Many people like to go on vacation on an island but what they don’t know is they can actually get an island for an affordable price. That’s right!
Follow this till the end and find out the most affordable Caribbean islands you can get for a relatively cheap price. You can start renting out to tourists afterward, making a steady income from it.
Ambergris Caye, Belize
This natural wonderland of living coral supports a dizzying array of marine life, and itâs the main reason Ambergris has seen its recent (and significant) growth.
Expats give up little living on Ambergris Caye. Power, water, cell phone coverage, and the internet are reliableâŠand you can buy most necessities for daily living on the island.
Regular water taxis and flights make it easy to take a quick shopping trip in Belize City, or Chetumal, Mexico. The selection of quality restaurants and bars is constantly expanding.
For between $2,700 and $2,900 per month, a couple can enjoy a comfortable retirement in Ambergris Cayeâa budget that includes the cost of a house or apartment rental. If you own your own home on the island outright, then expats report itâs possible for a couple to live quite comfortably on less than $2,000 a month.
Ambergris Caye is no longer a sleepy little Caribbean island hide away. But for expats who prefer to live in an active community that offers both convenience and the natural beauty of the surrounding Caribbean Sea, it has much to offer.
RoatĂĄn, Honduras
The beaches here are quiet and pristine. Life is laidback, lived in rhythm with the sun and the surf. No big-name resorts. No âspring breakâ strips. No high-rise developments. This is the old-school CaribbeanâŠthough fitted out with modern conveniencesâŠ
For less than $175,000, you could have a two-bedroom Caribbean home right on the water in a quiet neighborhood with no touristsâyour own private getaway. If you stayed just part of the year, you could rent your place out to help cover your holding costs.
This is an island where ânormalâ people can buy a vacation home or permanent digs to live out their sunny, low-cost, and comfortable retirement. The infrastructure is good and getting better all the time, with a new power plant online and the recent opening of a hospital with specialist care and a 24-hour emergency room.
Life on an island is often more expensive than mainland livingâalmost everything has to be imported, after all. But relative to the rest of the Caribbean, RoatĂĄn offers excellent value. The monthly cost of living for a couple, including rent, is $2,000 to $2,500.
Isla Mujeres, Mexico
Clear, azure waters and white-sand beaches are never far away, and the cost of living is far lower than a similar lifestyle would cost back in the States. You can own a one-bedroom, two-bathroom penthouse condo with a view from $230,000 or rent a one-bedroom place for $700 to $1000 a month, according to local expats.
When it was time to retire back in 2008, Lawrie Lock and his wife Lynda drove from their long-time home in Canadaâs Okanagan Valley to Isla Mujeres.
The island enjoys a warm tropical climate (low to mid-80s F for most of the year) and a laidback vibe; golf carts are preferred to cars as the main means of transport.
A couple can live a very nice life on Isla Mujeres for around $36,000 a year, or $2,500-$3,000 a month, including rent.
Las Terrenas, Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic has great weather and world-class beaches, not to mention a low cost of living and a stable governmentâplus it’s just three-and-a-half hours from New York, which means you can leave the city in the morning and be on the beach for lunch.
The north coast of the island has some of the finest beaches in the Caribbean, the east coast is a sportsmanâs paradise with some of the newest designer golf courses in the region.
If youâre looking for a low-key getaway but with all the conveniences of home, youâll find the town of Las Terrenas offers excellent values with its combination of beautiful beaches, a small-town feel, chic style, and relatively affordable property. Thirty years ago, it was a rustic fishing village. Twenty-four years ago, the town didnât have an electricity supply. But an influx of 6,000 French and Italians, who loved this place so much they decided to settle here, changed the face of the town.
Today, the town center is a whirl of motorcoaches (motorcycle taxis), stores, and cafĂ©s painted rainbow-bright. The original old wooden homes sitting on the beach are now trendy cafĂ©s and restaurants. Theyâre family-run, serving wood-fired pizza and simple snacks, right up to gourmet Italian and French food.
This isnât all-inclusive resort territory, and thanks to strict planning laws it should stay that way. The beach hotels here are small and family-run rather than sprawling, faceless chains.
The beaches around Las Terrenas are some of the most pristine in the Dominican Republic. The most incredible thing about it, though, is the real estate prices. A one-bedroom, one-bathroom loft apartment can be had for as little as $99,500. Â A couple can live in this tropical haven for around $2,000 a month, although most choose to spend closer to $3,000 a month.
Isla ColĂłn, Panama
Not many people know that Panama has its own tropical archipelagos. Set on the Caribbean coast, close to the border with Costa Rica, Bocas del Toro is a group of nine main islands and a few hundred smaller cayos and islets, dotting calm turquoise waters.
The main hub is bustling Bocas Town, on the large island of Isla Colon. Itâs a ramshackle seaside town of brightly painted buildingsâmany on stilts over the water. Itâs the home base for most visitors and where the majority of expats live.
Bocas, as it is known, is all about water. Water sports, fishing, and whale watching are just some of the popular pastimes for locals. The small city is tourist-driven but with a laid-back feel.
Depending on the lifestyle expats choose, a couple can live here on as little as $16,800 a year, or $1,400 a month, renting a simple, snug, island-style home. Bocas is home to a great deal of untitled or right of possession (ROP) property. Itâs best to rent and familiarize yourself with the unique landscape before contemplating a property purchase here.
You get to the outlying islands or isolated sections of the larger ones by boat referred to as water taxis. Many of the islands are uninhabited or perhaps home to just a tiny village or small hotel. Much of Bocas del Toro is classified as a national park or reserve land and is thus protected from development
