Southland

Why choose a retirement village in Southland?

From New Zealand’s southernmost city, Invercargill, through to the alpine centres of Queenstown and Arrowtown, you’ll find surprising variety in Southland. Invercargill’s old-world heritage architecture, wide streets, and beautiful Queens Park gardens give it a unique charm. While Invercargill is famous as the home of Bert Munro, who set the world land speed record in 1967 on his Indian Scout motorbike, neighbouring Gore is the centre of country music in New Zealand, hosting an annual music festival. Arrowtown and Queenstown offer adventure travel, stunning scenery, and a relaxed alpine lifestyle. So our southernmost region has a lot going on!

There are other advantages to this area. The long summer daylight hours in Invercargill mean you can garden, play golf or walk round the neighbourhood into the summer evenings. There’s a variety of retirement living options and lifestyles to choose from – a number of new or developing villages are complemented by more established ones.

You can choose from lifestyle villages to those offering a range of care levels. And of course there’s also a choice of styles of villas, townhouses and apartments.

A retirement village is a community specially built to cater for the needs and lifestyle of older people. Choosing to live in a retirement village can be a great option for those wanting to maintain their independence while living among a like-minded community of people.

Research shows most people enjoy a high level of satisfaction when living in a lifestyle or retirement village. For residents, the benefits can be numerous; these may include giving you peace of mind, new and varied activities and interests, new friendships, and time to be able to spend on the things you most enjoy.

Villages vary greatly – you’ll notice different-sized villages, from very few units to some with hundreds; different types of units within the same complex; newer villages and older villages. You will discover the community offering a wide range such as swimming pool, bowling green and café. Eligibility age differs across villages too – some villages may allow residents to enter at 55 while others commonly have an entry age between 65 and 75.

As well as providing a range of different accommodation options, many villages now offer alternatives, such as care suites, which combine village offerings and residential care components. Make sure you visit a village more than once before you make a decision, and if possible visit more than one village to get a feel for how each has its own culture.

When you are ready to visit some retirement villages, our checklist may help you with your assessment.