from the smallest to the largest are good and fairly cheap. Frozen crab pincers were horrible. I couldn't find fresh mussels.

You will find baking powder, but caster sugar is sometimes not available or hidden - it took me some weeks to find 2 kg bags of caster sugar. Jelly for making trifles is available. Brown sauce is available as well as ketchup. French mustard is no problem. Tinned salmon cans cannot be found. Pasta and rice, including pasta without gluten, can be found easily. All pulses of any sort are available. Olive oil is good, and so is balsamic vinegar. Not much choice in salts or pepper. Most ordinary spices and herbs can be found. 

Vegetables: cheap and plentiful. Mushrooms, peppers and normal cucumbers expensive. Local potatoes are excellent.

Fruits: cheap and plentiful. Avocadoes, mangoes and papaya are the best, along with oranges and lemons.

Drinking: You will need to drink bottled water as the tap water has a terrible taste. Booze and ciggies are extremely cheap, don't buy at the airport duty-free.

Toiletries: cheap and most brands available. 

Cleaning: cheap and most everything available. Bleach and hydrochloric acid are very strong. White vinegar for cleaning not available everywhere.

DIY: expensive. Acetic acid (strong vinegar) not available. Boards, planks, any wooden pieces are expensive and not always of prime quality. Could not find very small nuts and bolts, nor very specialized screwdrivers. Electric tools not the same brands.

Furniture: I don't know yet, haven't bought any or looked at any apart from Ikea, where prices are the same as in continental Europe.

Bio/natural/supplements: there is some, but not much and not varied. There is no equivalent to Holland & Barrett.

Health: bring your own medicines, it's unlikely an English prescription will be honored... but... I was able to get some meds without prescription where I should have had one, it all depends on how you tackle the pharmacist! Minimum for a doctor's visit is 45 euros to 75 euros - that's when you go to see the doctor. No idea of the price of getting one to your bedside.

Blood donation: provided you have your NIE, you can donate (as in the UK, if you are in good health). A plus: if you are a hemochromatosis sufferer, they want your blood!

Car repairs are cheap. Diesel is between 0.86 to 0.89 euros per liter. I don't know about insurance, mine is still insured in France. The cheapest new Toyota Yaris is just below 10'000 euros, the Opel Corsa about the same, perhaps nearer 9'000E.

The most difficult when you do shopping is that no supermarket stores the same goods as the other supermarkets. For example, if you cook with shallots, you may have to go to 3 or 4 shops to find them. Same with normal cucumbers, fennel, celeriac, jelly, mustard. Also, the shops don't continue lines of products, which means if you find something you like, you better buy a dozen as you won't be sure to find it again in the weeks to come.

Beware that if several supermarkets store the same item, the prices can double from one to the other, for example light bulbs, soils for plants, toilet paper, stationary, even vegetables. You would also need to shop where the Spaniards shop, not where the tourists are!

Some price examples from recent supermarkets tickets (in no particular order):

- Ciggies: Benson & Hedges Gold, 10 packs, 200 cigs: 28.60 euros
- Frozen lamb leg, 1 kg 7.95E
- 2.5 kg dishwasher cheapest powder: 2.65 E
- Toilet paper, 4 ply, 16 rolls, 4.99E
- plastic pots for plants, 14 and 17 cm diameter, 0.49E and 0.69E respectively
- Parsley, 0.38E
- Paris mushrooms, 3.17E/kg
- Avocadoes 2.29E/kg
- Light bulb, 42W, 1.29E (on sale)
- Dark chocolate (Lindt), 100g, 2.05E
- Eggs (from farm), medium, 6, 0.95E
- Cooked ham, 4 thin slices, 4.78E
- Beef rib (big), 18.81E
- Fennel (veg), 2 big bulbs, 3.50E/kg
- normal cucumber 0.49E
- frozen peas 1.00E
- Windscreen washing liquid, 5 liters, 2.49E
- 8 liters of natural water, 0.94E
- 1 kg sea salt, 0.24E
- Hair conditioner, Tresemme, 675ml, 3.64E
- Whole rabbit, 6.22E
- Clothes tincture, 1 pack, black, 2.03E
- Brussel sprouts, 500g, 1.00E
- Coriander, 0.58E
- Chicory, 4 medium, 1.36E
- Powdered decaf coffee, 250g, 2.48E
- Lactose free cream, small bottle, 1.29E
- Biscuits, 1.89E
- 1kg pork chops, fresh, 3.00E (sale)
- Courgettes, local, 3 big ones, 1.80E
- 6 metal coat hangers, 1.19E
- Big kitchen roll, 0.99 (was bad quality)
- 2kg carrots, 3.09E
- 4l washing liquid (Marseille soap), 3.19E (sale)
- basic nail varnish, white, 2.75E
- 1kg lemons, 1.15E
- 1 bag frozen cooked mussels, 2.45E
- 1 lipstick (the cheapest), 3.75E


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## Cyberia (Apr 10, 2015)

Chinese shops sell many different things and can be quite cheap on some items.

I do as lot of my shopping in Mercadona. They have 3 stores on Tenerife. Their house chocolate is very good and very cheap at two bars for 90 cents. A number of big packs of biscuits for about a euro.

Pork and beef are OK here in mainland Spain. Turkey fillets are cheap as well as good too.

I like the Canary Islands I suppose because of their winter weather but given a choice of being there or here on mainland Spain, I would rather be here.


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## titania (Jan 3, 2013)

Mercadona is the place where I get my fresh salmon, otherwise I don't much shop there, it's more expensive than Lidl or Hyperdino. I also go to Altesa, La Hucha, Al Campo (expensive) and a local tourist supermarket. My typical shopping tour is, in this order: Lidl, Hyperdino, Mercadona, Al Campo, Hypertrebol, the local supermarket. There are 3 Chinese shops where I go for plastics (boxes, large plant pots, vase, bazar). Altesa and La Hucha are really in case I feel I might discover something of interest - which I did last week: Altesa: Jelly for trifles!!!! Now, where will I get the best strawberries for the trifle, that is the question


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## 90199 (Mar 21, 2010)

Fresh fish is caught locally and can be purchased here. Beef, Lamb and pork are raised here on the island, chickens are imported from Tenerife, where they are corn fed and raised on that island. Quail pheasant and partridge are available, just one slight snag, you will have to shoot them yourself.

Rent here is 350 to 500€ all included.

Prescription medicines, same as U.K. readily available, maybe different laboratories. I can visit the doctor for free, specialised treatment, I am flown to Tenerife all free.

Power tools readily available, Bosch, Black and Decker, Stihl I have purchased here.

Our water for drinking is free, you collect it yourself from the well.

We don't have a Mercadona nor Carrefour, we don't need them, any thing we cannot obtain we make it ourselves or take a 45 minute flight to Gran Canaria and purchase there.


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## titania (Jan 3, 2013)

Ah, I forgot... 

Internet. I pay 47E per month for an ADSL line with landline phone, but no mobile, with Orange. I understand that not all of the island is covered with good internet. When I went to visit a house in the south, the landlord was unable to tell me whether is was possible to have the Internet. He said there's a plug in the wall but you need to ask Movistar (the national provider). So I went to Movistar and they couldn't tell me if the address was covered. I would have had to sign the lease first with a restriction that if Movistar could not install the line, the lease would be annulled. That stunk to high hell so I did not proceed. I'm told through other people in the south that Internet is not always available and you may have to get it from satellite, with concommittant costs.

Also, I am in a standing battle with Orange for a mobile contract, which they first granted, than blocked on the pretense that they can't read my passport and that the Orange shop was defrauding them. Funny that my passport should have no trouble in the automated boarder gates in airports, but Orange can't read it, hey!!!! They are taking the money from my bank account but I cannot use the effing moble phone.... I had to get a non-contract other phone for Spain. Lucky I kept my French one which I'll keep until I have sorted everything out.

So I suggest that for Gran Canaria, you factor in these costs for the Internet and do make sure you actually can have ADSL. Don't take anything they tell you for granted when it comes to phones. Yoigo in particular.....

As for costs for satellite TV, I don't know, as my residence is equipped with one, but I have heard some rather strange stories also on this subject, so do exercise care and ask around.


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## titania (Jan 3, 2013)

Hepa said:


> Fresh fish is caught locally and can be purchased here. Beef, Lamb and pork are raised here on the island, chickens are imported from Tenerife, where they are corn fed and raised on that island. Quail pheasant and partridge are available, just one slight snag, you will have to shoot them yourself.
> 
> Rent here is 350 to 500€ all included.
> 
> ...


Woa, lucky you Hepa. It looks like you are on paradise island. I stand by what I say till proven to the contrary, but every single thing I've posted is my experience in north Tenerife. Next time you come around here, let me know, I'll show you around (if I'm still here  ) - Meanwhile, let me know which shops you go to in Gran Canaria, I might go there for my needs!

If only I could dig a well here!!! My dream, a house with a well, like I had in France!

As for medical matters, not everyone can get the Spanish free treatment. Even as a French I can't as I have never contributed in a European system. With my insurance I have to pay and be reimbursed after. However, I'm covered in the whole world, until death and including a pensioners' home before that if needed.

I'll go again to Leroy Merlin but I haven't seen Bosch Black&Decker and Stihl, just the Spanish equivalent. I brought most of my own tools from France.


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## 90199 (Mar 21, 2010)

titania said:


> o
> 
> I'll go again to Leroy Merlin but I haven't seen Bosch Black&Decker and Stihl, just the Spanish equivalent. I brought most of my own tools from France.


Don't go to Leroy Merlin, try a ferreteria.


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## g4jnw (Oct 21, 2013)

thanks everyone looks like the prices and accommodation (rental) is very similar to Malta & Gozo so all is possible, I did meet up with a group on gozo who gave me loads of info and yes it all depends on the exchange rate as it does in all euro zones when converting from the pound.

Unfortunately won't get to El Hierro this time as we are going to Lanzarote to visit but it looks lovely 

Thanks everyone for their PM's i do appreciate it and have taken everything on board, negative & positives.

I will read the forum topics with interest.

Re: questions about my blog on my website: why just consider 3 area's (Gozo, Cyprus & canary islands) The simple answer is I have been researching for years and came down to the 3 areas because amongst other things the pension will continue to rise per year and if we went to live in Australia with our eldest son then the pension does not rise yearly with the RPI.
We also want to be able to get back to the UK for visits and the euro zone is ok for that.
Why not go back to the isle of lewis to live? again a simple answer, the summers are great but the winters can be terrible - thanks everyone for reading my blog its a work in progress.
We haven't made our minds up but we are getting nearer - we never rush into decisions I'm afraid.


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## GreenBard (Apr 23, 2015)

I lived in the north of Tenerife until last year - am now in Portugal - and was on the island for over nine years. I lived in San Marcos near Icod. I used to do most of my shopping at HiperDino. There were some things I never found in Tenerife, such as Marmite and brown sauce.


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## Cyberia (Apr 10, 2015)

GreenBard said:


> I lived in the north of Tenerife until last year - am now in Portugal - and was on the island for over nine years. I lived in San Marcos near Icod. I used to do most of my shopping at HiperDino. There were some things I never found in Tenerife, such as Marmite and brown sauce.


It has always seemed strange to me that most of the world prefers flavourless ketchup (which is heavy in sugar) rather than brown sauce so it is difficult to get hold of it outside of Britain.

In America they have what I call remainder bacon, low class streaky bacon, rather than back bacon. Some people will eat anything.


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## GreenBard (Apr 23, 2015)

Cyberia said:


> It has always seemed strange to me that most of the world prefers flavourless ketchup (which is heavy in sugar) rather than brown sauce so it is difficult to get hold of it outside of Britain.
> 
> In America they have what I call remainder bacon, low class streaky bacon, rather than back bacon. Some people will eat anything.


I introduced my partner who is American to HP Sauce I brought over from the UK and she can see why I rave about the stuff so much!


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## Cyberia (Apr 10, 2015)

GreenBard said:


> I introduced my partner who is American to HP Sauce I brought over from the UK and she can see why I rave about the stuff so much!



I have relatives in Buffalo in New York state and in the pre 2001 days of flying I took them out a few bottles of Daddie's sauce. My cousin admitted she crosses the border into Canada once a month to get HP sauce, but I find it too fruity.


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