Living in Costa Rica Retirement Relocation Tours.

Palmares and San Ramón miss out on the Benefits of the New Highway to the Pacific Coast

After years of delays the new Carretera de Sol or costal highway is well under way. It will extend from the south side of the Sabana Park in San José to the Pacific Coast. A few weeks ago I went to the town of Orotina to observe the progress and was very impressed by what I saw.

Towns like Palmares and San Ramón will not benefit from the new highway.

When completed a trip to the Central Valley to the Pacific Coast will take less than an hour. It will be a hop, skip and jump to some of the best beaches in Costa Rica. The construction of this new thoroughfare will bring with it another boom to the towns along the way. Anyone owning property along or near the highway will reap the benefits of this improvement in Costa Rica’s infrastructure. The Orotina and Jaco Beach areas will be most immediately affected since they are directly in the path of progress. Hermosa, Esterillos, Parrita, Palo Seco, Quepos and points south will be the next to benefit.

Unfortunately, towns like Palmares and San Ramón will not benefit from the new highway and ensuing growth it will bring. These areas are out of the mainstream of growth because of their location. People who live in both areas will find still themselves at least an hour and a half or more from the best beaches in the Central Pacific and thus won’t benefit from the resultant growth the new highway will bring with it.

When it comes to retirement property it is best to always choose an area in the path of greatest growth for resale value. Location, location and Location. Actually, I just heard on the CBS Evening News that location, location and location is the most important factor in the survival rate of a major health crisis like a heart attack. According the the statistics, the closer you are to a major medical facility and good health care, the greater your chance of surviving a major health problem. Both San Ramón and Palmares are at least an hour away, provided there is no traffic, from the Costa Rica’s best private medical facilities. During a major medical crisis the first 10 to 20 minutes are crucial.

If you are of retirement age the availability of emergency health care should be a primary factor in determining where you are going to live.