Wonderful exercise options, a robust, eco-friendly economy, and beautiful vistas give Portland, Maine what U.S. News & World Report calls the “best healthy place to retire.” (And after reading the article, it doesn’t sound like a terrible place to vacation, either.) Here’s just a few of the reasons why.
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A multitude of ways to stay in shape. Portland’s proximity to both the water on one side and mountains on the other side give it a unique combination of sports and leisure activities. You won’t find such diversity except in maybe Hawaii or another tropical island – and there, you can’t go skiing in the winter. In addition to these naturally-occuring events, Portland has done an excellent job developing a world-class park and urban trail system.
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Environmentally-friendly living. Named on of the greenest cities in America by Organic Gardening magazine, Portland residents pride themselves on living as much of a carless life as possible. Portland’s downtown area is extremely compact, making your weekend errand run or touristy souvernir trip a little bit less about driving from strip mall to strip mall and a little bit more about exploring interesting storefronts.
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Easy to get around. Portland runs a modern and popular public transit system, so it’s pretty easy to ditch your car altogether. If you are going to (or coming from) somewhere a little further away, join one of the other 45,000 people that ride Amtrak’s popular Downeaster each month. The Downeaster provides five daily round trips to/from Boston with easy connections to New York City and Washington, D.C.