大咖福利影院

@elw139

Hello and welcome on board !

While waiting for members to share their insights with you, feel free to read our France Guide : /en/guide/europe/france/

Regards

Bhavna

@elw139

Bonjour Eileen. Dont forget the Atlantic coast and towns and cities in the Charente and Charente Maritime. Not all the fun is had in those cities you list. Bretagne is also somewhere worth considering, depending on how much sun and heat you want to live with. Is that a problem, considering where you live now? You will definitely want to be able to speak SOME French before you arrive. It really helps and costs less in mistakes, ultimately.

Bonne Chance. Nobody can make the decision for you, but you might also like to list some of your other criteria...Medical and proximity becomes a big issue as we age, and proximity to goods and services too.

Apparently Italy is about 20% less expensive than France, right now. Did you consider that country?

@elw139 Hello! I lived in Montpellier for nearly 20 years and it's a beautiful city. You can live outside the city itself and the rent is okay, depending on if you are looking for a house or an apartment. What I loved about the region is just that ... the region. You have the sea and also mountains inland. We also lived some years about 40 minutes from Montpellier where once again, magnificent landscapes. There is a large English-speaking community and it's pretty active. Bezier is about an hour away and personally not very fond of it but that's just me! If you want some more information don't hesitate!

@elw139

Hi there, I can wholeheartedly recommend Montpellier as an excellent place to live..... near to the Med (and my favourite place, Sete), a vibrant city. I would recommend reading my book which details the entire process of buying a property in France as an International buyer.... the process here has some important elements which need to be known and dealt with at the appropriate moments, methods of ownership which will affect inheritance, clauses to include in the compromis de vente which will protect you, and questions to ask which may seem 'obvious; or the answers to which might be 'assumed'...ask them anyway. Here's a link, and I hope it helps. [link moderated] Good luck, Craig

@elw139

Hello Eileen, We are a retired English couple who came (back) to live in France in 2024. My question is, just because you are a 'City Girl' from Tucson, do you really need to live right inside another city? In our experience cities in general around the world tend to have exagerrated problems - more crime, drug peddlars, congestion, etc. The solution that we found that suited us was to live in a large village within easy (30 minutes) driving as well as public transport distance from our nearest large town which is Ales in the Gard region of southern France. Our village is friendly, clean, you can have personal contact with the mayor and his staff, have access to major supermarkets within a 5 minute drive and still have access to the medical facilties of the big town within a short drive away. You might like to consider this option.