I will give you my 2 cents, please bare in mind they are not worth a lot.
I am nowhere close to that age, we however bought a place on south Portugal few years ago and I love my time there, the quality of life is superb and price is reasonable.
Close to our place there is quite a few retired folks and we speak a lot when there.. they seem to have a great quality of life but, mainly, their kids / grand kids seem to enjoy it as well...
I am sure it's not to everyone but it is worth exploring.