Retiring on the Turkish Riviera Changed Everything
By Randal K. Walker | Created on 1st March 2026
Moving from the U.S. to the Turkish Riviera changed everything we thought we knew about living well.
Our life in the U.S. was quite nice. We were retired and living on a small, upscale island on Washington’s Puget Sound with a fabulous water view. So then what beckoned us to look elsewhere? Was it the dreary winter weather? Was it the high property taxes and cost of living? Was it the worsening political divide?
Yes, yes, and yes. Plus a dash of wanderlust, I must admit.
How Turkey Landed on Our Radar
And so began a fun and exciting armchair investigation on a global scale. After ruling out the usual retirement destinations, Turkey appeared on our radar quite unexpectedly. My wife knows parts of Asia, and I had previously visited Mexico, Costa Rica, and several European countries, but I had never even considered visiting Turkey. We decided we owed ourselves a firsthand look. So we boarded a Turkish Airlines flight and, 12 hours later, landed in Istanbul. That was our exploratory visit and, needless to say, we made the decision to retire not in Istanbul but on the Turkish Riviera.
Fast Forward Two and a Half Years
Fast forward about two and a half years, skipping enough blog-worthy experiences to write a book about, and here we are at the end of our first year in residence. The biggest change is our home (they call single-family detached homes “villas” here). We have a much nicer home here. It’s brand new, has five bedrooms, five and a half bathrooms, a swimming pool, and an incredible view of the Aegean Sea…for half the price we sold our U.S. home for. And our property taxes here are zero!
I will itemize price differences in another blog, but I will say that while some things here cost more, the overall cost of living is much lower than in the U.S. Our Social Security income covers our total monthly expenses.
What Living Well Really Means
Living well isn’t just about what you own or what you can buy; it’s also the way you feel, day in and day out. Imagine living in a place so utterly gorgeous that every day, multiple times a day, you look around and say, “wow!”
Imagine living in a place with 300 days of sunshine and nearly that many days with high temperatures above 68F.
Imagine living in a place that has over 120,000 registered historical and archaeological sites dating as far back as 12,000 years ago; 7,000 of those sites are within a day’s drive from our front door.
Imagine living in a place where you can visit 15 Greek islands by ferry.
Imagine living in a place known for outstanding food quality and flavor. Turkey’s geography (Mediterranean, Aegean, Black Sea, Anatolia) gives it an unusually diverse food supply. Fruits and vegetables are grown locally and sold fresh daily. With long coastlines, Turkey has access to fresh fish delivered daily. The country emphasizes free-range livestock and local sourcing. Local butchers prepare meat using generational craft methods rather than industrial processing. And there seems to be a local bakery on every block.
Imagine living in a place with an international airport (Istanbul’s IST) ranked #1 in the world according to Travel + Leisure’s 2025 list. And imagine that airport can get you to about 65 major European cities within 2 1/2 hours!
And Then There’s the Feeling
And again, imagine living in a place that makes you say “wow!” several times a day, every day.
From his villa overlooking the Aegean Sea, Randal writes about retirement in Turkey, including its Citizenship by Investment Program. Might he return to the United States? He responds emphatically: "Bodrum is home now.”
