Soaring energy prices are affecting people all over the world. Those on fixed incomes, such as retirees, are especially feeling the pinch.
Wouldn’t it be great to live in a place where the temperature was comfortable all year round, and you didn’t have to spend money on cooling or, as the case may be, heating your home? Do such places even exist and, if so, where are they?
Defining ‘healthy climate’
Firstly, you have to determine what constitutes perfect weather. This is subjective – people in western countries, for example, might complain that anything about the 25°C mark is too hot. Malaysians, of course, would scoff at this.
Surveys have shown that, for Europeans at least, the preferred temperature range is 20-26°C, with 22-23°C considered ideal. After all, warm, dry and sunny weather without extreme heat or cold is known to be beneficial to physical and mental health.
So, which places have “ideal” temperatures year-round? If you Google this, you will come up with various lists of places.
One of the more systematic studies was done by a blogger named Nolan Gray, who ranked 194 cities around the world and determined whether or not air-conditioning and/or heating is needed, based on daily average high/low temperatures.
The author concluded that the 13 cities with the best year-round temperatures are, in alphabetical order:
- Antananarivo, Madagascar
- Bogotá, Colombia
- Caracas, Venezuela
- Durban, South Africa
- Guatemala City, Guatemala
- Lima, Peru
- Mexico City, Mexico
- Nairobi, Kenya
- Port Elizabeth, South Africa
- Quito, Ecuador
- San Diego, California
- São Paulo, Brazil
- Sydney, Australia
Based on Gray’s research, Guatemala City has the most “ideal” climate.
Of course, most of these places wouldn’t strike you as ideal retirement destinations when you take into account factors such as crime, safety, medical facilities, and so on. It is no use having an ideal climate if you are too scared to step outside your front door.
Even Sydney, which is ideal in many ways, suffers from high property prices, and Australia does not grant retirement visas. Neither does the United States.
So, unless you are American or Australian, or have some connections in those countries, you will probably not be allowed to retire there.
Closer to home
What about destinations closer to Malaysia that were not on Gray’s list? Places like Simla and Darjeeling in India do not achieve the aim of eliminating heating bills because they are knee-deep in snow in winter.
But Da Lat in Vietnam, Nuwara Eliya in Sri Lanka, Baguio in the Philippines, Bandung in Indonesia and, of course, Malaysia’s own Cameron Highlands have much more moderate climates.
The annual average temperature of Genting Highlands, for example, hits the sweet spot of 22°C, with maximums and minimums constantly within the range of 22-26°C. Annual rainfall is a whopping 2,548mm but still, Genting manages to average 7.6 hours of sunshine per day.
At an altitude of 1,865m, it is often in the clouds and, with humidity reaching 90%, you would probably still want to use air-conditioning – or at least dehumidifiers – to prevent your walls from turning black with mould. Hey, no place is perfect.
Finally, you might be wondering: “What about Europe?” Don’t worry, it hasn’t been forgotten – check back in tomorrow for a rundown of retirement locations with the best climate in the continent!
This article first appeared in Thrifty Traveller.