Where To Live In Greece

Crete

Crete is a Greek island located in the Mediterranean Sea. It is the largest among Greece’s nearly 6,000 islands, at 161 miles long by 37 miles wide. Crete is thought by many to be one of the most beautiful locations in Greece, if not the entire world. The island offers a lot for both tourists and residents, including sunny, sandy beaches, and hospitable people.

Most all of the tourist areas and cities in Crete will have an abundance of shop owners who understand and speak English. Even the lesser traveled areas on the island will have English speakers scattered around and if not, the locals are easy to work with and can help you with whatever you need.

The island is known for having excellent infrastructure. Many of the cities on the island have been developed around tourism and thus have developed high level infrastructure to match, including nicely paved roads and walking paths.

Many businesses and homes in Crete have installed solar panels, helping to alleviate many of the electrical infrastructure issues facing other islands around the world.

Corfu

With the longest coastline in the Mediterranean Basin and a unique geography full of islands and peninsulas, Greece’s reputation as a bona fide beach destination is well-founded. But among the thousands of islands in Greece, Corfu stands out as the ideal overseas retirement locale… On top of the unique scenery and friendly locals, the cost of living is low, especially for Europe. About US$1,500 is enough for a comfortable lifestyle in Corfu, though you can easily go below this number depending on your preferences.

Corfu offers a decidedly laid-back version of life on the Continent—Mediterranean living at its finest, with great food, an easygoing climate, and a myriad of ways to enjoy the outdoors. There’s hiking, golf, birdwatching, and rock climbing on land, and swimming, sailing, boating, fishing, snorkeling and scuba diving in the sea.

Corfu is amazingly green, sheathed in the silvery-green leaves of olive trees as well as Mediterranean cypresses, pine trees, leafy shrubs, and flowering plants. With all the vegetation, the scenery looks more like Lake Tahoe than the dry and dusty scenery of your typical Greek island…

Serving as backdrop for all this dramatic scenery is the dazzling aquamarine of the Ionian Sea, arguably some of the most beautiful water on this planet. The island has 135 miles (217 kms) of coastline and 57 beaches—some sandy, others pebbly; some developed, others completely isolated. Living here, you can take advantage of proximity to the sea regardless of where you settle on the island. Glorious ocean vistas are around every corner, and enjoying the sea every day, whether boating around the island or simply going for a dip, is the way of life.