Having spent the last month based in the Paphos area and not yet having found the right area for relocation, apart from Pissouri, but a little too far out, can anyone advise where would be a good place. We are going to the Larnaca area in September for the same reason. As we are retired, we need good facilities within walking distance, preferably flat and close to the sea. We also have decided to rent for twelve months or so until the economic market hopefully improves. Help and comments from anyone would be greatly appreciated.

Wendy

Hi Mel & Dave

You will find Pafos a good place to start as there are loads of ex pats so the chance of employment is much more, however you will find that there are many areas with English ex- pats e.g Paralimni, Larnaca,.

Check out all the places, you will then be able to decide.

Good luck

Rgds

Hi Cassie,
Many thanks for replying. We shall look at both those places during our visit in September.
Regards
Wendy

How does the cost of living compare with where you are living now? I'm assuming maybe incorrectly that you in UK.

We are now back in UK. We found costs in Paphos area to be considerably more expensive than in UK, particularly food and general household goods. This is obviously due to the value of the £ against the Euro and therefore this situation could continue for some time. I think, if considering relocating to Cyprus you need to take this fact seriously as it would be a large proportion of your budget.

Its expensive no matter where you are in Cyprus. If relocating, bring as much household goods from the UK as you can. Buying white goods here is a rip off.

Thankyou for your comments. I totally agree and when we visit the south east in September we shall bring a good quantity with us.

just out of curiosity..wouldn't shipping heavy things like fridges end up costing more than buying in Cyprus ?

I actually was not referring paticularly to white goods, however you have a good point.

I guess one solution would be bringing a car + some sort of small trailer and then drive across Europe to Greece and put your car on the Ferry...With plane tickets getting more and more and gas quite cheap, especially mainland EU, I guess it shouldn't be such a costly endeavor compared to flying and only being able to bring ~20 kg/per person...

Of course you can ship most things separately but it will define cost more...

Depends what your bringing. We brought everything that we had in our house in the UK. It cost us 5K to ship (bit more expensive, because we lived in N.Ireland) the lot. If we tried to replace everything we had, at the prices here, we'd have been out about 20K.

So is the cost of living the same as in the UK now there is a global credit crunch, with Cyprus using the Euro?

What about rental property in Cyprus - is there a glut so that prices have come down? Especially out of cities?

We understand that the Cyprus retirement scheme allows you to import used household goods and a car free of tax - right?

Is it possible to live simply on market produce and local foods if you are in the right place? Where might that be?

Is the political situation stable.......................
We're retired expat teachers [British] looking for a sunny place to rest our weary heads!
Many thanks for your valuable comments. Lilian and Mike