If you could buy a small holiday home in france where would it be and why?

[user746016]

We are tentatively thinking about doing this but I don't know France particularly well and not really to even enough to start narrowing it down. Which region would you look at? It would initially be to spend the summer months and christmas but ultimately to spend part of the year there when we retire.

We obviously need to do lots of scoping trips but I'm struggling to get off the starting blocks. Im randomly looking at properties online..

Antibes. Good transport on the Cote d’Azure, sea, warmish winters, close to Nice, and it has a beautiful daily Provençal market.

Not sure I would be able to buy even a small home there though!

easy to access from the UK with a dog.

We have been seven or eight times but visiting on holiday is not the same as looking for an area to live.

We have considered the same and would probably stick to Normandy or Brittany due to ease of access as would be driving

Somewhere in the alps for skiing.

If taking a dog then near to a port. Either around St Malo area or near Bayeux in Normandy.

Vendee would be my go to. Or the Alps but that's a long way down.

Trouville-sur-Mer because it's got a lovely beach, cafés and restaurants.

Start learning French! You'll need it if you want to live there.

This! And I’d also do a bit of research into the general attitude to second homers wherever you decide to look.

Chamonix or Morzine

What's your budget? What's your ongoing budget? Monthly taxes for second homeowners can be high in certain areas. Also, weather - similar to UK? Urban, rural, coastal - there's a lot of variables.

i speak reasonably good french. DH is fluent

Ile de Re

Budget up to 500k but that would need to be a completely finished property.

I think second homes are mostly a bad idea, and tend to make sense in situations where a family has a genuine long-term connection with an area (example, the rest of the extended family mostly lives around there) and therefore has a reason for wanting a bolthole in a particular place. If it's just holidays, surely you will get bored of endless visits to the same place if you have never had any particular connection to the area anyway?

Think about how you would get there. How certain are future flights to the region you like, and from your local airport in the UK?

Carnac is absolutely beautiful, as are the surrounding areas north and south along the coast. Inland feels slightly remote.
It is very expensive to live (going by supermarket prices (Lidl))
If I won the lottery I would be off there in a flash!

I'd look at Charente, far enough south to generally have warmer summer weather than the U.K. yet can still be reached by the afternoon, with a straight forward journey, after arriving on the overnight ferry to Caen.
You would get a very nice property within your budget, more so than in Provence or the Loire for example. It's a very pretty area, with some lovely historic towns and villages, also it's well situated for trips to the coast and towns such as Bordeaux.
Angoulême is a favourite town of mine, with a super food market hall. Also I must mention Pineau des Charentes, the local aperitif! 🍷 🍷 🍷

Probably Nice but a place in France would be very near the bottom of my list tbh.

The Loire region (absolutely gorgeous) or south east France (Drome area-really beautiful). You would have to learn some French !

You need to look at somewhere close to an airport/transport links.

I’d get a place in the Alps perhaps in/near Morzine but have no idea how realistic that is price wise

Obviously skiing would be brilliant but we love the alps in summer.

If DH is fluent, presumably he has spent quite a bit of time in france? Do you have any other criteria eg journey do able with dog in one day, tourist area (or not), hills, mountain or coast? What do you like to do? I’d recommend several years of holidays scoping out the potential candidates before you buy. Have you also looked into the financial position? French in general are not that keen to encourage it so there are quite a few taxes to pay.

Family have one in the Languadoc but bought 35 yrs ago and they are European anyway so have a good friendship base/are part of the community. It’s been lovely but I’m not sure I would take it on.