Rianne, Yes, we are very happy with our decision. Is Hungary perfect? No, it has some serious political problems and corruption at the top is amazingly bad, but in many ways the same as in the US. IMHO the US is the most corrupt country in the world now. However, that doesn't affect us being guests here. The 27% VAT is the worst part but invisible as it is already in the pricing.
Had I thought about it more before we retired there would be other alternative countries to choose which might offer similar lifestyles which would be Slovakia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, and Romania. But now that we have been here 10 years I am very happy with our decision to live in Hungary. Strangely our town became a Mecca for the uber-rich and receives a disproportionate share of EU investment money. We benefit from that directly with new city facilities and new housing construction going up everywhere. Our health care is really inexpensive but I will caveat that with the extant problems of doctors leaving to make money elsewhere which has resulted in shortages. If you pay cash though you go straight to the top if you need something serious. Worst case there is always Germany and/or Israel which are a lot more expensive and maybe the profit motive affects doctors decisions. My extended in-law family who are Russians and super-rich get their health care done in Germany or the US and also pay cash. Comparing treatments and outcomes I would say our healthcare is actually better. I blame the EU parliament for the salary problems though. What they need to do (but never will) is establish a minimum wage that is the same for every member country in the EU. Here it is 400 HUF an hour ($1.30) so of course people leave to work in Germany or the UK. The easy fix is to mandate that everyone get paid the same minimum which is a fair living wage. Personally, we pay workers very fair at $5.50 an hour (10,000 HUF for 6 hours work). We have no trouble getting service. But, we do have a semi-full time property manager who can do nearly everything. He and I do the garden together and he does minor electrical and plumbing as well as everything else. We pay him roughly $1,000 a month. He is also a retired military and I was a rotary pilot for several years before the military decided I needed to be a microbiologist (as my MS was in Microbiology). It was the Army that sent me to Cornell for the PhD cost free to me. But, I maintained my Commercial/Instrument ticket for many years and now am a Part 107 Commercial drone pilot mostly so I can publish videos on Youtube. My wife is a serious photographer (award winning) and she tasked me to do the aerial stuff so we can "share" her hobby. Happy wife = Happy life. She hates sailing and doesn't snowboard or mountain bike so at least we have that in common.
One interesting thing here is the doctors will spend time talking to you. There is no pressure to get you in and out. You can call your doctor in the middle of the night and they will see you ASAP, and in my case I called my opthamologist about flashes in my eye at 9 PM and he had me go straight to his office in Veszprem at 2200 and he performed laser re-attachment of my retina right then and there. He actually didn't want to charge me at all but we settled on paying 60,000 HUF or roughly $200. This actually happens a lot to us and we always pay them regardless just to keep things on keel. We become friends with all the doctors we use and periodically have them over for dinner. We are in the same "class" so it isn't extraordinary. My PhD is in Immunology (Cornell) and my wife's is in Geophysics (Moscow State Institute for Oil and Gas Exploration).
It is very possible to live on a budget of $2,000 a month if you own your own house. Housing is getting expensive but only if you purchase in high cost areas. There are alternatives which are far less expensive and you can but a village house for roughly $75k which might need another $50k in renovations. Here on the lake i our area if you live 5 km from the lake the prices drop by 75%. I have Brit friends who have done that and are very happy. Utility costs are high though and are roughly 5x higher than in the US. But, there is zero property tax. The food quality is excellent and as I have mentioned more or less it would qualify as organic in the US. The drawback is beef is very tough being free range and no feedlot or hormones used. On the other hand pork and chicken is the best in the world and mostly free range. Eggs are fantastic as are fruits and vegetables. The products here actually have flavor and are healthy. Food products such as bread will go bad in several days unlike in the US because there are no permissible chemical additives.
The nice thing is that Hungary is the exact center of Europe and so many places are within a relatively short drive. Budapest has an excellent airport but we also use Vienna and sometimes Graz. Vienna airport is 2.5 hours away and the Budapest airport is 2 hours so not too different. If the M8 ever gets built then Vienna will be faster to get to. Graz will also be much faster as will the skiing in the Alps. Now the closest decent Alpine ski area (Semmelring) is roughly 2.5 hours away. We have Epleny which is 35 km away and is a decent enough hill to play around on and costs 6,000 HUF ($20) for a day ticket. I am now an old fart so I think it will be 4,000 HUF.
I have run into quite a few American Hungarians who decided to retire in Hungary. Most of them ended up in Budapest which is a fantastic city. When I was at the American embassy last I was sitting next to a retired Full Professor from Yale who said he couldn't live on his pension in the US so was coming home to Hungary where he could live like a king. I think that is a typical situation. I also have encountered quite a few Hungarian professionals who have moved back to Hungary from places like the UK, Germany, and the Netherlands. The lifestyle and living conditions are far better for them and a much more relaxed life.
I will mention here that violent crime is nearly zero and property crime is large if you are careless. We still have a plethora of Gypsies in the area and yes, the stereotype sadly is true. Still compared to other countries and especially the US crime is relatively low. I don't actually think about it and there is zero risk to walking alone at night. Add in the xenophobia and the strong anti-immigration government and you have zero problems with illegal immigrants and very few non-European immigrants. Yes, you can move here and get a residential visa. But, you have to prove you have medical insurance, at least $2000 a month income, a place to live and actually show an open-ended airline ticket should you get denied a visa for any reason. You also have to provide a 6 month background check from your last place of residence. If you qualify then there is no problem. There is an alternate way which is to be a former Hungarian or descendent of a Hungarian (which you must prove) or if you a non-EU citizen you can "invest" in Hungary roughy $500k and get a permanent resident visa. A lot of Chinese are doing the latter. EU citizens can move freely between countries so that is not a problem except potentially for UK citizens who are going to get hammered when the UK leaves the EU, if that actually happens. Those that choose to remain will have to apply for visas. You cannot get a permanent resident visa until you live here for 5 years on a temporary visa. I am applying for full citizenship next year just to have a backup plan. The language requirement is waived after age 65 (sort of as the Mayor must certify you can function in Hungary). Our mayor is a friend so that is not an obstacle. We are the only Americans I know of living in the region. There are quite a few in Budapest but I haven't encountered any out here in my 10 years living here. There are plenty of Brits and Germans. I speak passable German so have several German friends who maintain vacation houses here on the lake. There are also a fair number of Russians here as well and a growing population of Ukrainians escaping the failed state of Ukraine. The same for Romanians who are escaping the failed state of Romania. I will mention both were ruined by US foreign policy. Hungary dances a delicate dance between the EU, the US, and Russia. It is an interesting place to live.
. As we all are pretty much everywhere we go. Just smile for the camera 
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