I find that very hard to believe. I wouldn't post my view of you.
It sounds to me like you're going about it the right way. You have a few years to go to retirement and this will give you time to try out a few different places for a couple of weeks during off season and decide which suits you best.
I suggest you try the Canaries, mainland Spain and the Algarve over the next few years. My own preference is the Algarve, because I have always been made to feel so welcome there, both in high season and off season. And English is fairly universally spoken in the Algarve, so language should not be a problem.
In Los Cristionas the walks are amazing, promenade about 4 miles long to walk. Also hill walking and groups of people who walk together. We are called 'swallows' we depart for the Summer. Exercise classes, language classes, bridge for all levels, dinner clubs, who meet on an arranged night each week and many more activities. People are very helpful to each other, you will find contacts to help with odd jobs too and of course you help.
Browtal
Posters seem to have forgotten that the OP only wants to be in a english or french speaking area.
While ther are many english speaking ex pats and tourists in the holiday areas of spain and portugal the main language is not english.
Browtal. Are you the friendly outgoing, club joining, exercises and language classes etc type of person when you are in Ireland. Or does this state of being come over you when you are abroad?
Did you meet these people in your apartment complex or see some advert in an ex pats newspaper, turned up and took in from there?
Yes I am outgoing at home. I am a club person with lots of interests and involvements. If you are not outgoing here you will, as the other ABM person says revert to type. Yo will not be comfortable out of your skin.
What do you like to de here. What would yu do here when you retire?
I am constantly doing classes about anything of interest. I also enjoy quiet time like painting, always rubbish, but I enjoy the mixing of colour. I have done such a variety of subjects and worked in four different professional fields in my lifetime, I embrace change. Lots of people just go to the pub. That is the only area that I dont get involved in too much. Boules are very popular in the sun too. The choice is endless but if you dont do much in your spare time here - not much changes.
We have a network of friends from Ireland and England in Tenerife, who go out the same time of year.
You meet people at every turn in the same situation. In the restaurants, sitting near you, you talk about somewhere nice you have eaten and you arrange to meet, everybody shares the bill, somepeople pay their own separately, anything goes in this area. You cannot be paying for others when you are eating out regularly. You meet or see each other again and then you talk about something you are doing in the apartment, and you invite them to see it and there you might develop a friendship or not, a €6 bottle of wine goes a long way. If you are more reserved joining classes etc. will be an easier way to meet people.
Depending on the apartment block you buy into you will make some friends, not everybody you will want as your friend, not will they want you. My husband was in hospital for 6 weeks, the apartment neighbours were wonderful to me.
Best of luck. Browtal
I'm joining in this discussion because I ,too, am interested in spending months away during the Winter- though I'd probably go and back and forwards to ireland ,so cheap flight availability is important-which rules out Greece,Cyprus, Turkey.
Reading the above posts and having lived 15 years in Europe, mainly the Med,especially Greece I'm torn between renting in c.del Sol and Fr Riviera. Each place has pros and cons...
I can get by in a few languages (boast boast. mind you, never managed Irish as never found anyone who speaks better Irish than English) . If I didnt know the language I'd be reuctant to live long in a country. I'm too old to learn another one.
Knowing the language enhances the enjoyment of a long stay anywhere.
So,OP, if you're fluent in french that must be very important .
Nice can be much cooler and wetter than Malaga in Winter.
On some days it's as cool and wet in Nice as Dublin. Actually, Dublin's milder than most of Europe i Winter -and that includes the interior of some of Med countries. Twenty miles behind the coast in the Med up in the hills can be very chilly in Winter .
So, for weather it's Malaga area -and apartment rentals are nearly half the price of Nice.
But then ,Nice is so close by train and car to so many more places than rather stuck-out Malaga. Malaga does have great cities nearby but for choice and variety of places to visit Nice is a great base. If you want to explore Southern France ,northern Italy, switzerland then you're only a few hours away.
So,because of your knowledge of French and interesting exploring it must be Nice for OP.
But because of better weather and much cheaper accommodation it must be Malaga.
Whatever you do don't spend the Winter in some "quaint" village up in the hills of Provence,Andalucia, Tuscany or Crete. They can be miserable, cold dead holes in the depths of Winter. Stay close to cities unless you're going to much warmer Canaries.
Finally, having mulled over Malaga and Nice, Browtall's winter nest in the warmer Canaries is looking more appealing than I'd imagined !!,
Anyone any experience of winters in Sicily?
Would you consider Morocco?
English and French spoken widely, mild winters, cheap rent.
Can fly to Marbella and get the ferry across if flights to Tangiers etc. are not frequent enough.
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