Beaches You Could Move To
You could move to many of the world’s best beaches by tomorrow evening — and you could do it with less than $1,500 currently in your bank account. Below is a list of some of those beautiful (and hopefully non-obvious) beaches you could move to.
We are writing this for a few reasons.
• To show you just how many great beaches you could move to at the drop of a hat. So many people seem to think of it like a faraway fantasy — but you could actually just do it.
• Because you may enjoy moving to and living at a beach somewhere for some amount of time.
• For a third, secret reason that you will learn at the end of the essay.
Practical uses of this essay may include daydreaming, planning to spend a few months you have off of work or school (sabbatical, gap semester, etc.), or finding a place to move to for the long-term. You could move to any of these beaches even if you have less than ~$1,500 currently in your bank account.
Beautiful beaches you could move to for less than $1,000 per month
This is inspiration, not a comprehensive list. Email us if you have other ones that should be on the list. Criteria is that they should be beautiful, not common knowledge/super mainstream, and there should be a way to get there and pay your first month’s rent for less than $1,500.
• Florianópolis, Brazil: $350 one-way flight from major U.S. airports. You could rent a big ocean-view apartment or house for <$800 per month.
• Vis, Croatia: $400 one-way flight from major U.S. airports. You could rent a small apartment with an ocean view for <$1,000 per month.
• Watamu, Kenya: $700 for a one-way flight from major U.S. airports. You could rent a big apartment or house near the ocean (perhaps with a view) for <$1,000 per month.
• San Pedro, Ambergris Caye, Belize: $400 for a one-way flight from major U.S. airports. You could rent a room or small apartment near the beach for <$1,000 per month.
• Tofo Beach, Mozambique: $600 for a one-way flight to Maputo (then ~$50 for a 7-hour drive or bus to the beach). You could rent a room or small apartment near the beach for <$1,000 per month.
• Praia de Chaves, Cabo Verde: $800 for a one-way flight to Boa Vista, from major U.S. airports. You could rent a gorgeous, decent size apartment or small house with ocean views for <$700 per month.
• El Nido, Palawan, Philippines: $1,000 for a one-way flight to El Nido from major U.S airports. You could rent a beautiful, medium size apartment or villa for <$1,000 per month.
• Taghazout, Morocco: $400 for a one-way flight to Agadir Al-Massira airport, then a short drive to Taghazout. You could rent a small apartment with an ocean view for <$700 per month.
• Ngapali Beach, Myanmar: $1,000 for a one-way flight to Mandalay, then ~$100 to drive to Ngapali. You could rent a small room in a beachfront hotel for <$500 per month.
• Máncora, Peru: $400 for a one-way flight to TYL, then ~$50 to drive to Máncora. You could rent a big apartment or house near the beach (perhaps with an ocean view) for <$1,000 per month.
• San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua: $500 one-way flight from major U.S. airports. You could rent a small apartment or house with ocean views <$600 per month.
• Jericoacoara, Brazil: $800 one-way flight from major U.S. airports. You could rent a small apartment or house on the beach <$800 per month.
• Paje, Zanzibar, Tanzania: $1,000 one-way flight from major U.S. airports. You could rent a small apartment or house near the beach for <$800 per month.
• Ifaty, Madagascar: $1,500 one-way flight from major U.S. airports. You could rent a small apartment or house near the beach for <$600 per month.
What is the point of this list?
The same list above applies for whatever you romanticize: mountains, rolling hills in the countryside, quiet European villages. And the real, secret point of this essay is to show you that logistically moving to these places is super easy (though the difficulty can increase if you want to live there for the long-term, depending what country you have in mind). Logistics shouldn’t be the thing that holds you back from trying out the version of life you’ve fantasized about from time to time — it is not an excuse.
If you romanticize dropping everything and moving to a beach, then you should either:
• Do it and see what you think.
• Stop romanticizing it so much.
The worst place to be is that grey area of “Wow, my life is so boring now, I’d love to do that,” but then to never do it — and yet this is the area that so many people seem to be in when you talk to them about topics like this one. If you want to go live your dream life on a beach somewhere, you can. Just go. The truth is that if you leave your current home for a few months or even a year (or more), a lot less will change than you think. You can always go back. Few decisions are permanent, and this is not one of them.
As for how to handle stuff once you get there (imagine you realize you want to stay for longer than your tourist visa allows) you are probably more resourceful than you think. If there’s a way, you will figure it out.
This would be nice, don’t you think?
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Footnotes
1: Common objections to an essay like this one might say something like: “But I had a kid one year ago!” or “But my partner has a job here!”. These can be totally valid. But again, most things are more malleable than you think. You could take your kid with you, if you really wanted to. And your spouse could quit their job, or you could go solo for a few months if you really wanted (and your relationship is strong and would survive that kind of thing). The point is that if you really want to do the thing you are romanticizing, you probably can do it. And this is true for more than beaches.
2: We picked the beaches based on a mix of personal experience and research on beaches that look cool and somewhat under-the-radar (at least for Americans).
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