Retiring to Thailand: Where to Settle, and Whether to Buy or Rent

Retiring to Thailand sounds like one big decision. In practice it breaks down into smaller ones: how much of the year you will spend there, which town, which street, which floor, and what happens to the flat when you fly home to see the grandchildren. This article covers the practical side: how retirees arrange the year, how to choose a place that suits you as you get older, and whether to buy or rent first.

It is not a visa guide or insurance advice. You will find no ages, income thresholds or prices here, because they change. Where those questions come up, we say what to ask and whom to ask.

A year in two places, or one

Few of the retirees we meet sell up and move for good straight away. Most begin by escaping the northern winter: they arrive in the autumn, spend the cold months by a warm sea and go home for spring, family events and summer. Some later stay for most of the year and travel back for visits, but that usually comes after a few winters of trying it out.

That rhythm shapes everything else. You need a home you can lock up and leave without worrying, someone to air it while you are away, and a routine you can pick up again each winter. The season matters too. The European winter falls in the more comfortable months in Pattaya and on Phuket's west coast, which is exactly why tourists come then as well, so towns are busy. If you are weighing up a winter base specifically, our article on wintering in Pattaya goes into it.

Where retirees settle: Pattaya, Hua Hin, Phuket

In Pattaya, many retirees start in Jomtien: a long, flat beachfront promenade for a morning walk, markets and cafés, and a mixed crowd that includes plenty of European pensioners who come for the winter. Those who prefer greenery and quiet look at Pratumnak, which sits between Jomtien and central Pattaya. Remember it is a hill: some streets climb and fall, and fewer services are right on the doorstep. What a normal week in each area feels like is covered in living in Pattaya as an expat.

Hua Hin suits those who want an even slower pace. It is the beach town where Thais themselves go on holiday, with a long beach, a night market, golf courses and a calmer mood than Pattaya. Our guide to Hua Hin for property buyers compares the two.

Phuket offers more nature and island life, but it is spread out, and in some areas daily life is hard without a car. Retirees there tend to look at the parts of the island with a settled year-round community rather than the busiest beaches; Bang Tao, Kamala or Rawai sets out how three popular areas differ. Wherever you look, drive from the building to the hospital and the supermarket at a busy time of day before deciding, rather than trusting the map.

Healthcare: what to find out before choosing a street

When you are young you choose an area for the beach and the restaurants. In retirement the order turns around, and a few questions matter more than the view:

• How long it takes to get from the flat to the nearest hospital, and by which road. Larger cities and tourist areas have private hospitals used to treating foreigners, but the journey varies a great deal from one neighbourhood to the next.
• Whether you can do the daily round on foot: supermarket, pharmacy, café, a place to walk. And whether there is a pavement. Some streets have none worth the name, and in the heat and humidity even a short stretch can be tiring.
• Whether your regular medicines are available locally, under which names, and whether you will need a local doctor to prescribe them.
• How noisy it is at night. A lively street that feels fun on holiday soon becomes a nuisance when you live on it for months.

Health insurance is the question retirees tend to put off, and it is worth tackling before you buy. Find out what your current cover includes when you are abroad for months rather than weeks, whether existing conditions are excluded, and whether an international or a local policy makes more sense. Terms differ between insurers and change with age, so compare offers in writing. Ask, too, how a long stay abroad affects your healthcare and pension arrangements at home; that is a question for the relevant authority or an adviser in your own country. Before you travel, put together a medical file with your list of medicines and a letter from your doctor.

A home that will still suit you later

A retirement flat is judged on details you would never notice on holiday. Check these before you look at the view:

• Reliable lifts, ideally more than one, so a breakdown does not leave you stranded on a high floor. Ask what happens in a power cut.
• The floor: high enough to escape street noise and damp, low enough that you do not depend on the lift every time you go out.
• Step-free access from the street to your front door, including to the car park and the pool.
• A level-access shower rather than a high bath, and room to fit grab rails by the shower and the toilet.
• A bedroom that does not face a main road, and air conditioning quiet enough to run at night.
• A lobby with a guard or reception, so someone knows who lives in the building and when you are away.

Then the question many retirees only face later: one bedroom or two? A one-bedroom flat is easier to look after and to lock up when you leave. But once the family visits over Christmas, or one of you needs to sleep separately on a bad night, the second room earns its keep. Thai listings count bedrooms only, not the living room. Projects with suitable layouts are collected under two-bedroom condos in Pattaya.

Rent first: what one season teaches you

Our advice to retirees is simple. If you have not yet spent a whole winter in the town you have chosen, rent there for a season before you buy. You will find out how long the drive to the hospital really takes, whether the night-time noise bothers you and which street starts to feel like home. A renter who chose wrongly moves round the corner; an owner has to sell.

Renting also tests the practical side of a year in two places: who looks after the flat while you are away and how you pay the bills from abroad.

When buying makes sense, and what to settle first

Buying makes sense once you know the town, the area and roughly how many months a year you will spend there. Decide before you buy whether the flat is purely your home or should also be let while you are away. A home for yourself can be quiet and full of your own things. A flat meant to earn something while you are absent needs to be in an area renters want, easy to turn round and ready for the next guest. Short-term letting is governed by Thai law and by each building's rules, and not every building allows it, so check with a lawyer before signing. The practical side is covered in renting out and managing your property, and the running costs that continue while the flat stands empty are listed in ongoing costs of owning a condo or villa.

One thing to know from the start: owning a flat does not by itself give you the right to live in Thailand. There are visa routes aimed at retirees, but their conditions change, and what applied to a friend some years ago may not apply today. The routes property owners usually consider, and the questions to put to a lawyer, are in our guide to visas for property owners. Check the current conditions with the Thai embassy in your country or an immigration lawyer before you plan the year.

When you are ready, tell a ROMA ThaiProperty manager what your rented season taught you. They will draw up a shortlist from the catalogue, check lifts, floors and access with the developer, and explain what to ask your lawyer.