Is this the best place to retire to in Spain?: 'It has an incredible climate and a low-cost of living'

The seaside in summer, with its crowds and beaches awash with beach brollies, manages to escape from the hustle and bustle as soon as September arrives, making way for a completely different scenario where retirees are the main players. This is what happens in Almuñécar, a popular place to enjoy the summer holidays, but also fast becoming a seasonal place to stay and live out your days when retirement beckons.

The prestigious digital magazine Travel + Leisure, based in New York and with a great reach and influence in the Anglo-Saxon world, looks to this municipality on the Costa Tropical for those foreigners who want to enjoy their free time in Spain after a long professional career. "Thinking of retirement? You've earned your golden years and now you plan to live them in glorious style. But where, exactly, should you live them? While we here at Travel + Leisure have written extensively about all the fantastic places you can call home in retirement, a new study shows some very specific places in Spain that you should call home now that you're ready for the next life chapter," stated the publication.

This latest feature builds on the study published in June by Moving to Spain, an online relocation service whose blog listed the best cities and towns in Spain for retirement. The people behind Moving to Spain produced a list of 44 destinations that are often mentioned when people talk about retiring to Spain. It then analysed each location according to seven factors deemed most important to retirees, including the proportion of retirees and retired expats already there, rental price index scores, crime rates, wealth tax rates, the most popular destinations for retiree healthcare contributions and the average annual temperatures in each destination.

After analysing all the data, the publication named Almuñécar as the best retirement destination in Spain: "The Granada province town scores highly thanks to its low rental price index of 108.34 per cent and property tax rates of 0%. It also ranks highly in terms of the proportion of expatriate retirees at 4.47%, placing it in the top ten for this factor."

Still, if the economic factor is a plus, it is by no means the only one. Almuñécar also boasts "extremely attractive views, both along its stunning coastline with soft sand beaches and craggy cliffs and through its historic sites, including the castle of San Miguel."

Joining Almuñécar at the top of the list is the neighbouring Malaga province town of Nerja in second place, a destination along the Mediterranean coast that also comes with a zero per cent wealth tax rate, a high number of same-country retirees and a high number (10.85%) of other retired expats.

Torrevieja in Alicante province came third, followed by Jávea, Calpe, Benidorm, Denia, Cadiz, Cartagena and Las Palmas to complete the top 10.

Spain has long been home to thousands of foreign retirees, mainly from the Nordic countries, the UK and Central Europe. "More than eight million foreign-born people live in Spain, and many of them are moving to the country to enjoy their retirement," said Alison Johnson, relocation expert and co-owner of Moving to Spain, in the published findings on travelandleisure.com.

"Mainland Spain and its associated islands, such as the Balearic and Canary Islands, are home to some of the most beautiful destinations in the world, offering a relaxed lifestyle, excellent medical care, a low cost of living and a warm climate. This makes it easy to understand why so many people want to move to this beloved country," she sad.