I can't honestly say anywhere. We are too deep rooted here. We visit Charleston area usually at least once an area and in the future I'm sure more as my sister and BIL have a house there and will move there full-time at some point. As much as I like outdoor and water activities, I could never live there in summer though. Visited once in July and never again. We also could not handle a tourist area like that. There is a town not far from there that might suit us more so, Summerville. We usually stay on Kiawah or Seabrook Island when visiting Charleston area, but I don't think I could do hurricane season(s). Not sure I could leave my mountains either!!

Ded, my sister and I were supposed to be in Lucca (on our way from Tuscany to Venice) in September! We were looking forward to bike rides around the wall. I'm only 50 minutes from Vancouver, so next time you're coming let me know!

I loved Lucca and would not mind living there, and some great coastal towns are easily within reach. Perhaps Orvieto as well, on in the area around Montepulciano. The cost of living in these places is less than the US, when you actually start living a bit. The exception is Switzerland.

Geneva is an easy place for foreigners, due to like 40% expatriates and a very good social network. I lived up the lake in Lausanne and could have easily stayed for longer.

My sister recently moved to the San Juan Islands, with a nice water view and about an acre. It really is lovely, despite the rain and weather. The Banana Belt across the Sound would be even better -- I had a former colleague move there.

Frequently I find the PC with a browser open to real estate listings in another part of the globe or the US -- spouse is always looking at places, from Mexico to the Canaries to Florida to Tahoe.

When I was young I imagined myself living in a wilderness area, any one in particular, but the north country always appealed to me. The Adirondacks is one place I went a lot due to having relatives who had a summer place there, for example. I also have friends in Great Britain, and have always felt "at home" there having grown up in a state similarly situated geographically in the Northwestern Hemisphere. Scotland in particular appealed to me, and that's no mystery considering part of my family came from there. In fact, I was seriously trying to figure out how I might retire to GB before the pandemic hit, or somehow find work there and manage to be an ex patriot. Kind of off the table now.

I didn't want to be a "Debbie Downer" so avoided responding to this post right away, but I can add that I actually DID get a job and move to one of my vacation places that I decided I wanted to live there. I lived there for a year. In reality, when you live in a beautiful vacation place and you work, you are NOT on vacation. So if your job sucks, that's going to dominate your life even if the scenery outside the window is fabulous. In fact, it's almost tortuous, as you are stuck at work and you are watching everyone else enjoying themselves on vacation. I would pass by fabulous beaches on my way to the laundromat, but I still had to do laundry!! Not that I didn't enjoy time away from work at some of the lovely places, but worked sucked big time and I was relieved to leave the area. I also learned that in most tourist oriented places, there are two classes, the vacationers and those that serve the vacationers. The standard of living for the servers is very different, much lower and made difficult by the fact that everything in a tourist destination is more expensive, particularly housing! And salaries are much lower, with the saying being, "Half your pay is a view of the Bay" in the area I lived in. I learned that having a good job beats living in a beautiful area. You can always visit the beautiful area. One nice thing is living near enough to one of your touchstone places that you can visit often. And if your place of residence has some reasonably nice areas, that beats gorgeous views and nasty people any day. The lifestyles of the rich and famous has a darker side . . .

Now that I am contemplating retirement, that's another story. I still imagine a little cottage just somewhere reasonably nice. I've lived on the boat in the fabulous tourist area and know that it's much more fun to do it for a short visit than a permanent way of life. I always laugh about those movies where the heroine ends up running a winery or bed and breakfast, etc. I know people in both professions, they are hard work with very low profits. Not that you can't enjoy doing it, but the movie gals seem to run into way sexier people and have way more free time than what I know the reality to be! ;)

I agree, Pink and I think one needs to be careful not to pick a place to live that is nothing but boutiques and inns and fudge shops. But, and i've not gone back through the thread, I don't think most of us were thinking of resort towns anyway.

I was just surprised at how far the tentacles of a resort area reach into the surrounding communities. I think at least an hour away would be good. Towns with high quality of life have similar issues though, even if they are not tourist specific. Another example is university towns, many of which have high quality of life amenities but high cost of living. Places with a lot of recreation activities tend to be similar. Many of the nice west coast towns are booming so much it is almost impossible for middle class folks to own homes. Two of my best friends are Californians who had to leave due to not making enough money and not inheriting property. Another students is still living in shared housing many years with his wife and another couple. They work in agriculture and would like to start a family. Great area they live in, it's wine country but not all of it geared to tourists but still expensive. Another couple friend of mine moved back from Portland OR. They both had professional jobs but no way could afford a home and to start a family. Easy peasy to do that where I live, but the rub is, very few professional jobs. Some, but not enough to fill the middle class housing stock, which is deteriorating. So it looks like a dreamy little town, but look closer and you'll see a hard scrabble to make ends meet. If you had the means to avoid the hard scrabble, it would be a different story/life.

salonva, I am a native Californian (Los Angeles) and chose to move to Portland, OR 20 years ago. It really doesn't rain all that much here and the seasons are glorious. I still have my place in LA but I never once felt the need to escape the Oregon weather. Plus, as mtn said, we have some of the best bakeries in the world here :-). Ken's Artisan Bakery being one of them.

That's it! Ken's! Home of the lemon croissant. I've already explained to DH, that, should he come calling (shall we say, not likely) ,I shall run away with Ken. Also Jon Stewart, Steve Schmidt, Jon Hamm, and Trevor Noah. There may be a few others. But, as I explained to DH, percentage wise it's a really, really low number.

Now that i know Marlene is there, its yet another reason to go!

Sorry Mtn, I have dibs on Jon Hamm.

That's ok, he was my "reach" run-away-from-it-all pick.

Exactly Pink. There is a touristy area near us - within an hour. The traffic and influx of people at certain times of year, I could not stand. Although there are some nice restaurants, etc. up that way, we only go certain times and only go up through backroads to the area. Then again, I could never live near Atlanta, that traffic would do it for me. You can see I am not a city person at all!

DH’s best friend moved from here to the Palm Springs area to be with someone with whom he rekindled a romance and married. What Pink said is that you have to work and have little free time to actually enjoy the area. He has a full-time job and part-time job at Total Wine. Although they‘d go to the casinos for concerts and other events and to L.A. and Vegas. Maybe someday they can own a home, but at least they have a nice villa as a rental.

Yep, and that was sort of my point in my post above about how dreaming of living somewhere and actually living there would likely be two entirely different things, particularly if you were still working. A number of years ago, my brother and his wife moved to a little resort mountain town in Colorado, both taking jobs in the service industry. They had to work their butts off just to be able to afford a place (and that was a cabin on the banks of a river that was 25 miles outside of town; absolutely glorious, but it came with baggage of its own), and found they didn't have nearly enough time to pursue all of those outdoorsy pursuits that one enjoys while vacationing -- or wealthy and retired. They ended up ditching that dream and returning home, once she became pregnant.

I think I would really get tired of demanding tourists if I lived in such an area. Right now, we are seeing clear evidence of those who feel their holiday agendas take precedence over the local community, in the way that so many are flocking to Covid hot zones where they truly have no business being, in a misguided attempt at fun and recreation.

Mine is Asheville, NC or the mountains south of there where there are several lovely little towns that would make me happy. Plenty of access to some great hiking and other activities and a nice city.

Portland OR would be a close second. I think I mentioned once before my friend and I go out every other year to the IPNC, a huge wine celebration in late July. This year it was cancelled, but it is our off year anyway. My DH went the first time i did 6 years ago (he is not a wine drinker) and we toured Oregon afterward, including several days in Portland. We always go a day or two early and find something new to do in Portland, mostly centered around food.

I lived in a tourist area for years. For our family, there weren't that many drawbacks. Yes, traffic could be bad but there were tons of short cuts. The town roundabouts were a traffic challenge for all, even residents. Instead of getting angry, I made a game of silently encouraging confused drivers from my car. "It's a yield, not a stop, you can do it!" Popular restaurants could get busy, we just made reservations or went during the week.

My kids had great summer jobs at a five-star resort. They learned valuable lessons about responsibility and customer service at an age where they really weren't interested in learning the same lessons from Mom and Dad. We lived in a gorgeous area surrounded by live oaks draped in moss, beaches, tidal rivers, and tons of wildlife. And like a college town, tourists added a nice energy and vibe.

Oh @OutsidePlaying, I love the mountains of NC. We’ve vacationed in Highlands and I could absolutely live there. I love cool mountain air and cool clear mountain streams and fresh water lakes. I should have probably been born a woodland creature. I even love snow and lots of it. Why do I live in Florida? That’s a comprise we made - DH loves the heat and strong sun.

We lived in Montana for a long long time but hubby just couldn’t handle the 9 month winters any longer. But we do still own a place there so someday .....

I could happily live in Pacific Grove, CA. Or Hilo, HI (I don't think I heard Tiny Bubbles once when I was there). My last Hilo trip was pretty non-touristy.

I fantasize about living abroad for a few years when I retire. Mexico, Ecuador. I've got enough Spanish, French, and German that I could get by in a few places, and have the foundation to improve my language skills pretty easily. Planning to work on Portuguese once a vaccine is closer and my Brazil and Portugal trips become more than just wishful thinking.

Tannatonk, Highlands and Cashiers are favorite places to visit! Small towns, but such a calm, lovely place to go. And I should have said, the areas north of the city of Asheville too, which is apparently growing in popularity.

edited to add, I agree with you about Montana. Too cold most of the year, but we did love Kalispell.

DH and I traveled across Ireland, prior to DD's wedding there. It would have set them back a fair chunk of change, to have a large enough wedding reception venue in Toronto, to accommodate my huge family. So DD opted for a very small wedding, in a place she really wanted to visit.

I know that many couples choose a sunny Caribbean destination, but I think having recently seen the movies 'Leap Year' and 'P.S. I love you' set DD and her fiance's minds on Ireland. There were only 12 of us and we spent 2 weeks traveling around Ireland before the wedding, which was in a little church in a quaint town, just like she'd pictured. We found many beautiful towns to explore by day, and enjoyed finding a new pub for dinner, each night.

We found the locals to be very friendly and fun loving, at least in all the small coastal towns we visited. I loved everywhere we went in Ireland, but I think I left parts of my heart on the west coast, in Dingle and Galway.

Skaneateles, NY. I first visited while a college student and then moved there early in my first marriage. We stayed three years and then went back to ct. twelve years later we were back. This time I stayed 13 years. Lol Mtn, it really is filled with inns and fudge shops.

my brother lives in Montreal and that is one tempting city...

Toss up between Lucerne, Switzerland

or Lake Como, Italy

@Amicus - yes to Galway! My daughter went to university there which is what prompted our visit. Such a lively town and again, the people were just fantastic and were enthralled that we came from Canada! I couldn't get enough of the street performers.

Nekotish, i hope to be in Vancouver next June, so who knows?

Jerusalem. I went to the Holy Land more as a pilgrimage than a vacation. I did it for a lot of reasons but didn't expect to fall in love with the place. After I got back home, I longed to be back in Jerusalem. I kinda toyed with the idea of going for 6 months or so. I ended up going back two years later. I hope to go again some day, but not sure I will.

Jojo, I know, I've been there. Love loved Krebs.

Montreal is my Plan B. Oh carp it is paused until April 2021!

https://www.immigration.ca/quebec-immigrant-investor-program

This is only for Montreal BTW.

I would like a summer home almost any place cooler and less humid than where I live now.

DH wanted a summer home on Lake Ladoga after several trips to Saint Petersburg, Russia. I was ready to go along with him, until I visited Russia. I just couldn’t see it. But then he always wants to move to wherever he has visited most recently.

Amicus, I completely agree with you about Galway and the west of Ireland. We finally made it there last fall and toured Ireland and then Scotland for 2 weeks. I found several mid-sized towns to be charming and I could have spent way more time there.

Lugano, Switzerland.

nutsaboutplants, omg yes! I was there once, in 1967, hitchhiking through Europe with my friend (still very close all these years later). We ended up in a youth hostel in Lugano for the night. "All You Need is Love" was the soundtrack in all the little cafés. It was magical.

Katakolo, Pirgos, Greece.

I live in a pretty area but would love to live in many of the more pretty -spectacular- areas near by. Western NC little towns, up in the mountains with gorgeous views everywhere. Brevard, Waynesville, etc. Not Asheville, too big,

I also live in a pretty area - Southern Oregon, but for me, driving 4+ hours to get to a major city is too far.

Ohhh I forgot about Skaneateles! My middle kid went to Syracuse and once we discovered that sweet town, that’s where we stayed every time we visited him. (It’s about 1/2 hour drive from Syracuse.) I am not sure I could tolerate the winters there, but I could definitely live in one of those beautiful houses within walking distance of the village...maybe I’d have a winter home in, say, Nevis or St. John.

I also loved Vancouver.

I would never move from the Boston area but I can daydream about various places that I’ve traveled to. Switzerland would be my choice if I were to flee the US.

@OutsidePlaying you need to come visit over my way!

Ahh, Lugano! I was there on business, if you can believe it. I think al of the mafioso money crosses over from Italy to invest with the Swiss banks. Pardon the stereotypes. Gorgeous town.

@nutsaboutplants I almost said Lake Lugano, another favorite place.

Jerusalem. Traveling up through the Judean Hills the first evening I had a unique feeling that this was the center of the world; I did arrange to live there for several years and that feeling never changed!

I have imagined myself living in almost every place I've ever visited; it's part of the fun of traveling. Some destinations where I longed to stay - Coronado Island in San Diego, Door County in Wisconsin, Santa Fe, NM, and anywhere in Italy, especially Rome.

Sable, aka Praha

I think I could easily live in Flagstaff, it struck me as a western Asheville of sorts and the landscape is gorgeous. I need trees.

Here is a pic of Lugano from our last visit there a couple of years ago.

I seem to fall in love with many of the places we have visited and try to imagine myself living there. It used to be London and San Francisco, both places swept me off my feet the first times we visited, but not so much on subsequent trips. It seems that I am not meant to leave Massachusetts (11th generation) and it doesn't matter how much I enjoy seeing new places I am always happy to come home.

Interestingly, since so many cool places are out of my reach financially, I have given it some thought and tried a little bit to recreate or bring aspects of that place into my own home life. That's part of my decorating aesthetic in fact. Also landscaping. Last house I lived in out East had a tiny, tiny yard but I created some little "vignettes" in the yard that evoked my favorite north country outdoor elements. I got the idea from studying Japanese gardening, that's one idea they use, small vignettes representing large landscape features such as rivers, oceans and forests. For example, I made a little fountain using my collection of Lake Superior beach stones. Not the same, but the enjoyable part of the sounds of water and the colors of the rocks were there . . . Trying to do that now at my current place. I am an Anglophile and finding it possible to recreate an English cottage vibe both inside and outside and even in the kitchen with the kind of food I prepare. And yet, I also have a Zen garden in the works outside in the back, and a wild area along the creek. I have my English cottage guest bedroom and then our bedroom is north country cabin vibe.

Lpink, I desire an English country garden, but I didn't get the gardening gene! That said, I have a print that I bought in Oxford hanging in my bedroom, and every time I consciously see it it brings me great joy. It is a Baxter print. the history of which

There's something inviting and tempting in just about every place we've visited. It's part of the fun of a vacation to imagine yourself living there. We've looked at properties while on trips for our own amusement and edification but never really seriously considered buying. Neither of us would ever live in a hot climate. It's bad enough here near Philly in July and August so we both know we'd avoid tropical beach areas. We already own another home in upstate PA and go there often so at this point we're content.

However if I hit the lottery I'd buy my great grandfather's cottage in County Sligo, Ireland on the Wild Atlantic Way. There are only 5 'homes' left in his little Townland, long abandoned and ruined, only parts of the foundations remain. But it is a lovely, restful spot, a few minutes walk to Streedagh Beach and a peaceful cove sheltered from the N. Atlantic. It's where Yeat's spent his formative years and he's buried in the local Churchyard, in the shadow of Benbulben mountain.

Ida-One of my brothers went to college in Las Cruces. It is a nice town. My grandparents had a second home in Santa Fe and I have been going there as long as I can remember. Unfortunately they sold it when I was in High school.

Prescott or Flagstaff AZ, Pacific Grove CA, Fayetteville AR, Santa Fe NM, Cashiers NC, Concord MA, Glenwood Spgs CO (really just about anywhere in CO), Fort Davis TX, Soller Mallorca, Spili Crete (Greece)

There are probably more, but that is all I can think of right now.

Funny coincidence.. got an email from my spouse, entitled, "wanna buy this?"

https://www.burns-realestate.com/en/search/sale-house-15-rooms-saint-paul-de-vence-06570-3663204

Literally it is property we stayed at when it was a B&B/Auberge just outside St. Paul de Vence in the South of France. The grounds look so much better in the summer, with the lavender, roses and bougainvillea in bloom. Besides the main house there is another building in the same style with six guest rooms, en suite.

Gooster, i hope you said yes.

@dedtired Ha ha, not at that price. And I am pretty certain I would not want to be an innkeeper over that many rooms.

I started summer getaway trips to Sanibel then Captiva on the Gulf coast of Florida with my daughter and her BFF when they were about 12. It became a treasured annual girls' getaway and over the years I also invited my sisters, then eventually my DIL joined us. I loved that place so much! It was like stepping out of the world for a little while; TPTB have deliberately kept it lowkey, no high rises and not even a stop light on the islands. Every trip meant staying somewhere on the ocean spending lazy sunny days relaxing pool or beach-side then cleaning up for a nice dinner out, lots of reading and watching trash tv :). Lather, rinse and repeat for a heavenly week every July or August and sometimes a quick trip over at some other month if I could do it. I even went solo a few times just to decompress from work and life stress.

As my husband and I got closer to retirement age he actually asked if I wanted to buy a place over there, but it didn't make sense because he had zero interest in that area; there's no reef and no diving to speak of. Our family wasn't close so we'd have pulled up stakes to go live somewhere all by ourselves and that didn't appeal either.

But.

It got us thinking, which led to the fateful question he asked me a few years ago "what about the Florida Keys?". That turned out to be the perfect mix: he got his diving, I got my beautiful house on the water and we both got a place that has hosted lots of family fun and holiday memories. We are close to both families including aging parents and that is part of our equation as well.

So even though I didn't end up getting to live in the place I love to vacation, I got something even better and I'm happy every single day.

The only casualty has been that I've not been back to Sanibel/Captiva since!

Having lived my entire life in this town of 4,000 I dream of living right in central London. Of course I want a lovely home with the ability to walk out the door and be surrounded by the hub-bub and excitement of the city. I felt that way when I first visited many years ago, and now my DD and family live there.

Many have mentioned wonderful town/cities but the heat and humidity of the summers would keep me away from Charleston or Savannah. We love Maine but not for permanent living. We will surely stay right here where we are very happy and comfortable, and besides we have a second home....in Pittsburgh! We might be the only ones who have a second home there, but grandkids have a way of doing that.

I really enjoy reading all of the suggestions.