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Lake Chapala vs Baja California


worldbestclimate

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I chose to live at the coast only because I am a beach person. I lived in La Paz aboard our boat on the way south from Wasington state. La Paz is in the desert. Cold mornings and really hot mid day. Cold nights. Weather in Chapala is a year round place you can live in Mexico. Guadalajara is not that far away. Some things you can not buy in small towns.

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Let me know why are you living around the lake...why you did not choose Baja California....or why you are not living in Puerto Vallarta....prices? lifestyle? why should I choose Ajijic to live...?

What are you looking for? Different strokes, you know, depending on your age, your finances, your idea of a good time and last, but not least.........what kind of climate?

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Let me know why are you living around the lake...why you did not choose Baja California....or why you are not living in Puerto Vallarta....prices? lifestyle? why should I choose Ajijic to live...?

You're kidding, aren't you? Worlds apart, for sure, in culture, climate, resources, ambiance, etc. Visit all those places in August & September for a comparison.

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Baja is beautiful but it gets very hot in the summer and can be pretty stormy and windy at times in the winter.

We live here because of the (1), climate; (2), lifestyle; (3), proximity to the resources of a major city including air travel; (4), a great base to explore Mexico from.

My brother lives in San Clemente. As good as the climate is there, it can't hold a candle to this one IMO. And the cost of living--yikes!

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Baja is beautiful but it gets very hot in the summer and can be pretty stormy and windy at times in the winter.

We live here because of the (1), climate; (2), lifestyle; (3), proximity to the resources of a major city including air travel; (4), a great base to explore Mexico from.

My brother lives in San Clemente. As good as the climate is there, it can't hold a candle to this one IMO. And the cost of living--yikes!

We lived in the Baja for a year, right on the beach just south of Ensenada ( Punta Banda ) Very cold, very corrosive and somewhat pricey. The weather in Chapala is much nicer. We live in Chapala now and are happy campers

Regards

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Which Baja California?

Here are some of my thoughts...

Northern Baja can be cold and closer to the border you have more narco stuff as well as all the Mexican criminals and desperates trying to go north and all the ones kicked out of the US. The cost of living is higher in many areas there as well.

Los Cabos, etc Baja Sur is very, very expensive, gets little or no rain and is very hot

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Baja's unique terrain - desert vegetation juxtaposed with ocean beauty - has its own appeal. IMO the most appealing parts are, for cities, La Paz, and for smaller communities beautiful but costly Todos Santos. As others have mentioned, all of these are seasonal-only places to live, unless you thrive on hellish heat and humidity and watching out for hurricanes.

Biggest problem with Baja is costs are about twice those of mainland Mexico, for everything from construction work to food and drink. It might as well be an island - nearly everything has to be brought in. If you can afford Baja you can probably afford a lot of areas of Southern California, especially given the real estate nose dive up north. Better year round climate, fewer narcos to avoid - why not stay home?

For great year round climate and a sizable enough expat population to consider as a full-time home, it seems to me one's search would be limited to Lakeside, San Miguel and Oaxaca. As others have mentioned, there are a lot of things that make Lake Chapala the most livable of these three places for many of us. Conversely, spend one summer on the beach anywhere in Mexico or Central America and you quickly learn why the bulk of the population of these countries lives at 3000-5000 feet.

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We have friends that just moved to Rosarito Beach just south of Tijuana, (they are on this board so they might comment also), they asked us to drive their car there and they would fly. It took us 3 days, the first 2 days of driving was ok since it was on toll roads, the 3rd day was awful, construction and dirt roads for miles, military checkpoints because we were traveling along the border.

We get to Rosarito and it is freezing, like 35 degrees and the wind, the condo would not warm up especially the bedrooms, I was so glad to get home. After we left they had rain for a week.

The ocean was beautiful to look at and the sunsets grand. We didn't find much to do there and you have to drive a long ways to get to anything.

That is our 2cents on the part of Baja that we saw.

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Just my two cents worth. The Lake Chapala area has several things that appeal to us, the aforementioned climate, or really, lack on climate, proximity to an international airport, proximity to Guadalajara and all the services and cultural amenities that any large city offers and the cost of living that a non-touristy area offers. We like to visit the beach but the heat, humidity, mosquitos, etc would be a negative for us if it was a residence. We were just in Cabo last week, and any meal out is north of 800p vs about $450p here lakeside. We stay at the Sheraton and a margarita is 121p and buffet breakfast was $29us. We love to vacation in Manzanillo. Check out this newly built condo: http://www.manzanillorealestate.com.mx/ that is manzanillorealestate

We have visited San Miguel de Allende and find it unattractive for most of the reasons we find Lakeside attractive.

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