About half-way from East Coast to West Coast, you’ll find Winnipeg, Manitoba.
The biggest city and capital of Manitoba, Winnipeg is also one of Canada’s top retirement destinations. Whether you’re looking for great culture, sports, food, recreation, an affordable cost of living, or great senior housing options, Winnipeg is worth checking out. Here are the top reasons you should consider the city on the Red River when you’re thinking about your retirement options.
1 Great Senior Housing Options
As a city with over 800,000 residents, many of them seniors, there are plenty of senior housing options ranging from independent senior living communities to assisted living. As a family, if you’re looking for assisted living options for your loved ones, there are a few things you want to look for:
Availability of memory care, including care staff who are trained to work with adults suffering from Alzheimer’s and dementia.
Transportation assistance to medical appointments and services.
Private suites and a family-friendly environment.
Therapeutic group exercises offered at the residence.
A safe, warm, and comfortable environment.
Don’t be afraid to take your time and do research. The move into assisted living for seniors is a big one and should be made as a family,
2 Outdoor Activities in All Seasons
If you live here, you already know: Winnipeg is a winter city. That doesn’t just mean winters are long, cold, and snowy. A lot of seniors worry about the severity of the season if they haven’t lived here before. But Winnipeg also happens to be one of the sunniest places in Canada, cold or not. There is plenty to do on a bright winter day, including skating trails complete with warming huts and winter festivals that can rival the best of the city’s summer entertainment.
There are plenty of ways to get involved with sports and recreation in the city, including golf, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, and more.
On top of all that, the city is home to huge amounts of green space that are great for walking, tai chi, and fitness clubs for seniors that can help you stay active and limber. While Vancouver may get all the credit as a hub for outdoor lovers, with the banks of the Red River and a wealth of natural assets, Winnipeg offers plenty of all-season activities – and a much lower cost of living.
3 A Rich Cultural Life
Winnipeg offers a rich cultural scene with a wealth of museums, concert halls, and theatre. Some of Winnipeg’s top cultural destinations include the Winnipeg Art Gallery, the Centennial Concert Hall, Seven Oaks Museum, the Museum of Human Civilization, the Royal Manitoba Museum, and many, many more. There’s always something to do in Winnipeg.
In addition to the arts, there’s also plenty to eat. The culinary scene punches above its weight, according to food critic Dan Clapson, and experiments with both regional ingredients (like Birch syrup) and lesser-known international ingredients. Markets like The Forks are one-of-a-kind in the country.
Get to know Winnipeg. Learn more about your retirement options in one of Canada’s top retirement destinations.
Amsterdam, Netherlands, – Online travel specialists, TravelBird, have released their annual Beach Price Index, featuring more than 300 seaside locations from 70 countries around the globe. On a year-to-year basis, the price of holiday beaches can change substantially when you take into account factors such as currency fluctuation and inflation. As a company which prides itself on inspiring travelers, TravelBird ranked the beaches in order to provide holidaymakers with the information they need to make a smart decision when booking.
TravelBird first examined an extensive catalogue of the world’s most popular beaches, before reducing this to a final shortlist of just over 300 locations, ranked on the cost of spending a day at each. To calculate their affordability, the price of five essentials were then researched for each destination: the cost of a bottle of sun cream (200 ml), a bottle of water (500 ml), a beer (33 cl bottle), lunch (including drink and dessert for one person), and an ice cream. The sum of these five essentials determined the final affordability ranking of each seaside location. All prices were calculated by standardizing the sizes of products, and with monetary transactions true to exchange rates on 1st June 2017.
“It is very interesting for travelers who are planning their trip to see how much the price of spending a day at the beach varies across the world. There are many useful tips in here. One to easily forget, currency fluctuations can make a big difference in the actual cost of your holiday, so keep those in mind. For example, beaches in the UK have become almost 10% more affordable for continental European visitors due to the decline of the pound after the Brexit referendum.” Said TravelBird CEO Steven Klooster. “Also, if you are keen on enjoying local food on the beach, pick Vietnam for instance, where you can enjoy delicious local food on the beach that is very affordable. Another one: in some places you pay a lot for sunscreen, up to 3 times more than you would pay in The Netherlands, so make sure you take some with you!“
The study reveals the 10 most expensive beaches are:
#
Beach
Country
Sunscreen
Water
Beer
Ice-cream
Lunch
Total (USD)
1
Kristiansand Beach
Norway
$21.58
$2.65
$8.48
$4.53
$27.37
$64.61
2
Huk Beach
Norway
$20.67
$2.97
$8.83
$5.09
$24.38
$61.94
3
Solastranda
Norway
$20.14
$2.83
$7.63
$4.71
$25.02
$60.33
4
Mareto Plage Publique
French Polynesia
$21.96
$2.01
$7.30
$3.99
$23.43
$58.69
5
La Plage de Maui
French Polynesia
$20.88
$2.01
$7.49
$3.53
$24.49
$58.40
6
Åkrasanden
Norway
$22.26
$2.57
$8.47
$4.24
$20.44
$57.98
7
Hamresanden
Norway
$22.97
$2.39
$7.42
$4.35
$20.01
$57.14
8
Ribersborg Beach
Sweden
$17.38
$2.12
$6.79
$3.31
$25.73
$55.33
9
Anse Vata
New Caledonia
$15.33
$1.82
$7.42
$2.28
$28.29
$55.14
10
Anse Georgette
Seychelles
$26.63
$0.94
$6.89
$1.24
$17.66
$53.36
In contrast, the study reveals the 10 most affordable beaches are:
4 Canadian beaches appear in the Index, with the following results:
#
Beach
Region
Sunscreen
Water
Beer
Ice-cream
Lunch
Total (USD)
118
Grand Beach
Manitoba
$9.15
$1.61
$3.59
$2.89
$20.90
$38.14
121
Brady’s Beach
British Columbia
$9.28
$1.74
$3.65
$3.00
$20.00
$37.67
136
Wasaga Beach
Ontario
$9.15
$1.70
$3.59
$3.38
$19.08
$36.90
149
Parlee Beach
New Brunswick
$8.87
$1.66
$3.57
$2.95
$18.87
$35.92
Other findings from the study include:
Sun cream is most expensive when bought from beaches in The Seychelles, costing $26.63 for a 200ml bottle. In comparison, Cua Dai Beach in Vietnam has the world’s least expensive sun cream, costing just $1.95 per bottle.
The seaside location with the most expensive bottle of water is Huk Beach in Norway, costing $2.97 for a 500ml bottle. The beach with the least expensive bottle of water is Sunken City in Egypt, where the same sized bottle costs just $0.20.
The beach with the most expensive beer globally is Huk Beach in Norway, where a 33cl bottle costs $8.83. In contrast, Soma Bay in Egypt is the seaside destination with the least expensive beer, available for just $0.63.
Norway’s Huk Beach also has the world’s most expensive ice creams, at $5.09 each. Egypt’s El Gouna is the beach with the least expensive ice creams in the world, costing just $0.52.
West Palm Beach in the American state of Florida has the world’s most expensive seaside lunch, costing $28.61 for one person. Egypt’s El Gouna is the beach with the most affordable lunches, available for just $5.63.
About our friends at TravelBird: TravelBird is an online travel company offering a curated collection of holiday and travel experiences – from short inspirational breaks to international get-aways. TravelBird’s passionate local travel advisors work directly with tour operators across the world to offer a selection of travel experiences that invite travellers to discover something new and immerse themselves in different cultures. For more information, please visit: https://travelbird.nl
Methodology:
The study has 310 of the most visited beaches in 70 countries based on local tourism board numbers and data from the UNWTO.
Total Price = $ Sunscreen + $ Water + $ Beer + $ Ice-cream +$ Lunch
Sunscreen costs calculated by taking an average cost from a store in local resort/hotel, a hostel and local pharmacy or supermarket (all where available). We searched for SPF 30, 200 ml.
Lunch costs calculated by taking full meal cost, including a drink and dessert, for one person from a walking distance of maximum 10 minutes from the beach or the closest establishments to it (largely within tourist areas), outlets include hotels and restaurants.
Beer costs were calculated by taking an average of the biggest local beer brand along with the retail cost of Heineken, Budweiser, Becks, Guinness and Fosters at local prices, where available. Where sizes were not available, calculations were undertaken to make serving sizes equal.
Water calculations were found by taking the three largest local brands and calculating an average of these.
Ice-cream costs calculated by taking an average prepackaged branded ice-cream price in the capital city of each country and applying consumer produce cost differences to each area, where applicable. For the Silo, Ricky Sutton.
Featured image- Wasaga Beach, Ontario courtesy of expedia.com