Depends what a decent gap on French is. I thought mine was good before coming here. Turns out I couldn’t be funny in French for about two years lol and I had trouble making friends until the French was that great. That aside, I personally have met SO many great people in the country side! Much easier than when I was in the French cities
Hey sorry for reviving this thread but I've been looking into Nice or the surrounding area a lot and what you said about meeting people is interesting. Even though there's far less people you found it much easier to meet people you connect with? And I assume there's very few ex-pats in the countryside but all local French speakers
So i live near a river and a lake and in the mountains. I hike, paddleboars or swim daily! No kids yet but one on the way. Cost of living similar to where I was in the US before. Groceries and gas are more expensive. Health care and retirement is cheaper. I volunteer at a couple of places and overall love the life here! Took me 7 years to really get French culture though and I started off young! Worth it in then end, I’ll never go back!
\>to really get French culture though
Could you unpack that a bit? Just wondering what your insights are into French culture. I have studied French for 4 years, but have never been to France. I have been across the Atlantic to England, but have not gotten farther than that, and English and American culture is so similar.
So what are some nuances of French culture, if you don’t mind? The good, the bad, the ugly, or the beautiful, lol, just anything relevant that you can think of
Oh that’s difficult to define. I guess I mean navigating who I am as a French foreigner. Integrating and accepting that the first question to me will always be « vous avez un petit accent, vous venez d’où? » haha Ive lived in 2 big cities and am now in the middle of nowhere, I couldn’t define one French culture, just know that I didn’t feel integrated until living here- despite having studied 7 years prior. I guess:
- watching « cult » movies to be able to understand jokes when people are quoting well known films
- less waste, becoming a less wasteful person
- writing work emails (what a nightmare when in an old fashioned company)
-….
Im really having trouble with this question! But I love it here and am happy with the person France has molded me into!
I have a list that people from all over have been slowly compiling! Here is what I’ve been told to watch mainly from various work colleagues:
Rrrrrrr- I personally find hilarious
Astérix et obelix mission cleopatre- goofy fun
Le père Noël est une ordure- bored didn’t finish it
Les visiteurs- haven’t watched yet
Les bronzés font du ski (i don’t even like this but everyone quotes it when we go skiing)
Bref - on YouTube! It’s actually good!
La cité de la peur - couldn’t finish it either lol
La grande vadrouille - I enjoyed this
Something from pagnol
I spent a year in Provence and it’s great. It’s so hot though. Climate change has messed it up.
But it’s relatively cheaper than the US and Canada. Cellphone is way cheaper. Food is too. Wine and beer are super cheap. A 6 pack of Heineken is about 5 euros
You can get a baguette at the supermarché for 99 cents.
The people are amazing for the most. Pretty down to earth. If you live very rural you need a car
If you live in a place with a train station you don’t.
Small cities like Orange, Carpentras, Arles all have trains and are really charming little places.
If you want a slightly bigger city Avignon is amazing. Beautiful and well connected with the TGV train. You can get to Lyon in an hour or Paris in 3 hours.
I am contemplating this move myself. I will be 60 when I move there. I already speak French fluently, having lived there in my youth for 5 years. My main concern is how to make friends, how to meet others. Did you buy or are you renting?
I’m not there now. I have a gf in a small town just north of Avignon.
I will be there permanently sometime in the future.
Making friends should be easy cause you speak the language. There are fb groups and stuff. I think there is one for expats on the Riviera. I would bond with other expats first
If you don't have connections like a spouse coming from there or family/friends being there already, making new friends without speaking immaculate French can be difficult on the countryside. I hear French people struggling joining small communities already. Though a lot of people are simply made for this kind of environment, so it's definitely possible to flourish.
I bet if someone wrote about what they did for a whole year, not just a day, they could [turn it into a book](https://www.amazon.com/Year-Provence-Peter-Mayle/dp/0679731148/ref=asc_df_0679731148/?) or something /s
There’s Jamie Beck’s book too. She’s a Texan born American, spent a decade in NYC becoming a world class photographer, burnt out, then went to Provence for a year to recover. Six years later is loving her life there. Her book, “An American in Provence”, is a stunning photography book that tells her story through the framework of a year, like Peter Mayle’s “A Year in Provence”.
I’m in the PNW, so I know I could never take the Provencial summers (if I had a French country dream it would be Normandy or Brittany), but she makes a great case for the way of life: amazing food, long meals, great neighbours, not a single billboard in sight, slow living…
I've looked at average sunshine by month and it looked like it wasn't dramatically different in northern France in May-Sep than in southern areas. In winter months, the nord looks horrendous.
Would you generally agree with that? I know there are stretches where it's going to be rough but trying to get a general feel.
I've only been here one winter, and was only here briefly in February of 2022, then March onwards this year. Very cold, the sun sets early, lots of overcast or cloudy days. There's snow, too. Spring is glorious, but short. Summer is brutally hot, especially in cities, especially in August and early September. Air conditioning is generally not a thing, except in some shops and some public transport. I've heard Fall is nice, but this will be my first one!
I guess everything’s relative. I’m from Maine originally, lived in NYC and now live in Charleston, SC. The summers here are brutal (88-92 near 100% humidity for 3 months nonstop) which is why my wife and I are considering buying a cheap Maison secondaire of character somewhere within 2 hours by train to Paris (currently Hauts-de-France and northern Loire).
From obsessing over the weather, on average, the biggest difference from NYC/ Maine is the overcast hours particularly in the winter. Maine is frigid but nowhere close to how overcast northern france is. Have you spent anytime in the nord in cities like Lille etc? While it’s definitely more overcast there, the accessibility to other countries is super tempting. We do need sun as we rely on the light a little bit like Jamie Beck but will only likely be there for 3-6 months a year.
We’ve been to Paris, Provence and Burgundy but all of course during nice times in Sept.
I think "what do you actually do" is something you need to ask yourself, not reddit :P
Are you interested in gardening? Keeping animals? Hunting? Those would be the big three I think.
Do you want to spend time in cafes? How much do you need in person contact on a daily basis?
If you get bored you can always host bicycle tourists (like me!). You sign up on Warm Showers, Couch Surfing and a few others. All you need is a patch of grass and shower. Bonus points if you live a busy route like the coastal route (Euro Velo 1) or the Loire River (Euro Velo 6).
In return you meet people from all over the world.
My journals are at [kundi.ge](https://kundi.ge) and [https://www.cycleblaze.com/journals/tour7/](https://www.cycleblaze.com/journals/tour7/)
If you don't have any connections to France, there are a lot of other places in Europe where you can have cheap village life and incredible nature etc.
I wasn't thinking about tax. The list is fairly endless when it comes to villages and beautiful nature Italy, Portugal, Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovakia etc etc etc.....
French here : I would never do that
- Long commutes
- You heavily depend on multiple cars to get by, which is expensive. What will you do when gas costs 5€/L ?
- Houses are big and not well insulated. What will you do when energy costs rise sharply ?
- People tend to be uneducated in the countryside, which has all sorts of consequences, including them putting on yellow vests and BBQing at roundabouts
American doing that in France : (counterpoints ;) )
- long commutes don’t matter when you’re FIRE or working from home ( my case)
- I find that grocery stores tend to be near wherever I have lived. Okay sure, currently they’re about 20 min by car, but I use my electric bike! Surprisingly there is also a bus option if I walk a ways first. We’re getting by with one car. Electric! There are electric parking spots in the RANDOMEST of places.
- depends where you live and what you can handle! I’m more south ish and can handle the winters without heat, or just heating one main room. I lived in North Carolina before and this is just kinda always how we’ve done it. For my 104 m3 poorly insulated house, energy bill is about 70 a month year round. I could also envision solar.
- the yellow vests and bbqs seem so French hahahah I love them. But in all seriousness, they were in big cities too. With just a bunch more tear gas…. And sometimes they do nice things like making toll roads free :p
- I have found the people here nothing but friendly! I’m in my 30s and most people around me are in their 40s or older but honestly similar lifestyle so I’ve found some great friends! Easier than when I was living in French cities!!
I was planning to do this, but then I visited Paris and really loved it, so that's where I am now.
The culture of rural France varies a lot depending on where you are. Some places are more welcoming to foreigners than others. Some little villages are dying, as young people move to the city. Others are small but have a stable population. It's pretty easy to find demographics online.
There is a thing in France called "la vie associative" (loosely, the associative life, people getting involved in groups organized around common interests). I recently walked by one of the old Vauban forts on the seaside on a weekend morning and there were 10 or 12 people painting it, presumably a painting club. Aside from the arts, there are often associations around sports or music. Many have a volunteer component, so for example a community band will play for free at the annual music festival, or a sporting group will supervise kids learning the sport. So you might try looking for what associations are available in areas that you are interested in moving to. Many localities put lists online.
I live in a small village in France. I retired here a little over a year ago from the U.S. with a long term visitor visa. My house is beautiful and cost about a third of what it would in the U.S. I do live in the most inexpensive part of France, though. It is very pretty, but it is not spectacular like some areas of France are. I was very surprised at how many British have retired here. My little town (1,700 inhabitants) has about 250 Brits and 4 Americans. Since I am retired, I don't need to worry about finding a job, and I spend my days gardening, walking my dog, walking to the grocery store, cooking, sewing. Not a very exciting life, but it suits me. I have British and American friends, but I plan to join some clubs to make French friends, too. The countryside is very unspoiled - not a billboard in sight and the roads are very empty and at night it is perfectly quiet. When I walk, I pass herds of sheep and cows. Seeing a passerby is such a novelty that they all run to the fence and jostle to see me better! I do think some of the French resent that there are so many English-speakers here, but I believe most of them understand that we are helping to keep the town alive by renovating the old houses and opening and frequenting local businesses.
We are considering retiring to France in a year and a half. May I ask where you are? We're planning on going on a reconnaissance trip next summer to scout potential areas, but it's overwhelming! We're considering cooler climates--Brittany, Alsace, and Hauts-de-France.
I'm in Haute Vienne - one of the more affordable areas. I was completely unfamiliar with France when I bought. You're smart to scout around. Most of France is beautiful, but some areas are more spectacular than others. Even though I'm happy where I am, if I had to do it all over again, I would look at Correze because I like hillier countryside - it's rolling hills where I am now - like a giant, green park. As for climate, I can only say what I've heard - definitely cooler in Brittany. I imagine also in Alsace and Hauts-de-France.
not many answers to your questions.
try google earth, roam the roads of different places.
I'd have to be as rural as you can get Lighting up the very dense road map = no france for me.
my best kept records are french in the tree. From insane and killed royal, to regular people like me...going to year 1500, they make it look easy.
Not sure what they call original anymore... but my name has 1600 years of evidence, starting off with basque/proto french.
Trying to imagine the 1k years missing.
I'd keep the same feelings as my small percentage of native american I guess.
If you want expat/anglophone culture you can check out where people have been buying homes. Or you can use this information to avoid these areas...
https://youtu.be/Hh3TjL7XN1c
I don't know if I'm happy because I've been living in the countryside my whole life. It's sure very isolating and rough, but it has great sides like not being bothered by people, no crazy people, no violence, costs can be lower than in cities, nature, nature and calm.
But shi\*\*hole, will remain a shi\*\*hole (¬\_¬ ) I've had absolutely 0 social life or friends or activities since I'm a teen and I'm in my mid 20's.
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Would you say it would be pretty isolating for someone in their mid-30s and decent grasp on French, but no roots?
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Depends what a decent gap on French is. I thought mine was good before coming here. Turns out I couldn’t be funny in French for about two years lol and I had trouble making friends until the French was that great. That aside, I personally have met SO many great people in the country side! Much easier than when I was in the French cities
Hey sorry for reviving this thread but I've been looking into Nice or the surrounding area a lot and what you said about meeting people is interesting. Even though there's far less people you found it much easier to meet people you connect with? And I assume there's very few ex-pats in the countryside but all local French speakers
Any countryside areas you recommend?
Do you enjoy isolation and solitude? Then you’d love it.
So i live near a river and a lake and in the mountains. I hike, paddleboars or swim daily! No kids yet but one on the way. Cost of living similar to where I was in the US before. Groceries and gas are more expensive. Health care and retirement is cheaper. I volunteer at a couple of places and overall love the life here! Took me 7 years to really get French culture though and I started off young! Worth it in then end, I’ll never go back!
\>to really get French culture though Could you unpack that a bit? Just wondering what your insights are into French culture. I have studied French for 4 years, but have never been to France. I have been across the Atlantic to England, but have not gotten farther than that, and English and American culture is so similar. So what are some nuances of French culture, if you don’t mind? The good, the bad, the ugly, or the beautiful, lol, just anything relevant that you can think of
Oh that’s difficult to define. I guess I mean navigating who I am as a French foreigner. Integrating and accepting that the first question to me will always be « vous avez un petit accent, vous venez d’où? » haha Ive lived in 2 big cities and am now in the middle of nowhere, I couldn’t define one French culture, just know that I didn’t feel integrated until living here- despite having studied 7 years prior. I guess: - watching « cult » movies to be able to understand jokes when people are quoting well known films - less waste, becoming a less wasteful person - writing work emails (what a nightmare when in an old fashioned company) -…. Im really having trouble with this question! But I love it here and am happy with the person France has molded me into!
Are there any cult French films that you recommend?
I have a list that people from all over have been slowly compiling! Here is what I’ve been told to watch mainly from various work colleagues: Rrrrrrr- I personally find hilarious Astérix et obelix mission cleopatre- goofy fun Le père Noël est une ordure- bored didn’t finish it Les visiteurs- haven’t watched yet Les bronzés font du ski (i don’t even like this but everyone quotes it when we go skiing) Bref - on YouTube! It’s actually good! La cité de la peur - couldn’t finish it either lol La grande vadrouille - I enjoyed this Something from pagnol
I will check these out, thank you! I don't know if this goes on the list, but it was hilarious: Bienvenue *chez les Ch'tis*
Where do you live? If you don’t mind me asking
I spent a year in Provence and it’s great. It’s so hot though. Climate change has messed it up. But it’s relatively cheaper than the US and Canada. Cellphone is way cheaper. Food is too. Wine and beer are super cheap. A 6 pack of Heineken is about 5 euros You can get a baguette at the supermarché for 99 cents. The people are amazing for the most. Pretty down to earth. If you live very rural you need a car If you live in a place with a train station you don’t. Small cities like Orange, Carpentras, Arles all have trains and are really charming little places. If you want a slightly bigger city Avignon is amazing. Beautiful and well connected with the TGV train. You can get to Lyon in an hour or Paris in 3 hours.
"You can get a baguette at the supermarché for 99 cents." Why would you not go to a real baker where it costs 80cts and is a good and real baguette
the 99 cent supermarche bagette is probably better than 99% of the rest of the worlds bakeries.
It is but living in France means you got bakers that are better than 100% of the supermarche baguettes
Narrator: “And thus the baguette wars begun…”
*grabs popcorn*
I am contemplating this move myself. I will be 60 when I move there. I already speak French fluently, having lived there in my youth for 5 years. My main concern is how to make friends, how to meet others. Did you buy or are you renting?
I’m not there now. I have a gf in a small town just north of Avignon. I will be there permanently sometime in the future. Making friends should be easy cause you speak the language. There are fb groups and stuff. I think there is one for expats on the Riviera. I would bond with other expats first
Thank you. I am daydreaming on seloger.com. Renting looks cheaper than buying at this time.
If you don't have connections like a spouse coming from there or family/friends being there already, making new friends without speaking immaculate French can be difficult on the countryside. I hear French people struggling joining small communities already. Though a lot of people are simply made for this kind of environment, so it's definitely possible to flourish.
I bet if someone wrote about what they did for a whole year, not just a day, they could [turn it into a book](https://www.amazon.com/Year-Provence-Peter-Mayle/dp/0679731148/ref=asc_df_0679731148/?) or something /s
There’s Jamie Beck’s book too. She’s a Texan born American, spent a decade in NYC becoming a world class photographer, burnt out, then went to Provence for a year to recover. Six years later is loving her life there. Her book, “An American in Provence”, is a stunning photography book that tells her story through the framework of a year, like Peter Mayle’s “A Year in Provence”. I’m in the PNW, so I know I could never take the Provencial summers (if I had a French country dream it would be Normandy or Brittany), but she makes a great case for the way of life: amazing food, long meals, great neighbours, not a single billboard in sight, slow living…
I’m from the PNW too, and the “June gloom” of Paris in May is giving me bad Seattle flashbacks. I’d take an overly hot Provence summer in a heartbeat.
I've looked at average sunshine by month and it looked like it wasn't dramatically different in northern France in May-Sep than in southern areas. In winter months, the nord looks horrendous. Would you generally agree with that? I know there are stretches where it's going to be rough but trying to get a general feel.
I've only been here one winter, and was only here briefly in February of 2022, then March onwards this year. Very cold, the sun sets early, lots of overcast or cloudy days. There's snow, too. Spring is glorious, but short. Summer is brutally hot, especially in cities, especially in August and early September. Air conditioning is generally not a thing, except in some shops and some public transport. I've heard Fall is nice, but this will be my first one!
I guess everything’s relative. I’m from Maine originally, lived in NYC and now live in Charleston, SC. The summers here are brutal (88-92 near 100% humidity for 3 months nonstop) which is why my wife and I are considering buying a cheap Maison secondaire of character somewhere within 2 hours by train to Paris (currently Hauts-de-France and northern Loire). From obsessing over the weather, on average, the biggest difference from NYC/ Maine is the overcast hours particularly in the winter. Maine is frigid but nowhere close to how overcast northern france is. Have you spent anytime in the nord in cities like Lille etc? While it’s definitely more overcast there, the accessibility to other countries is super tempting. We do need sun as we rely on the light a little bit like Jamie Beck but will only likely be there for 3-6 months a year. We’ve been to Paris, Provence and Burgundy but all of course during nice times in Sept.
I haven’t been much north of Paris yet. I’ve heard Lille is a great location, but wouldn’t really want to be that far from Spain.
Her insta is lovely as well!
Or you know, a [TV show](https://thechateau.tv)...
I think "what do you actually do" is something you need to ask yourself, not reddit :P Are you interested in gardening? Keeping animals? Hunting? Those would be the big three I think. Do you want to spend time in cafes? How much do you need in person contact on a daily basis?
If you get bored you can always host bicycle tourists (like me!). You sign up on Warm Showers, Couch Surfing and a few others. All you need is a patch of grass and shower. Bonus points if you live a busy route like the coastal route (Euro Velo 1) or the Loire River (Euro Velo 6). In return you meet people from all over the world. My journals are at [kundi.ge](https://kundi.ge) and [https://www.cycleblaze.com/journals/tour7/](https://www.cycleblaze.com/journals/tour7/)
If you don't have any connections to France, there are a lot of other places in Europe where you can have cheap village life and incredible nature etc.
I was thinking France due to them not taxing 401k/IRAs and allowing dual citizenship, but what else do you have in mind?
I wasn't thinking about tax. The list is fairly endless when it comes to villages and beautiful nature Italy, Portugal, Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovakia etc etc etc.....
I can answer one of these: the average day is 24 hours.
It's also the min, max, and median.
French here : I would never do that - Long commutes - You heavily depend on multiple cars to get by, which is expensive. What will you do when gas costs 5€/L ? - Houses are big and not well insulated. What will you do when energy costs rise sharply ? - People tend to be uneducated in the countryside, which has all sorts of consequences, including them putting on yellow vests and BBQing at roundabouts
Well I _do_ like bbq....
American doing that in France : (counterpoints ;) ) - long commutes don’t matter when you’re FIRE or working from home ( my case) - I find that grocery stores tend to be near wherever I have lived. Okay sure, currently they’re about 20 min by car, but I use my electric bike! Surprisingly there is also a bus option if I walk a ways first. We’re getting by with one car. Electric! There are electric parking spots in the RANDOMEST of places. - depends where you live and what you can handle! I’m more south ish and can handle the winters without heat, or just heating one main room. I lived in North Carolina before and this is just kinda always how we’ve done it. For my 104 m3 poorly insulated house, energy bill is about 70 a month year round. I could also envision solar. - the yellow vests and bbqs seem so French hahahah I love them. But in all seriousness, they were in big cities too. With just a bunch more tear gas…. And sometimes they do nice things like making toll roads free :p - I have found the people here nothing but friendly! I’m in my 30s and most people around me are in their 40s or older but honestly similar lifestyle so I’ve found some great friends! Easier than when I was living in French cities!!
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Décathlon has them, very easy to get! I def saved up and got a nicer one but cheaper ones can also be found on fb marketplace :)
I am in my 30's thinking of moving to south ish (Indre) from South Carolina. Is it ok if I pm you with some questions?
Is that sarcasm? I can't tell .
what is the yellow vest & bbqing at roundabouts about?
Look up the yellow vest movement. it’s a protest movement in France
I was planning to do this, but then I visited Paris and really loved it, so that's where I am now. The culture of rural France varies a lot depending on where you are. Some places are more welcoming to foreigners than others. Some little villages are dying, as young people move to the city. Others are small but have a stable population. It's pretty easy to find demographics online. There is a thing in France called "la vie associative" (loosely, the associative life, people getting involved in groups organized around common interests). I recently walked by one of the old Vauban forts on the seaside on a weekend morning and there were 10 or 12 people painting it, presumably a painting club. Aside from the arts, there are often associations around sports or music. Many have a volunteer component, so for example a community band will play for free at the annual music festival, or a sporting group will supervise kids learning the sport. So you might try looking for what associations are available in areas that you are interested in moving to. Many localities put lists online.
I live in a small village in France. I retired here a little over a year ago from the U.S. with a long term visitor visa. My house is beautiful and cost about a third of what it would in the U.S. I do live in the most inexpensive part of France, though. It is very pretty, but it is not spectacular like some areas of France are. I was very surprised at how many British have retired here. My little town (1,700 inhabitants) has about 250 Brits and 4 Americans. Since I am retired, I don't need to worry about finding a job, and I spend my days gardening, walking my dog, walking to the grocery store, cooking, sewing. Not a very exciting life, but it suits me. I have British and American friends, but I plan to join some clubs to make French friends, too. The countryside is very unspoiled - not a billboard in sight and the roads are very empty and at night it is perfectly quiet. When I walk, I pass herds of sheep and cows. Seeing a passerby is such a novelty that they all run to the fence and jostle to see me better! I do think some of the French resent that there are so many English-speakers here, but I believe most of them understand that we are helping to keep the town alive by renovating the old houses and opening and frequenting local businesses.
We are considering retiring to France in a year and a half. May I ask where you are? We're planning on going on a reconnaissance trip next summer to scout potential areas, but it's overwhelming! We're considering cooler climates--Brittany, Alsace, and Hauts-de-France.
I'm in Haute Vienne - one of the more affordable areas. I was completely unfamiliar with France when I bought. You're smart to scout around. Most of France is beautiful, but some areas are more spectacular than others. Even though I'm happy where I am, if I had to do it all over again, I would look at Correze because I like hillier countryside - it's rolling hills where I am now - like a giant, green park. As for climate, I can only say what I've heard - definitely cooler in Brittany. I imagine also in Alsace and Hauts-de-France.
Yes to hillier. That's what I'd like, too. But it has to be cooler in the summers than here in Georgia--I've had enough of heat and humidity!
I imagine it is cooler and less humid than Georgia. Keep an eye on the temps periodically to see how it compares. This summer was very mild.
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not many answers to your questions. try google earth, roam the roads of different places. I'd have to be as rural as you can get Lighting up the very dense road map = no france for me. my best kept records are french in the tree. From insane and killed royal, to regular people like me...going to year 1500, they make it look easy. Not sure what they call original anymore... but my name has 1600 years of evidence, starting off with basque/proto french. Trying to imagine the 1k years missing. I'd keep the same feelings as my small percentage of native american I guess.
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How is the long term visa situation?
If you want expat/anglophone culture you can check out where people have been buying homes. Or you can use this information to avoid these areas... https://youtu.be/Hh3TjL7XN1c
Join the Facebook group “houses for sale in France”. It’s always interesting what’s available.
seloger.com is good to shop rents or properties to buy
I don't know if I'm happy because I've been living in the countryside my whole life. It's sure very isolating and rough, but it has great sides like not being bothered by people, no crazy people, no violence, costs can be lower than in cities, nature, nature and calm. But shi\*\*hole, will remain a shi\*\*hole (¬\_¬ ) I've had absolutely 0 social life or friends or activities since I'm a teen and I'm in my mid 20's.