(FORTUNE Magazine) – Okay, you missed out on the 38-acre ranch in Jackson Hole--the one with the horses, the six bedrooms, and the fish-jammed pond. You know, the one that's now worth $7 million and change. Relax. There's always another location for your dream retirement home. Here are the best candidates for the next Naples or Nantucket.

The North Fork of Long Island, N.Y.

Picture a farmhouse on ten acres not far from the bluffs overlooking Long Island Sound and the inlet where you keep a small boat. Nearby, a vineyard that's home to some of the best local merlot around. Not more than a 30-minute drive away are the celebrity-soaked Hamptons, home to the $50 million estate. Asking price: $500,000. The same house in Bridgehampton? Try $1.5 million--with no land. The question is, For how much longer?

San Juan Islands, Wash.

Hop a flight out of Seattle and 45 minutes later you're stepping onto a ferry bound for your lakeside house on an island where cars never drive faster than 35 mph and majestic oaks line the driveway. These are the San Juan Islands, a 170-mile-plus island string that's the vacation spot of choice for Seattle software types and Hollywood execs alike. For $200,000, you can have a cabin with a view that stretches for miles. Make it $300,000, and you're living in a luxury condo with harbor views. A cool million gets you a spot on the water with a half-mile between you and the next software executive.

Charleston, S.C.

On the outer islands near this historic Southern city, property prices have been jumping between 40% and 100% a year since the mid-'90s. What's the allure? Everything from low-country cooking (they use cream in those tasty grits) to world-class golf in several of Charleston's private island resorts like Kiawah and Isle of Palms. Though it's not cheap anymore, $300,000 can still put you in a house with views of the Atlantic.

Barcelona

Sure, it's far away. Dream a little. Haven't you always wanted that European escape? The tiny town of Lloret De Mar never meant much to outsiders--until recently. Located outside Barcelona, it's been luring in Americans and Europeans unable to afford their dream vacation home in Portofino or Mallorca, where prices are now Hamptons-like. Once a middle-class vacation destination, this area has seen house and apartment sales soar in the past year. Alexander Kraft, regional manager for Sotheby's, has been racing back and forth with visiting Americans hopeful that a $500,000 investment will get them into a luxury villa not from from the Mediterranean. Better hurry.