Time to do a little relaxing...

Inspector

Newbie
Jul 11, 2017
3
0
0
Hello everyone.

My name is Tony and I am well into my retirement planning. For years I thought it would be in Belize, but now I am finding the DR very enticing and relaxing.

I hope to be of some kind of value here as I soak up the DR information I may seek! See you all in the forums!
 

Blueceo

Member
Nov 1, 2015
192
22
18
Hi Tony, welcome to the DR. Funny, I just got back from a quick trip to Belize as I have friends who retired and are living there. My personal opinion is the DR is head and shoulders above Belize for just about everything. Belize is an extremely small country with really bad infrastructure, nothing to buy, very little night life and a lot of dangerous animals including very venomous snakes (hate snakes). I think you have made the right decision to change to the DR. Unless you want solitude I would highly recommend the DR over Belize. Better beaches, food, nightlife, women and just about everything else. Just my personal opinion.
 

Inspector

Newbie
Jul 11, 2017
3
0
0
Hi Tony, welcome to the DR. Funny, I just got back from a quick trip to Belize as I have friends who retired and are living there. My personal opinion is the DR is head and shoulders above Belize for just about everything. Belize is an extremely small country with really bad infrastructure, nothing to buy, very little night life and a lot of dangerous animals including very venomous snakes (hate snakes). I think you have made the right decision to change to the DR. Unless you want solitude I would highly recommend the DR over Belize. Better beaches, food, nightlife, women and just about everything else. Just my personal opinion.

Thanks for the positive reply! I am flying over in August to look around and spend a week. Afterwards, I will make my final plans!
 

USA DOC

Bronze
Feb 20, 2016
3,162
757
113
....Hola.......I always thought I would be in Brazil...but here I am............
 

2dlight

Bronze
Jun 3, 2004
970
36
28
Welcome to the DR Tony! I've been here thirty days now and just rented a house in the Colonial Zone for a year, to use as a base while I get to know the country again.
 

Ecoman1949

Born to Ride.
Oct 17, 2015
2,806
1,309
113
Welcome Tony. Retired ten years ago and the DR has become my winter home. Rent, don't buy, live in different areas and get a feel for where you went to be. The DR is a country with diverse areas and climates. It's easy to make friends here but keep a sharp eye out when travelling and staying in different places. It takes awhile to get your bearings here but once you do, it's a great place.
 

LTSteve

Gold
Jul 9, 2010
5,449
23
38
Hello everyone.

My name is Tony and I am well into my retirement planning. For years I thought it would be in Belize, but now I am finding the DR very enticing and relaxing.

I hope to be of some kind of value here as I soak up the DR information I may seek! See you all in the forums!

Tony, welcome. Where are you from? Where are you staying in the DR? More info would give us a better idea of what you are looking for?
 
Jul 28, 2014
1,718
0
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Thanks for the positive reply! I am flying over in August to look around and spend a week. Afterwards, I will make my final plans!

I would HIGHLY recommend you spend more than a week in La R.D. before remotely considering anything, unless you have already spent considerable time on the island. From reading many threads on here, you can quickly learn the differences between how things work in "paradise" vs "home" and the various things that either drive Gringos nuts, or to the point they no longer want to live on the island and/or leave.
 

Retire

New member
Jan 18, 2017
73
0
0
Blueceo : Off topic , but , I have friends in Belize . How difficult is it to fly there from here ? Is a U.S. connection necessary ? Thanks in advance for any help .
 

Kipling333

Bronze
Jan 12, 2010
2,528
829
113
I would also take a good look at Colombia ...it runs rings around the DR ever since the death of Pablo Escobar ...Bogota, Medellin, Cartagena and Santa Marta are just a few great retirement places...
 

Cdn_Gringo

Gold
Apr 29, 2014
8,671
1,133
113
A connecting flight is necessary. Belize has no international airline of its own. Like here in the DR, occasionally a carrier pops up offering flights to destinations outside Belize usually to Cancun or Panama, but these don't seem to last long. A few US airlines have flights from Texas and Miami and during the tourist season, sometimes limited charter flights are available. I cannot think of a single day when there would be 200+ people wishing to fly to Belize so being able to fill a plane is not likely very often.

From outside the US, you'll need to get closer to Belize where a regional carrier can take you the rest of the way. Usually expensive. An alternative is to fly to Cancun and take the bus to the border town of Chetumal. Similar to taking the bus from the north coast of the DR to Santo Domingo.

Belize for the most part still is a very third world country. Lots of official corruption, a high rate of violent crime, a poor population, poor roads, atrocious internet access, unreliable infrastructure and as already mentioned, lots of animals that, can do you in or at least make you very miserable. Quality healthcare is a problem so most foreigners opt to go to Mexico for treatment.

One plus, Belize is not an island so getting out of there for a few days or to go buy stuff in Mexico is not as big a hassle as here in the DR.
 
Jul 16, 2017
29
0
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Hi Tony, welcome to the DR. Funny, I just got back from a quick trip to Belize as I have friends who retired and are living there. My personal opinion is the DR is head and shoulders above Belize for just about everything. Belize is an extremely small country with really bad infrastructure, nothing to buy, very little night life and a lot of dangerous animals including very venomous snakes (hate snakes). I think you have made the right decision to change to the DR. Unless you want solitude I would highly recommend the DR over Belize. Better beaches, food, nightlife, women and just about everything else. Just my personal opinion.

Is it really? I had planned out a vacation trip to Belize for a week or so myself.
 

Derfish

Gold
Jan 7, 2016
4,441
2
0
Is it really? I had planned out a vacation trip to Belize for a week or so myself.

I have a friend who went from Puerto Plata to Belize. He left after 90 days said his $1800 USD per month didn't reach there, and he lived well on it in Puerto Plata. Last I heard he was in Nicaragua again where he was before the DR.
Der Fish