National Geo’s Take on Best Places to Retire

Nothing gets us quite as pumped up as finding another interesting spin on a “Best Places to Retire” list. This week we were pleased to discover National Geographic Magazine‘s list of “Best adventure towns. While it is not new (it’s from 2007) or exactly aimed at retirees , it is a fun list. Here is our take on their selections

– you can read the full article and list at “Where to Live and Play, 31 Adventure Towns“. The magazine also has a “Best 50 Adventure Towns” article, which has some different selections.

National Geographic split their list of 31 towns into 5 categories, which is kind of a nifty way to do it. The categories are Outdoor Towns, Beach Towns, Cultural Places, Small Towns, and Adventure Cities. Sixteen of their towns are already profiled at Topretirements, usually chosen for the same reasons.

Some of their top choices, like Boise, ID and Durango, CO are obvious and well-deserved. The “Cultural Hubs” choices on the National Geo list tend to be college towns such as Ann Arbor, Austin (TX), and Knoxville. Their “Adventure Cities” are some of the ones we like at Topretirements (like both Portlands [OR and ME], and Spokane, WA). The magazine also unexpectedly chose Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C.) in this category. The most interesting choices on their list are in the “Small Towns” category; of the 5 listed the only one we had heard of was Port Townsend, WA). The “Beach Town” and “Outdoor Mecca” choices are definitely worth reading about too – places like Bishop, CA and Cordova, AK.

A while back we reviewed Sara Tuff and Greg Melville’s book on the same subject- “101 Best Outdoor Towns“. What is especially interesting is how little crossover there is between that book and National Geographic‘s list.

For Further Reference:
Best Outdoor Towns at Topretirements
More Adventurous Retirements