The mildest climate in Canada is in southern British Columbia on the coast. Vancouver ticks a lot of your boxes, but it is a big city. You could nicely live in North or West Vancouver which are not urban, but close to the city when you want to go there. Housing prices are 2nd highest in the world, however, so be prepared for that. Another option is Victoria on Vancouver Island. The capital of BC, but only 300,000 population located on the ocean with beautiful views. Not a hectic pace. 15 minutes drive to anywhere in the greater Victoria area. Great outdoors options year round.

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Thanks RKLann.
Yeah I saw Vancouver ticked a lot of boxes but was expensive. I have been looking at Ottawa and some other areas of Ontario which look pretty good too. I took a quick look at Victoria until someone in another chat room said it was full of old people -not quite what I want but if that's not the case I'll look again. Thanks for your help!

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If your looking for a smaller city of around 35,000 then head to Port Alberni on Vancouver island, It has the lowest real estate on the island and ticks most of your boxes.

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There alot of nice city's towns etc that would accomadate your list of wants throughout canada. However I think you are best to consider weather and the cost of living as they differ alot between the west coast and the east coast of the country. If I where you I would find a good cost of living comparsion calculator once you have a list of places that you are considering http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/comparison.jsp.

Having said all of that I am from the East coast of Canada ( Halifax in paticular and love it here having been and lived all over canada I guess I am kinda of partial.

It really depends on how small town or Big city you are willing to live in.

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There are many suburban areas in Canada that fit your lifestyle such as Burlington, Oakville, Hamilton. The prices are not as expensive as in BC (yet) and they are all within 45 minutes of Toronto as well as Niagara Falls and The U.S. border. Lots of great open spaces, and if you want an adventure you can drive up north to Muskoka and have all the fresh air you can breath :)

The eastern (Ottawa) and western (Windsor) regions tend to be quite a bit colder than areas around Toronto so that's an added plus, and there's always something to d, though for 6 months of the year, unless you love snow, you'll be doing them indoors.

Good Luck!
John

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Thanks John!
I have looked at Burlington, Oakville and Hamilton and they do look like lovely areas. I am thinking basically of just getting out there and spending a year exploring to see what fits. They will all be on the list. :)

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Take a look at Nanaimo on Vancouver Island. Low crime rate, easy access to ferry service to Vancouver ( 2 hrs) or the US border in 2 1/2 hrs. Snows about once a year but rains a lot during the winter months. International airport 10 miles south of Nanaimo. Sure beats shoveling snow and - 40 weather.

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I also suggest Vancouver Island and Nanaimo. If you love the outdoors you will love it here. There are smaller communities very close where the housing is less expensive and other options which are popular on the Island such as park model homes.
Another poster suggested Port Alberni but I do not agree..it rains a LOT there.
Anywhere from Qualicum Beach to Ladysmith is about 30 minutes to Nanaimo and pretty much everything else is easily reached. West Jet now also flies into Nanaimo via Calgary.
I have lived here for 3 years just south of the city, and although it is a bit more expensive it is well worth it if you love nature and the outdoors and just one of the most beautiful heavens on earth.

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sailongman22 just a note.Nanaimo is not an International Airport. It is regional although it uses International airlines such as Air Canada and West Jet. Vancouver is the closest Canadian International airport.

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I lived in Canada for over 28 years (east coast) and returned to England 7 years ago due to family reasons.

I don't think that most people can comprehend the size of the country, and of course there are a huge number of communities which might appeal to you.

The prices on the east coast are very reasonable if you intend buying a property (about half or less of what you would pay in the U.K). The landscape is beautiful with a rugged coast, forests and a multitude of lakes. Halifax is a nice city which is not too big, but with some nice restaurants, bars, etc. There are also lots of very nice communities just a few minutes drive to the city. The downside... cold winters, lots of snow and hurricanes!

Montreal has a lot to offer and is the most european in culture, with great restaurants, bars, galleries, etc. and generally a nice and exciting feel. It's quite big, but without the big city feel. Again, there are nice communities on the outskirts, and again the winters are cold! The language is predominately french, and there is a french/english conflict which never seems to get resolved. However, I never had any problems there (I used to go often for business and visit friends), loved the city and found the people very nice.

Ottawa is a nice city which is not too big, lots to offer in the way of restaurants, etc., and a good location if you want to go to Montreal or Toronto. It's a government city so nearly all of the population are civil servants! But clean, safe and cultured (a tad on the stuffy side!).

The west coast is beautiful, with the milder climate. The climate in North Vancouver is similar to England, in fact in some areas you would swear you were in England! Vancouver is a spectacular location with the mountains and ocean, but they get a lot of rain due to the clouds coming off the Pacific and dumping the rain on the city before they can make their way over the mountains. Another downside (as another person has already commented) is the price of property. Vancouver Island is much more reasonable and doesn't get the heavy rain. Victoria and Nanaimo are worth looking at.

Further into the interior of B.C the weather is much drier with some areas semi-desert, especially up around the Kamloops area. Kelowna offers almost a micro-climate and the towns of Vernon and Salmon Arm are nice but a little sleepy. However, if you enjoy winter sports you are within an easy drive to the rockies.

In most areas of Canada the people enjoy outdoor activities (kayaking, canoeing, sailing, walking, horse riding, skiing, etc.) and you would find an abundance of areas and trails to enjoy walking your dog. The Canadian people are generally very friendly.

I would suggest being on the outskirts of one of the bigger towns or cities, but not too far in the 'sticks'.

Only a visit there (may be an extended one) is the only way to decide what will appeal to you and meets your needs.

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Thanks guys. I have been looking at Van Island and in particular Nanaimo as it ticks loads of boxes.
I was only worried that it seemed to have a large percentage of it's community at retirement age. But I've met someone from Vancouver and they say it's not that bad. Think it's looking promising.

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Vancouver Island University is in Nanaimo now so lots of young(er) people. At 30 you won't feel out of place here at all..and it is an extremely dog friendly island. I have some good dog people friends/contacts if you are into doggy activities.

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Oh really?

Yeah that'd be fab! I'll come out on my own first but it'd be good to join some communities and clubs for this kind of thing.

Thanks!

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The answer is a no brainier, the EAST COAST, you work for yourself so no need for overpriced locals like the left coast, cowtown or heaven forbid COTU with it's criminal drug addict mayor!

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Calgary is an amazing city close to the
Rocky Mountains. Lots of things to do
especially if you are into fitness. A great place to meet people awesome restaurants and coffee shops Also if you are into theatre there are some great plays etc. You do not have to live in the City Center we have light rail transit all over the City. Cycle paths connect all over the city

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Thanks for your help guys.
I am starting to think that the way to go is to travel around for a year or two and just see what fits.

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A lovely place with great accommodation prices is Port Alice, British Columbia on northern Vancouver Island. Google it. Also Google the Rumble Sheet for Port Alice. We found it by accident and then decided that it was an ideal retirement place.

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A lovely place with great accommodation prices is Port Alice, British Columbia on northern Vancouver Island. Google it. Also Google the Rumble Sheet for Port Alice. We found it by accident and then decided that it was an ideal retirement place.

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I was born and raised in Calgary, moved to Van and then Ottawa and then back to Van.

You need to think about SNOW. Do you like snow? Are you okay with the cold? BC is expensive but it doesn't snow like the rest of the country .... well southern BC anyway. Vancouver is the least snowest (is that a real word??) place in Canada.

Back to being expensive, but it has a lot to offer and very dog friendly (except if you rent ... 1/4 are dog friendly) but it's a big place.

Crime - normal for a big city of 1.5 mill peeps (with the tri-cities Burnaby, Coquitlam, Richmond, etc - there's more than 3 so I don't know why it's called tri ...). If you don't want gang crime stay out of Surrey & Abbotsford.

Good luck in your choice.

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Thanks.

Van definitely seems more 'me' than 5 months of snow and cold in the East.
Visa changes have made the move halt for now but I'll be visiting in March for a few months to look around and get some info about what to do.
Wish the Uk were this thorough with immigrants.. it'd solve a few problems..
:)

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I've lived in many cities in Canada over the years.

Montreal is very "European" and a great place to be, in the summer. It is very very cold with crazy amounts of snow in the winter. (Just like Ottawa which is a few hour drive away).
Montreal was a great place for me to go to University because it was cheap (at the time) but there was not much work there really (in the high-tech field that I was doing at the time), especially if you are English.
Vancouver is nice if you can take endless rain with no sun for months on end . It helps if you are filthy rich in order to deal with the the outrageous rents. (I could not have afforded to buy a house in Vancouver at all, like I did in Toronto, and many of my friends in Vancouver were spending well over 50% of their wages on their housing.
I eventually kept coming back to Toronto since there's tons of work here, and it's not that expensive in comparison. Calgary is much more expensive than TO and much more boring, in my opinion.
Calgary felt too "new" and somewhat boring for me and it seemed to have no real soul.
Calgary however is a short drive away from the foothills of the Rockies which leads you into some absolutely fantastic scenery just a short drive away.
I often go to Calgary for work for a week or two (or more) and I always make a point to take a day to drive out of the city and through the mountains in order to go to places like Banff, Lake Louise, or just drive to see the glaciers. Those drives are absolutely gorgeous, but it's not enough for me to want to live in Calgary. Their weather is vastly colder than what I have to put up with here in southern Ontario and their economy (which means housing prices as well) have gone through a roller-coaster over the years.

The word "best" obviously means different things to different people.

Many people I know didn't mind the endless months of rain and no sun that Vancouver often experiences whereas others (myself included) got into a certain and almost subliminal 'depression' because of the lack of sunshine.

Montreal is absolutely great in the summer and you can get by with just English if you live in the city, but the jobs aren't really there, depending of course on what you do for a living.
I would tend to ignore crime rates since most places are really safe and most crime is way over- hyped by the media, unless you are talking about break-and enters (especially vehicles) which are especially bad in downtown Vancouver and Montreal. I never think about crime rates at all really.

Before you decide to "move" anywhere it is ALWAYS advisable to do a visit there for as long as possible. But the problem with that in Canada is that it is a HUGE country and there are many people here who have not seen anything more than the area around where they grew up.
It takes many many DAYS of driving to get from Toronto to Vancouver (heck it takes one day of driving just to get to Manitoba from Toronto) thus it is a bit more difficult than most countries to check out the few, widely-spaced major cities that Canada has to offer.
Personally, I HATE the cold but unfortunately I was born here. I went to Vancouver initially because I thought that I would be able to take the rain much better than the cold. But I only managed to last four years until I had to flee back east for a variety of reasons.
Yes the scenery was great,on the rare occasions when the clouds would lift and you could actually see the mountains for a change, but eventually it became too oppressive, and expensive, for me.

That said....I apologize about my long rambling rant but I'm not a regular on this site and I usually only visit to check out people's reports on various tropical locations. But for some reason I looked into the Canada section here and after I came across your post I felt compelled to ramble about my personal experiences just to give you a personal perspective. (Yet that means little since any friend, or neighbour of mine may likely say something completely different.
Still, best of luck to you.

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I am born and raised in Calgary and though the housing prices are high here (not Vancouver though), there are lots of options for city and outdoor living. The downside is the unpredictable weather! But we are an hour away from the mountains, have a ton of off leash dog parks, pathways and an international airport. If you are mindful of what you need, it doesn't have to be crazy expensive. And the average age here in Calgary is 42.

BC is beautiful, Montreal is fun and cultured, Ottawa is pretty and the East Coast is friendly and lovely. We are a huge country, and there is a place for everyone but it is SO difficult to choose one place over another.

Also consider how close you would like to be to major centres and the border between Canada and the US.

Good luck!

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I live in Nanaimo (85,000). I have lived in North Vancouver for 25 years, Vancouver for 6 years. Vancouver is the second most expensive city in the world. There is no place to park there & on a cloudy day all you see is concrete. Ottawa is far too cold. Actually anywhere besides the southern wet coast is way too cold. Victoria on the south end of Vancouver Island is the best city in Canada, but still pricey. Port Alberni is cheap, but too far out over Mt. Arrowsmith. It is hotter in the summer and colder in the winter. People from there shop in Nanaimo, but the lake is nice. Anything north of Nanaimo is wetter and colder, but Courtnay is nice. Nanaimo is relatively cheap. I have lived there 23 years & it is the best city in Canada in my opinion. It's hard to find a job there though. It has Vancouver Island University an just ok school. You can check jobs Canada for postings. I have been living for a while in the Philippines, so if anyone wants to rent my fantastic 105 year old Nanaimo heritage home with wood stove and heat pump and awesome garden & hot tub let me know. It's next to the University and close to the downtown, ferry & airport. Cheers

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Don't you feel a little 'out there' in the middle of nowhere? Small town culture.

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I recommend Nanaimo (85,000). Lots of beautiful nature & seascape. Close to the mainland ferry and lots of recreation facilities. It's a Lillie difficult to meet people who can be shy. So it is sometimes necessary to join a group of some kind. Cost of living still affordable. If you're well heeled, Victoria is the best city in Canada. Think warm, long summer and early Spring. Anything east of Vancouver and you will count your freezing winters.

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