Somewhere warmer for the winter?

I lived in Vera Playa, Southern Spain, for 2 years, moving there for the warmer climate when I retired. There is lots to do, lots of English people and they and the Spanish are very friendly,. A good way to make friends is the free Spanish language classes twice a week run by the council.

The link I will give is from the Naturist community as it gives good information, but we lived in one of the other developments. There are many near the beach and near Mojacar too, with lots of homes to rent.
www.veraplayafriends.com/index.php?page=11

The other place I made friends was at the local Weightwatchers group! They met one morning a week in a cafe by the beach in Mojacar and it was a social occasion as well as helping me lost the final pounds to goal

I came back to the UK because I missed my grandchild and then two more arrived and I help look after them.

Most of the activities in the post about winter in Spain are with clothes on

I did read that if you book over 35 days at New Dolmen in Malta, the flights are free so that is something to look at.
Be careful, we booked that hotel as it had been recommended to us but got sent somewhere else.
Don't just book it, Thomas Cook it. - I would ignore that advice! I can say no more.

What about doing house/pet sits? Free accommodation and just the air fare to pay. Would recommend NSW Oz : guaranteed wall to wall sun with the odd storm thrown in. Free 3 month visa

Albir . . near Benidorm is a fantastic retirement location.

Great public transport, good local shops cafes and bars. Many retired Norwegians and Brits.
Retiree activities.

Google it.

I would go in an instant!!

Good luck.

We were once about to book a week's all-inclusive holiday in February in Madiera when we discovered that two weeks were cheaper than one. There was a lady there who had booked for three months. We wondered is she'd paid even less than us!

I spent a few years living in France and one thing you do notice is that lots of ex-pats would like to 'go home' to the UK for Christmas and New Year. Why not see if the same applies to Spain and you could do a 'house swap' so that they are in the UK for Xmas etc. and you stay somewhere nice with only the cost of the flights?? Might only be Dec and Jan but maybe longer??

I heard/read about someone who lives all year back-to-back cruising! Apparently the service is second to none including food, entertainment, medical care etc. Some cruises are weeks long, so three or four back-to-back would cover the cold weather here....if you can afford it.

It could be a bit nippy in the Med in the winter - some days could be lovely but there could be a perishing wind.
Take something warm if you decide on Malta (the layered look plus light mac).

At a certain age, andif you do not speak several languages already, do not underestimate this.

So Malta would be perfect for those who want to be able to communicate in English (there is even a M&S in Valetta).

It would be a no for me however, because of thebird shooting and trapping.

Marmight

It would be a no for me however, because of thebird shooting and trapping.
Yes! How are they still allowed to do this?

Go and do it....Tenerife is good in winter....we had planned we would head off to the sun for a couple of months in the winter but husband's disability has stopped that plan...so don't put it off....yes do as cheap as you feel comfortable with...Spain, South of France what an adventure

Costa del sol is lovery and warm for a winter break fuengirola is a good place lots nice walks shops great train service and buses too we go in January and always warm and sunny

If you like somewhere quieter than the usual Spanish places, how about Menorca > We lived there until my husband decided it was too hot in summer and we moved to France ! I loved it there ......look on the website of Bonnin Sanso, or Idealista Menorca for an idea of rental prices, Pretty affordable in winter, summer can be dearer of course ! There are few long term rentals but they do come up and you can get a 1 bed apartment inland (well, almost nowhere is more than 12km inland ! the towns of Mahon, Alayor, Ciutadella and Mercadal have regular all year bus services to both town and beach ....to the beach resorts these tend to start at Easter and end on 31 October ...but towns are served all year. In summer it is busy on the coast, but fortunately not as noisy as mainland Spain .....it is a beautiful island and I would go back in the blink of an eye. Like anywhere in Europe at the moment, you can still get health cover via an S1 form once you are drawing a state pension, and most countries require evidence that you will be self supporting, and not, as they put it 'become a burden on the state'......private health insurance otherwise, which can be very expensive but you can get an idea online from various insurance company details .........Another place I would love to relocate to isCrete.....adore the island ! There are forums online for both Menorca and Crete ....also Eye on Spain has private rentals ...some long term ! there are language classes, but you could also entrol in night school in the UK before you go (I did) .....or online courses are fun ! with Brexit no one knows quite what will happen of course, although the UK has guaranteed health access, this is for current retirees and the 27 have yet to agree as to what their residency requirements will be (here in France we pay a top up insurance called a Mutuelle monthly payments depending on age .....in Spain increasingly they are asking for private insurance....but all this stuff can be read online if you google 'Living in ........' really informative ! Good luck

Wintersday go have a good time but please don't switch everything off, keep your heating on for a few hours at night so your pipes don't freeze, otherwise it could end up a very expensive holiday.

I've lived in Cyprus (Paphos) for over 20 years. All my visitors from UK choose to come over in the autumn/winter months as it's quite a lot warmer than UK. We do get cold (to us) weather in Jan/Feb with temps sometimes down to about 12C through the day but still lots of sunshine.

We travelled by ferry around Greek Islands for 3 months, over winter staying on Crete, Rhodes, Symi, and Kos. Lots of expats living on the islands, and although much holiday stuff closed, was quieter and suited us fine. Self catering rooms cheap, and although not always warm could sea swim a lot of the time.

Go to the canaries. Flights are frequent and great value if you are not tied to particular dates, weather is fabulous, food and drink very affordable. Places like fuerteventura have great bus service so getting about is easy and cheap. We find cheap flights with ryanair/thomsoms/ jet 2 and look for places to stay on skyscanner or local island fb sites etc. The weather on Fuerteventura and Lancaster are very good in winter months have had days of 30 degrees in December

Lanzarote not Lancaster

I have a cousin living in Valencia and that is where my husband and I are going to live.

Do be careful about the timing- 90 days is the maximum time you can be out of UK for tax purposes, etc.

Remember to look into health insurance and the situation regarding taxes, with Brexit looming you will sooner or later have to pay all your doctor's bills abroad yourself, you know.

We have friends here who live here (France) for the summer months, and have a house in Florida, where they go for the winter.
But this winter they've had some extremes of weather eg just missed the edge of a hurricane in ?Oct. and lately some extremely cold weather. Plus they're not happy about the £/$ exchange rate.

Thank you everyone for your replies. I have made some notes and I am going to investigate the different places.

Glad I came across this forum, it is a breath of fresh air - thanks again and very best wishes.