10 Safe (and Cheap!) Beach Cities in South America | Best Places to Retire
Video Overview & Insights
Living in South America means choosing wisely — and many "best beach cities" lists will get you killed, broke, or both. Not this one.
I like it, I like it a lot.
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In this video, we rank the 10 best safe beach cities across the continent using a rigorous 40-point scoring system covering Safety, Cost of Living, Quality of Life, and Infrastructure — so you get real data, not vacation opinions.
The water at vina del mar is freezing.
If you're exploring South America expat life, planning to retire in South America, or building your life as a digital nomad in South America, this guide cuts through the noise.
We cover affordable beach towns you've probably never considered alongside the well-known ones — from Manta, Ecuador, to Encarnación, in Paraguay.
Viña del Mar is OK. The nights can be a bit cold there even mid summer. And there is a very realistic danger of megathrust earthquakes. Same with all the other places on Chile coast.
Uruguay coast would be my top choice.
You'll see why Florianopolis scores the highest quality of life on the list, why Punta del Este Uruguay delivers world-class safety at a premium price, and why Vina del Mar Chile claims the number one spot.
We also break down La Serena, Chile, Mar del Plata, Argentina, and Maldonado, Uruguay as strong affordable places to retire.
OMGH these cities are awful ! horrible places, that's why are “cheap”.
If you're looking for safe beach cities with a low cost of living and real infrastructure, watch this.
Videos mentioned:
Big Cities Europe
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This video is based on this article: https://expatriateconsultancy.com/best-mild-climate-cities-to-retire-in-south-america/
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Balneário Camboriú in brazil is the best
💡 TOPICS IN THIS VIDEO 💡
Beach Cities, Safe beach cities, Cheap beach cities, South America, Living in South America, Retire in South America, South America expat life, Best beach towns, Cheap places to live, Low cost of living, Digital nomad South America, Cheapest places to live, Affordable beach towns, Best expat destinations, Affordable places to retire, Living in Chile, Living in Uruguay, Living in Brazil, Living in Argentina, Living in Ecuador, Manta Ecuador expat, Mar del Plata Argentina, Encarnacion Paraguay expat, La Serena Chile, Florianopolis Brazil expat, Punta del Este Uruguay, South America travel guide, Safe coastal cities, Vina del Mar Chile, Best places to retire
uruguay surely cant be anywhere near the top places in safety nor anything else in south america
#southamerica #southamericatravel #movingabroad
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I went to PV in 2024 while I was in escrow on my house. It was snowing where I was so it seemed like a no-brainer for $230 round-trip ticket with check bags… I've never seen so many gay couple in my life, men and women lol it was kind of crazy
If you type "best beach cities in South America" into Google, you will see the same recycled, dangerous list
Rio de Janeiro. Cartagena. Maybe Puerto Vallarta, which is not even in South America.
It looks like there are no airports in Valparaíso that connect to SCL, so it's a 2 hour car ride. Not sure if you mentioned that or not.
They’re beautiful, but beautiful doesn’t mean livable — and it definitely doesn’t mean safe.
I spent 24 years across this continent — Atlantic coast to the Pacific. I know where people go wrong, and I know where the real opportunities are.
10. Manta, Ecuador
9. Pinamar, Argentina
8. Mar del Plata, Argentina
7. Encarnacion, Paraguay
6. La Serena, Chile
5. Florianopolis, Brazil
4. Punta del Este, Uruguay
3. Concon, Chile
2. Maldonado, Uruguay
1. Vina del Mar, Chile
If you're tired of the rat race, tired of paying three thousand dollars a month for a decent apartment, or just done with the winters
I made this video for you.
Con Con is really nice and i walked all over the hills with no problems.
Had a bad incident with one staff member at a seafood restaurant some do not like gringo's.
Valparis is not safe IMO
The number one city on this list is not in Brazil. Not in Argentina.
Honestly, when you see the full picture — the safety, infrastructure — it makes complete sense.
What abouit Iqueque? I know it is small, but the water is noticeably warmer and tolerable in the Summer unlike Concon, Vina Del Mar, and La Serena. It also has massive sand dunes for recreation...I suspect it is pretty cheap too...maybe not so safe though.
There's also a city on this list where you can rent a furnished apartment with a pool for under four hundred dollars a month.
Four hundred.
Argentina is the most racist country in Latin America and they needed 40,000,000 of Americans money to bail them out 🤨
And it's actually safe.
Let’s start with a place most people completely overlook.
Not one in the nation with the longest shoreline to the Caribbean. The Socialist Despots totally destroyed the area as a viable beachtown option in what would otherwise be a top choice in South America.
The Criteria
This list is different from the others you find on YouTube.
Blabla...By Definition there is No Safe City in south America
Most of them are just ranking places they liked on vacation, which tells you nothing useful if you're planning to actually live there.
So here's what I did instead.
Argentina and Suriname..according to your map are the safest..
I built a 40-point scoring system across four categories: Safety, Cost of Living, Quality of Life, and Infrastructure. Each one scored from 0 to 10.
Safety isn't just one of four categories, though. It's the tiebreaker. Two cities with the same total score? The safer one ranks higher. Because a low cost of living means nothing if you're afraid to walk to the grocery store.
Beach Cities Europe
Infrastructure is where most lists completely fall apart. I'm looking at private hospitals, airport access, and internet reliability. If you get sick somewhere with no real hospital and no flight out, that's not a city. That's a gamble.
South America is not safe. Southern Asia is safe, has the best beaches, warm water and is far cheaper than Latin America. The Philiippines and Thailand especially have so many options. There is simply no competition. And not even mentioning the food.
More User Perspectives
Europe ? I would like to see a list of the 10 most comfortable craters to curl up in on the dark side of the moon
@petercarroll2323I call B'S on this one
@RexPonder-y6bthe best beach in Argentina is Carilo; though it belongs to the Pinamar district, it's completely different, it's top of sophistication in Latin America, this is Carilo:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_JOCOy9UWU&t=68s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtNCE0gDk6o
I really loved Buenos Aires but my sister just came back from a visit.
She said it is not inexpensive now. I am wondering if Mar de Plata's food is as good as Buenos Aires, which I thought was superb.
Manta? Had to dodge bullets in a safe area, beside the shopping mall, twice in a year. Go to a nice restaurant and a cartel gang is sitting close, then storms in another gang and start shooting. I moved out!
@jaypee6872BEACH CITIES EUROPE
@RetirementReinventedI’m really beginning to treasure real human voices 😊. Gracias
@kristenp5835would be nice to have chapters on the play bar. thanks for the video
@lexsarrasin713Newly built apartments in Encarnacion are selling for $100,000 in the low end.
@mariadavis3797The ocean is freezing all along Argentina and Chile.
@mariadavis3797Couldn’t go into the ocean in Manta. A fisherman told me waters are totally contaminated by residues from fish factories.
@mariadavis3797High crime in Manta. They load the drugs ships that.
@mariadavis3797Chile true... water is cold
@rubicktdo89Thank you for including single budgets for some of these places. You may be surprised to learn how many over-60 single people there are.
@bm5906Viña del mar is awesome, but there is a big fire risk there
@TonySternadHabaneroMarketingManta Ecuador correction, mantas airport is International with daily flights to Panama. I can be in Miami through panama in a few hours. I live here.
@nomadicnerd-travelsWhy does no video mention Chile’s northernmost city of Arica?
@buhdahtoI was just in Manta. Somebody told me if you're not into drugs, politics or big money you're fine.
@macman9689retiring to Manta
@macman9689Beach front in Chile?😂 Thank you.
@Turand5395BC europe.
@hermspahnWhy is living by the beach such a big deal? Once you get to retirement age, how much time will you be spending there? You can live somewhere near the beach and go spend a day there now and again and save plenty of money.
@amywalker7515Beach cities Europe woild be great
@allrisk7319Very cool list. It's not one I've seen anywhere else on YouTube. After 60 years old, I personally would not consider any place that doesn't have close access to specialized medical care and major highly ranked hospitals. I'm not driving 4 hours or getting on a plane in order to get specialized care.
@CalipeixegatoBeach City Europe!
@markvios29Greetings from Uruguay 🇺🇾 !!!!!
@Danitriz-o2zBeach city Europe
@journey565