Living in the French Riviera

You are an expatriate living in the French Riviera, or you used to  work and live in the French Riviera.

Share your expat experience!

How would you describe life in the French Riviera?

Has it been complicated to settle down, to find a job, and an accomodation? 

Is it complicated to make friends in the French Riviera?

What would you recommend to people who would like to live in the French Riviera?

Thanks in advance for your participation

Hello
Having worked on the Cote D'Azur years ago for several years, I have long harboured an ambition to return to live there permanently.  OF course we would need to make a living, and with my background in travel and tourism, this is a natural area for us to move into. We would love to be able to buy an established mobile home holiday business - if they ever come onto the open market! - but having made some enquiries, it appears that finance is not available through the usual channels for such a business as no real estate is involved. The only way I could envisage being able to do it, would be on a 'lease purchase' type agreeement - ie paying a lump sum to the owner at the end of each season for a set number of years until the business is bought.
Is there anyone out there with experience of buying such a business, and if so, how did you finance the operation? Secondly - does anyone want to sell their business?!

We've been here for 6 years and although we love it, the cost of living is just horrendous!!!  Most items are double what you would pay in the UK.  So we are moving into the Var, where life is cheaper and people are friendlier.  Will let u know how we get on.

i am born and i've lived in the Var for 21 years now. even if this region seems pretty attractive i've to say that you should be carefull before choosing a place. first in winter some cities which are really animated during summer are dead, nothing to do, everything closed at 8-9pm during the week.
then in summer prices double and the population is *10 so the life could become quickly difficult. still don't worry you will have the sun and hot temperatures but cities close to the beach and the cost are not always the best to live