Aberbeeg Blues wrote:103 Barmy Army wrote:103 Barmy Army wrote:Aberbeeg Blues wrote:I’ve had a place in NORTH Cyprus for the past 12 years. Living costs are dirt cheap compared to rest of Europe. £12 a month council tax,£10 a month electricity,the most expensive yearly cost is my £500 pool maintenance.
I have a 4 bedroom villa with my own pool cost me 95 grand ( down the South of Cyprus it would cost approx 300 grand).
There are approx 30 thousand ex pats who live in North Cyprus. I get 17% interest on my savings in the bank ( who have the same guarantee as UK banks)
A pint of local beer EFES is 8 or 9 Turkish Lira and I’m currently getting about 8 lira to the pound.
Me and Mrs actually go out most nights cos it’s so cheap. 3 course meal approx £8.
We tend to fly from Bristol with EasyJet to Larnaca and then get a North taxi to pick us up for £25 ( hours drive).
North Cyprus isn’t recognised by any Country apart from Turkey so if we fly into the North we have to travel via Istanbul.
This is definitely the cheapest place to the UK
Hadn’t thought about this, despite living in the south for 4 years, as my knowledge of the north isn’t the best. I do remember needing an additional car insurance that was much cheaper in the local village as opposed to buying it on the border.
We did have two separate incidents over the north where guys tried to over charge us, but you get good and bad everywhere. The way of life was very laid back and it also provides the option of easily visiting the south. Something to look into. Thanks!
Is a UK bank account an option?
Also, what’s the food costs over there?
Food in the south that was really expensive, as well as the electricity (which I’m led to believe is the most expensive in Europe by my friends in the south), so good to see the cheap north price for electricity.
Food costs are dirt cheap compared to rest of Europe. That includes supermarkets and restaurants.
The North has its own ( old) power station but Turkey have recently run a cable under the sea to provide even cheaper electricity and a giant water pipe to provide more water.
They drive on the left and all street signs are in English.
We love the laid back nature of the Turkish Cypriots. The North isn’t that well known but still has 30 thousand ex pats who live there.
The main seaside/tourist resort is Kyrenia which is gorgeous. We live in a village called Catalkoy which is ten mins from Kyrenia but the whole main road between the two is full with bars/shops/restaurants etc.
There are many 5 star hotels and even some 6 star ones who all do cracking daily deals....for example all you can eat and drink from 7-10pm for £15 including local alcohol. Not sure where else you can get these type of deals in such high class hotels.
A lot of the big hotels are very much like Las Vegas hotels with huge water parks and casinos. A lot of Turks fly over to visit the casinos at weekends.
Currently you can pick up some apartments in places like Esentepe ( a further 20 mins drive from Kyrenia) for around £30 grand.
We only ever went on holiday over the north once and that was to Kyrenia. We normally went to Paphos or Limassol for holiday as we lived in the east near Prot. Seems like a distant memory now though as we returned in 2014. Still miss the meze’s.
Sounds like you’re making the most of the time there.