(MONEY Magazine) – PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND SARASOTA, FLORIDA ROANOKE, VIRGINIA SHEBOYGAN, WISCONSIN BOULDER, COLORADO LAS CRUCES, NEW MEXICO MEDFORD, OREGON SAN MIGUEL DE ALLENDE, MEXICO

What is retirement now, if not an opportunity? With the longevity revolution, retirement has been transformed from a short, if well-deserved, rest to a full-fledged life stage. The decades after you end your primary career give you the chance to do what you've never done, go where you've never gone and, if you're so inclined, live where you've never lived.

And while this particular story focuses on the last--finding a new place to call home--it really involves all of the above opportunities. Every city here offers its own remarkably eclectic set of new experiences.

Have you always wanted to attend an Ivy League university? Putt the greens of a world championship golf course? Take your boat, not your car, to your favorite restaurant? Learn to rock climb? Immerse yourself in a foreign culture? At least one of these things is possible in each of the eight cities that we profile on these pages, moving roughly from east to west, then south to Mexico. All provide the requisite tennis and golf. But they also serve up diverse cultural attractions, affordable housing, excellent medical facilities and stunningly picturesque settings.

To select these cities, we crunched the numbers, seeking out a solid mix of clean air, low crime, reasonable taxes and population bases large enough to offer the amenities you expect, while small enough to feel like a real community. The "Vital Stats" box for each city clues you in to important geographic and climate information, which we've gathered from the Census Bureau and the National Weather Service. The median home prices we quote refer to three-bedroom, single-family houses and come from local real estate boards, the National Association of Realtors and statistics compiled by real estate company Century 21.

But we didn't look at numbers alone. We also talked to dozens of retirees, all of whom chose their new hometowns specifically for retirement, not just because they happened to live there already. Many of them scoured the country in search of the right spot, and they have generously shared the inside scoop on what makes their new homes so attractive.

Our choices span the country and a variety of climates and terrains, from sandy beaches to urban streetscapes. So whether your passion is day spas or night crawlers, mariachi bands or Shakespeare, bratwurst or Blue Ridge Mountains, the community you'll make your next home might just be waiting right here.

Providence, Rhode Island WITH A DOZEN SCHOOLS IN THE AREA, PROVIDENCE IS A CULTURAL MECCA. ITS HISTORIC DOWNTOWN IS IN THE MIDST OF AN EXTRAORDINARY REBIRTH.

Providence may be 366 years old, but it's not the kind of city that sits around resting on its laurels. And neither are the people who retire here. Just look at Louis and Martha Nielsen, 74 and 62, respectively, who moved here 3 1/2 years ago after living everywhere from Denmark to New York, Vermont and Pennsylvania. The Nielsens are season subscribers to the celebrated Trinity Repertory Company and the Ocean State Chamber Orchestra. They usher for a children's theater group and frequent the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) Art Museum. They've taken classes at Brown University. And come fall, they'll be performing with the Rhode Island Philharmonic, as members of the Providence Singers.

To simplify their lives, the Nielsens downsized from a house to an apartment when they moved here (their three-bedroom duplex costs $1,400 a month). "We can jump in our car and in seven minutes we can go to Trinity Rep or a major concert hall," says Louis. "It's all very convenient."

Providence is being reborn, with local leaders literally reshaping downtown (they even moved a river) and working to energize the central city with a well-defined arts district, more housing and other projects designed to draw people together. A recent local scandal known as Plunder Dome, which suggests that some city leaders may have accepted bribes in connection with some redevelopment projects, is the political talk of the town. But no matter what the outcome in court, attractions like WaterFire--a summer-long artist installation of 100 bonfires set on floating braziers in the three downtown rivers--and Gallery Night Providence are luring young and old alike to the city.

Local colleges are also a boon to retirees. Both Brown University and RISD offer continuing education classes. And Johnson & Wales University not only offers vocational education classes to all ages but has also left its mark on the food scene. "Since Johnson & Wales has bloomed," says Louis Nielsen, "the restaurants have bloomed as well." Plus, Brown's medical school is affiliated with seven hospitals, providing them with a steady stream of Ivy League-caliber doctors.

And it doesn't hurt to have great attractions for the grandchildren. The city hosts a major zoo, a children's museum and kids' art classes. Ocean beaches are less than an hour's drive away. It's enough to keep the Nielsens and their eight grandchildren busy. The Nielsens' four daughters live in the region, but that wasn't the couple's primary motivation for moving here. "You have to start by knowing it's not just any city--it's Providence," says Louis. "Being close to the kids was a cherry on the sundae."

VITAL STATS

POPULATION 179,685

MEDIAN PRICE OF SINGLE-FAMILY HOME $97,925

NEAREST MAJOR CITY BOSTON (41 MILES)

AVERAGE ANNUAL SUNNY DAYS 205

AVERAGE LOW TEMP. IN JANUARY 16[degrees]F

Sarasota, Florida THIS IS NOT YOUR GRANDPARENTS' FLORIDA. YES, IT HAS GOLF, TENNIS AND CONDOS GALORE--BUT IT ALSO HAS KIDS, ARTS AND A CIRCUS IN RESIDENCE.

Sure, Florida is the retirement capital of the nation. But for some younger, boomer-age retirees, this is not necessarily a good thing.

Take Russ and Jane Gesme, both 55, for example. After retiring in St. Louis two years ago, they traveled the country to seek out a new home, looking from Arizona to Georgia and the Carolinas. Their goal: to settle in an anti-retirement community. "In our neighborhood, there are kids in the backyards enjoying themselves and loving life, not just a bunch of retirees looking for the early-bird special," says Russ.

To their suprise, the Gesmes wound up in Florida--or, to be more precise, in Sarasota. It had the best of the Florida cliches: warm weather (okay, so it dips down to the 50s in January), proximity to water, no state income tax and tons of outdoor activities, most notably golf and tennis. Monica Seles owns a home here, Andre Agassi and Anna Kournikova have trained here. In April, the Women's Tennis Association held its first Sarasota Open. What Sarasota also offered, however, was a lot of culture and more energy than other Florida cities they looked at. Gesme, a former PriceWaterhouseCoopers C.P.A., says home prices in Sarasota were measurably more affordable than those that he found in Naples, Fla.

Hugging the central western coast of the state on the Gulf of Mexico, Sarasota may be most famous for its beaches, especially Crescent Beach. It's hundreds of yards of pure, white sand "that feels like flour," says Sally Hawthorne, age 54, who moved from Dayton, Ohio last year in hopes of eventually retiring here (and adds helpfully that author Stephen King owns a house nearby). There are actually 35 miles of beach in Sarasota, and many retirees, like the Gesmes, live on small canals with docks so they can launch their boats from the backyard to go fishing (for grouper or kingfish) or sailing. If you care to, you can get around some neighborhoods by boat instead of by car.

But the city prides itself on its cultural offerings. There's the opera, symphony, film society, aquarium, classic-car museum and dozens of galleries--an extraordinary amount of culture for such a small town. There's even a permanent circus, as befits the memory of the late Sarasotan John Ringling of Ringling Bros. fame. (His former home is now the Ringling Museum of Art, part of Florida State University.)

The Gesmes don't even mind spring break much, when college students flood most of the Florida shoreline. As far as they're concerned, it only adds to the joie de vivre they were looking for in the first place. "When I was in Naples, I felt like I was surrounded by my parents," says Russ Gesme. "When I came to Sarasota, I felt like I was surrounded by my contemporaries."

VITAL STATS

POPULATION 52,860

MEDIAN PRICE OF SINGLE-FAMILY HOME $134,900

NEAREST MAJOR CITY TAMPA (43 MILES)

AVERAGE ANNUAL SUNNY DAYS 238

AVERAGE LOW TEMP. IN JANUARY 50.1[degrees]F

Roanoke, Virginia PEACEFUL, EXQUISITE, WITH THE APPALACHIAN TRAIL AND 17 GOLF COURSES, ROANOKE IS WHERE FLORIDIANS MOVE WHEN THEY WANT TO SLOW DOWN.

In Roanoke, there's such a preponderance of a particular brand of retiree that local real estate agents have given them a name: halfbacks. At first, we feared some ageist slur. But no. Ask local agents what it means, and they'll explain simply, "They're people from the North who retire to Florida and then come halfway back."

As it happens, that's pretty much the way it went with Don and Arlene Whalen, both 65, who started out in New York and New Jersey before moving to Boca Raton, Fla. But when it came time to retire in 1998, they bucked the trend and moved north. "We'd always felt that Virginia was a very civilized place to be," explains Arlene. "The pace is very laid back. And we like the seasons."

Even though Roanoke's population tops Boca's (95,000 vs. 75,000), Roanoke feels quieter to former Floridians, who remember towns full of snowbirds each winter and college kids each spring. And the setting, resting in a valley surrounded by the beautiful Blue Ridge and Allegheny Mountains, is hard to beat. The nearby hills and the Appalachian Trail make for great hiking, and there are 17 golf courses as well.

And for a relatively small town, there's a surprising amount of activity. "Tonight we have tickets to see Cabaret," says Trudy Randolph, 57, a retired librarian who moved here with her husband Jim, 63, in 1998. The Randolphs are volunteer ushers for a local theater and big fans of the Roanoke Symphony.

Downtown Roanoke is home to several museums and the Historic Roanoke City Farmer's Market, which dates back to 1882. The opera and symphony both perform in a newly refurbished concert hall. Plans are under way for an 1897 railroad office building to be converted to 87 luxury apartments (with 10-foot ceilings, arched windows and rents from $500 to $1,200) to appeal to both young professionals and retirees looking to live downtown, near the cultural centers and restaurants (though some newcomers long for more variety in the food scene).

For homeowners, low property taxes are a big plus. "When we got our first property tax bill for the year," says Trudy Randolph, who lives in a 1940s colonial-style house, "we thought it was for the month."

The Whalens live just outside the city limits in a 3,800-square-foot ranch-style house on 3 1/2 acres, which they bought in 1998 for $212,000 (a recent appraisal priced the property at $250,000). Property taxes: a mere $1,700 a year. "We can't even see our neighbors," says Arlene, who wanted vegetable and perennial gardens, as well as a large porch. To the Whalens, both native New Yorkers, Roanoke feels like the genteel countryside--which is exactly what they wanted. "As my husband always says," explains Arlene, "we're Northerners by birth, Southerners by choice."

VITAL STATS

POPULATION 94,542

MEDIAN PRICE OF SINGLE-FAMILY HOME $146,000

NEAREST MAJOR CITY CHARLOTTE (152 MILES)

AVERAGE ANNUAL SUNNY DAYS 217

AVERAGE LOW TEMP. IN JANUARY 27.2[degrees]F

Sheboygan, Wisconsin ON THE LAKE MICHIGAN SHORE, A SMALL TOWN WITH EVERYTHING: WORLD-CLASS GOLF COURSES, NOTABLE RESTAURANTS, EVEN HOT-STONE MASSAGES

With world-class golf courses, a spectacular arts center and a waterfront promenade on Lake Michigan, Sheboygan, Wis. has come a long way from its curious 19th-century distinction as the city of the four Cs: chairs, cheese, churches and children.

Of course, there's one thing that has not changed since sausage-toting German immigrants flooded this town in the 1800s. It's still the Bratwurst Capital of the World. (Insider tip: Ask for the double-brat on a hard roll at the Charcoal Inn, and you will be an honorary Sheboyganite in no time.) And make sure not to miss the Bratwurst Day festival during the first week of August.

But assuming for a moment that cholesterol-on-a-bun isn't your leading criterion for choosing where to retire (though we must say that the cardiac-care facilities are topnotch), consider that markedly healthier outdoor activities abound. A new marina recently opened here for boating enthusiasts; sportfishing charters are widely available for freshwater trout and salmon. Some of the best new golf courses in the country are nearby, including Whistling Straights, where the 2004 PGA Championship will be played, and a nearly completed Jack Nicklaus-designed course.

Geographically, Sheboygan is sandwiched between the cities of Green Bay to the north and Milwaukee to the south (about an hour's drive to either). Chicago is roughly two hours away. Despite Sheboygan's small-town feel (pop. 50,695), big-city amenities are abundant. There's even a new and highly luxurious Kohler Waters Spa that features a Great Lakes Hot Stone massage for $175. Such indoor pleasures come in handy as temperatures head south for the winter (though people here will tell you that being on the water has a moderating effect on the weather--making it warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer).

Dave and Sue Miller, 62 and 60, respectively, are believers. They moved here from a Chicago suburb in March, within weeks of Sue's retirement from a pharmaceutical company. They bought a 3,000-square-foot home on a three-quarter-acre lot for only $190,000. In fact, Dave says, he calculates that their total cost of living here will be 12% lower, even with Wisconsin's higher taxes factored in.

"We moved up mainly because of the quality of life," says Dave, a former engineer who loves golf, boating and fishing. "The people are friendly, there's very little congestion and there's good shopping," he says. "You really have the best of both worlds. You've got the small-town atmosphere and the access to the big cities. But we find that 99.99% of everything we want is right here."

VITAL STATS

POPULATION 50,695

MEDIAN PRICE OF SINGLE-FAMILY HOME $127,390

NEAREST MAJOR CITY MILWAUKEE (49 MILES)

AVERAGE ANNUAL SUNNY DAYS 195

AVERAGE LOW TEMP. IN JANUARY 11.4[degrees]F

Boulder, Colorado HIGH IN THE ROCKIES, BOULDER EMBRACES BOTH OUTDOOR LIVING AND BIG-CITY PLEASURES, FROM BIKING AND BACH TO THE EXTENSIVE BUS SYSTEM.

When Hope Thompson decided to pull up stakes in October 2000 and move from sunny Orlando to sometimes snowy Boulder (elevation 5,340 feet), some of her friends thought she was off her rocker. Turns out, she was off her rocker--and tying on her walking shoes--in pursuit of a more active lifestyle.

The 76-year-old widow likes to be mobile. She still drives but knows there's a time she won't be able to anymore. And she likes to get out of the house, taking Fit After 50 exercise classes at the Boulder YMCA, going to the theater and walking to the library or grocery store. Thanks to a great bus system, Thompson knows she'll be able to get around for a long time. "I can be independent here as long as I can still move," she says. And as much as she enjoyed Orlando, its public transportation left a lot to be desired. "If you can't drive," she says, laughing, "You're dead!"

In Boulder, as in much of Colorado, life is all about the great outdoors. With hundreds of miles of hiking trails and bike paths, extensive rock-climbing opportunities (for the sturdy of limb), skiing, snowshoeing and many other outdoor activities, there's never a lack of ways to decide what to do with the more than 240 sunny days a year.

Of course, there's plenty to do indoors as well, which is a good thing during the snowy winters. Boulder is known for its strong support of the arts, with a symphony and ballet company of its own. It's home to eclectic shops and restaurants. It also hosts the Boulder Bach Festival and the annual Conference on World Affairs, held at the University of Colorado at Boulder, which brings in international speakers on topics ranging from the arts and domestic politics to the environment and global business. The city has an extensive Senior Services department, which hosts dozens of classes, lectures, workshops and trips to Denver, only 27 miles away.

The city has been so pro-active about servicing its seniors that the over-65 population has boomed and is expected to grow by 65% in the next decade. As a result, the national trend of doctors becoming less Medicare-friendly has created a particular challenge for the city. But there's good news on the horizon: In August, the Boulder Community Hospital is scheduled to open the city's first Medicare-only clinic.

Admittedly, these benefits do not come cheap. Hope Thompson paid $150,000 for her one-bedroom condominium. Now the median price for condos, which are very popular with retirees, is up to $205,000--and median house prices top $400,000.

Nevertheless, the combination of the crisp, clean air, great weather and multitude of activities has an effect that's worth the price to retirees like Hope Thompson. "There are so many people I've been meeting that I think, gee, they're probably younger than I am," she says, "but they're not. They're in their eighties! They don't look it, they don't act it, and they don't seem to feel it!"

VITAL STATS

POPULATION 95,957

MEDIAN PRICE FOR SINGLE-FAMILY HOME $410,000

NEAREST MAJOR CITY DENVER (27 MILES)

AVERAGE ANNUAL SUNNY DAYS 246

AVERAGE LOW TEMP. IN JANUARY 16.2[degrees]F

Las Cruces, New Mexico GREAT WEATHER, AMAZING VIEWS AND A CULTURAL SCENE INFLUENCED BY NEARBY MEXICO--PLUS WHAT MAY BE THE HOTTEST CHILIES IN THE U.S.A.

When Lee and Donna Haeger decided in 1991 that suburban Chicago was too cold, too expensive and too fast-paced for retired life, they sought out its polar opposite. And they found it, they thought, in the tiny and newly popular retirement town of Silver City, N.M., situated less than 100 miles from the Mexican border.

As it turned out, Silver City was a little too tiny (with a population of about 12,000) and far too popular. "When the folks from California discovered Silver City, housing prices went up drastically," says Lee Haeger. So the couple took the newcomers' money--their house brought twice what they had paid for it four years earlier--and hightailed it to Las Cruces in 1995. They haven't looked back.

For the Haegers, both 68, Las Cruces offers all the benefits of New Mexico--great weather, amazing scenery, beautiful sunsets and arguably the country's best Mexican food--without the expense of Santa Fe, the congestion of Albuquerque or the remoteness of charming little hot spots like Silver City.

Las Cruces is actually the second-largest city in the state, after Albuquerque, and sits about 45 miles from Mexico. Many residents pop across the border to Juarez for inexpensive pottery and jewelry.

The Mexican influence on Las Cruces is palpable and welcome. Many of the city's biggest celebrations are Hispanic-themed, like the hugely popular Mariachi Conference in November or the Whole Enchilada Fiesta in September. Then there are New Mexico's renowned chiles. Diane ReVeal, who retired here in 2000 from Kentucky with her husband Steve, explains the hot-food index: "The further north you go, the weaker it gets."

When you're not eating, there's plenty to do. Water sports, of course, are limited, especially during the summer when the Rio Grande mostly dries up. But hiking in the nearby mountain ranges is extremely popular, as is nearly year-round golfing and tennis. The dunes of famed White Sands National Monument are a huge draw. So are extension classes from New Mexico State University and activities planned by the Munson Senior Center.

And, in part because of a low-wage employment market, prices are reasonable. "Your retirement dollar goes a long way here," says Lee Haeger, who says their average dinner out on the town runs $20--and that's with the tip.

But for all its affordability and climate, it's the beauty of its landscape that draws most new residents to Las Cruces. The ReVeals bought a home with large picture windows that look west at cottonwood trees lining the Rio Grande Valley, with the soaring Picacho Peak in the background. And, of course, there are the stars. And the sunsets. Says Diane ReVeal: "It's the view that sold us."

VITAL STATS

POPULATION 85,400

MEDIAN PRICE OF SINGLE-FAMILY HOME $128,500

NEAREST MAJOR CITY EL PASO (45 MILES)

AVERAGE ANNUAL SUNNY DAYS 287

AVERAGE LOW TEMP. IN JANUARY 26.5[degrees]F

Medford, Oregon THE SIMPLE LIFE, NORTHWESTERN-STYLE: OPEN LAND, COOL BREEZES, GOLF, FIR TREES AND LOTS OF DEER. OH YES, AND NINE MONTHS OF SHAKESPEARE.

When Harold Dee retired from the aerospace industry in 1999, he and his wife Doris were living on the 48th floor of a tony Chicago skyscraper. They had season tickets to the Lyric Opera and were members of the Art Institute of Chicago. Three years and 2,000 miles later, life for the Dees is, well, a little different. How different? Says Doris: "I can't get the deer to stop eating my garden."

That's because the Dees traded in their high-rise lifestyle for something simpler and cheaper: an 11-acre spread on the banks of the Rogue River near Medford, Ore. Both the winter blizzards and humid summer days of the Midwest are a distant memory. And despite the Northwest's rainy reputation, the Dees' southern Oregon locale draws only 18 inches a year, compared with the 60 or so inches that drench the northern part of the state.

On top of it all, they've had to sacrifice far less in terms of culture than you might think. Ashland, 15 miles to the east, is home to the celebrated Oregon Shakespeare Festival, which runs from February to October. And nearby Jacksonville hosts the 40-year-old Britt Music Festival, featuring artists as diverse as Ray Charles, the Beach Boys, jazz trumpet master Arturo Sandoval and pianist Andre Watts.

Roughly midway between San Francisco and Seattle, Medford lies just north of the California border, surrounded by the Siskiyou and the Cascade Mountains. The Pacific is about a two-hour drive west, but with all the rivers and lakes in the vicinity, you don't need to go that far for amazing fishing, boating or river rafting. There are five golf courses and several wineries near Medford, and the old-growth forests of Crater Lake National Park are only an hour away.

Medford's downtown was recently named a National Historic District. Extensive urban development and preservation projects are taking root, including the conversion of the city's 1910 train station into a high-end restaurant. "Medford is just on the verge of really discovering itself," says Doris.

The Dees were also amazed at how friendly the locals are to strangers--and how much less it costs them to eat out ($9 or $10 each). And, oh yes, no more pumping gas. "It's illegal to pump your own gas in Oregon," explains Doris. "We're big fans of that law."