Best cities to live in France

Menton

Perpignan, or the villages nearby. Wonderful scenery, with mountains going down to the sea, beautiful beaches, good climate, fine food. What's there not to like? Basically, any of the towns and cities in the south, on the Mediterranean coast are very good. Montpellier, an attractive, lively town, Carcassonne is  also very good, but a bit further from the sea. Languedoc-Rousillon, that's the place to be!                         pmpbw

It all depends on what kind of person/family you are? Is it mountains, rolling hills and countryside or the sea that gives you that feel good factor? Or is it bright lights and city life? I've been in Paris for 12 years now and coming to my limit of city life. Paris is wonderful, full of history, beauty, and great restaurants and terraces on which to enjoy the passing rat race. Yes that is what it is here at least at peak hours. Towns like Caen, Bayeaux in Normandy have enough for me to do these days and being closer to the sea is a bonus. Down south towards Provence and the Luberon is also very attractive. Montpellier is a gem. I could go on and on and on....

Hi guys
it's depend to what you want to do but for me the best place is Paris the most beautifull city in the world

Yes it really depends what kind of lifestyle you want to have.

Paris is beautiful but the people are not so friendly and very stressed. If you like skiing then Grenoble is a good city to be base din. Similarly, it you like surfing then Biarritz is good but it is a very seasonable place. But for a nice city outside of Paris, I would consider either Toulouse or Bordeaux. Toulouse is in between the Atlantic and Mediterranean and if you like to surf or ski you don't need to drive too far. Bordeaux is a very beautiful place, near the sea with some amazing countryside and architecture. Thos are my two choices.

I am retiring in a few months and will be moving from  Los Angeles to Annecy, where my husband is from.
I've spent a lot of time there during visits- I'm ready for 4 seasons, ( I'm originally from New York)
Annecy is known for its beautiful lake, mountains, and charming old town built in the 12th Century.

Lyon!  France's "second city".
   
    This is a lovely city of about one million residents with great restaurants, shopping (I don't mean the malls as one could be anywhere in a mall), a cathedral,  Roman theatres above the city from which one can see Mt. Blanc on a clear day, several museums of great interest, a mild climate with flowers still blooming on my balcony as I write.  Lyon is two hours by bullet train from Paris, an hour train trip through the Alps to Grenoble, a short distance from Geneva and a lovely two hour train trip to Nimes, Montpelier and all those lovely towns on The Mediterranean. If one is interested in history, this town has it with memorials to the Wars.The botanical park in Lyon--a gem in itself--has is a lake with an island which one accesses by walking under water to one of the most moving sculptural memorials to the loss of men during the wars in the Lyon area alone.
     Lyon has an excellent transportation system where your ticket can be used on the Metro, the trams and the buses for a reasonable price.  Yes there is a rush hour but since I gave up my car before moving here almost two years ago from Madison , Wi. so it doesn't affect me. One can rent an electric car for around town and also the standard rental for longer trips. Bike paths along the Rhone River which starts in The Alps and feeds into The Soanne River in the center of the city and becomes one all the way to The Mediterranean. River cruises during season provide another view of this fabulous city.
   
    The Lyonnaise tend to dress more casually than in Paris but they always looked dashing.  Bring scarves of good quality.
     I wish I had saved more of my professional wardrobe when I retired as it would still be in fashion here.
   Living in France is not cheap but the quality of life offsets that with good  medical care. The dental work I had done was two thirds cheaper than similiar work in The States.
   
   Yes, there is bureaucracy to work through and the banking system perplexes me as one does not walk into a bank for service but makes an appointment which may not be for a few days.  The shops do close (most of them) for about two hours for lunch. Seems civilized to me. That is true anywhere in France of course.
    My only issue is that my français is still poor and I need to go to the gare to buy an Intl. New York Times.
    Ah, such strife for a retiree who lives comfortably on a teacher's pension and Social Security. 
                        Best Wishes,        M.

Julien, when asking vague questions like this, you should really expect vague answers and this is what you've received so far. I'm going to put some spin on this question:

Best in what sense? People come to live in France for all sorts of reasons - something that the real estate agents in France haven't quite worked out yet as they're still struggling with the difference between sales and marketing. Noone tells you about the highly irritating mistral in the Var and the windiness of Aude valley....

Best compared to what? We can only compare cities (proper cities) if we've lived in them because living in a place is a very different experience to visiting a place on holiday. Each of us a sample of ONE and my penny's worth would say, the south of France (from where I live all the way to Nice which is more or less on the same latitude, is colder and far wetter than I imagined.

Let's talk about the word, 'city'. There is a definition of this word, and I'm not convinced French people know what it is. A city can only be a city if it has a 'Bishop's bench'. Such connurbations tend to be large as the larger religious houses cater to larger populations. Toulouse can be classed as a city and it's supposed to be the fourth largest in France. However, I know few well-travelled people who would describe it as anything but a town - and not a big one at that.

Let's talk about Paris. I will take the role of devil's advocate. Only Parisians think Paris is 'the most beautiful city in world'. Non-Parisians comedically call it 'a toilet' and like most European cities, it's cold and miserable in the winter. You also ought to check out the condition 'Paris Syndrome' and then tell me if you can explain the reasons for it to your friends.

I really do think the French government should invest more in research about their image abroad. I've done this for them in Asia amongst non-visitors, but their image closer to home is not going to be quite so positive - especially amongst those who've actually visited the country.

To make the question less vague for the people who have the time and give a damn about questions like this, perhaps it would be more pertinent to look at trend statistics. These will be far more interesting and revealing than one person's opinion - including mine!

Where are the trend statistics on the net inflow and outflow for work/non-work purposes in France and, here comes my burning question, why does France - according to the WHO - have the highest consumption of antidepressants in the EU at 21%? (for sources, check out: http://www.france24.com/en/20110802-fra … epressants)

Surely a population content with their lives don't take antidepressants?

Rhone Alps-offers routes to the south to escape to winter better weather. Italy either via Simplon pass in Switzerland or Mont Blanc  over to the right. Go north and you can take the eurotunnel back to the UK.  But the people are not friendly. I am here with animals so I wanted green fields. South offers bad soil and mobile diseases. I am between Geneva and Lyon. I prefer Geneva, It is more cosmopolitan and I speak Italian which means I can use my languages. In Lyon they speak nothing other than French,
Rhone Alps offers routes to escape. Too far west and you are stuck with too much France. Too far south and you might as well go to Spain. In Perpignan  you need Catalan or Spanish.

I found your post very interesting and would like to know about the 'mobile diseases'...Could you elaborate. I agree with you about being land-locked with 'too much France'... I don't particularly like the area around the Var. Too cold, mistral which means you can't sleep and the terrain always looks parched - like Australia.

I truly detest the beaches in France. Nice has too many stones and frankly, we call that 'coast' not a beach. Cannes - what do people SEE in Cannes? Well, the only time I see more concrete in a place of supposed leisure is a Japanese garden. And those people who don't like Dubai, just need to go to Port Grimaud. It's the same architect and the same principle. So you either like both or neither.

Wake up people and see things as they really are. Stop taking the antidepressants and take the rough with the smooth!

Julien wrote:

Hi,

Its not always easy to decide in which area to settle in when moving to France. According to you, what are the best cites to live in?

Which regions offer most of the job opportunities, a good quality of life, an affordable cost of living?

Share with us the cities you would recommend to expats and soon-to-be expats in France.

Thank you in advance,

Julien

A reminder of the initial post. Please avoid going off topic.

Thank You,
Naomi

I have bought a house in Limoux, Languedoc Roussillon after a research trip of 3 months starting at Coulioure and ending in Bedarieux.
Limoux is a small attractive French town that is alive all year around. That was one of my conditions. There is a 3 month carnival that keeps the winter interesting rather than bleak.
I choose Limoux because of its location, it's proximity to an airport and the ease to head to the Pyrenees, the Mediterranean, the Cathar castles, great markets around and in Limoux and the many wineries. It offers a lot, yet it is not overrun by tourists, has lovely scenery and very friendly people.

Rouen Normandy. The most underrated provincial French city.

Beautiful Gothic city center. Stellar Cathedral.  Cobblestone streets.

Only one hour ten minutes from Paris by train bus and car!! And it's a total different vibe than Paris. It's not the parisian suburb either. More affordable housing more space better quality of life. Quaint peaceful.

Sure Lyon is 2 hrs by bullet train but not by car or bus and the train ticket price isn't the same.

You're also 30 to 45 minutes from the nearest English channel beaches. 

I spent some time in France. I lived for 6 months in the South of France. Never liked it. I found them unfriendly, douchey not as cultured and refined as Northern French people. 

All in all Rouen is this beautiful middle size city that's not too big not too small and very close to Paris. Tens of thousands of parisians during the pandemic moved to Rouen. While being a quiet safe town it's vibrant youthful and beautiful. Highly recommended. Rouen is the ultimate best of both worlds kind of town.

What does it cost to live in Rouen? We were looking at Toulon as a retirement destination.

@SerifThe Irish take huge amounts of anti-depressants  but dont forget humans get addicted to them and cant live without them so what to say?

    @SerifThe Irish take huge amounts of anti-depressants  but dont forget humans get addicted to them and cant live without them so what to say?
   

    -@concertina

They've not visited the site in 7 years so I doubt you will get a reply.