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..

You didn't attempt to answer the question which OP asked.

I love Carnac and Brittany but realistically it's only going to be hot 2 months a year.
After Provence the Charente-Maritime is very sunny and much cheaper.

Don't underestimate how fantastic the UK is, you will miss it terribly if you move permanently.

My in-laws had a lovely home in a village 5 mins outside morzine. It was beautiful in both the winter and the summer. I would love a place there

Annecy and surrounding area. Or the Basque country. Lovely all year round.
Not Côte d'azur, too crowded in summer and the mosquitoes are beyond evil!

I love Brittany. Josselin is lovely. Inland but easy day trip from north and west coastlines. Might not be warm enough for some though.

I’ll never forget the mosquitoes when we stayed in the Loire Valley! Beautiful forest areas with loads of picnic tables (all empty in hindsight!) only stopped for a picnic at one of those once! Ate picnic in the car in the end.

@MoonRiverDancing I was sitting by the pool on holiday on the côte d'azur one year, broad daylight, wearing an anti-mosquito bracelet and covered from head to toe in mosquito repellent. Watched a giant mosquito brazenly land on my arm right next to the anti-mozzie bracelet and proceed to bite me with great enthusiasm.

Annecy is a good shout as it's fairly easy to get to from Geneva. I love all the areas in France so it depends what you like. Bezier is lovely, S France climate but easy to get to the sea and larger cities. Not many mosquitoes either we find compared to some areas. Also love the Pyrenean and Alps area or you could go to somewhere like Colmar where it's easy to travel into other European countries as well.

Take it you both have EU passports?

Huh? So you speak French, your DH is fluent and you don't know France well? 🤔

In answer to your question If I had the money and the time I'd buy a small town centre apartment in Sete, a port on the med down in the south. We go most years and adore it. But that is a very personal thing - we love the working fishing port vibe, it has a great music and arts scene and we have a lot of friends there. It isn't a typical ex pat place.

I wouldn’t buy in France but it in Suffolk near the coast so you can get there for weekends. If you buy in France, how often will you actually get there?

For me it would bd ond of the following - Morzine/Les Gets/ Samoëns/Morillon area as lovely in winter (skiing) and summer (hiking, cycling etc)

All are an easy transfer from Geneva airport and lots of flights every day from UK

Charente maritime is fab. One of the sunniest climates, some beautiful old towns, great bodyboarding beaches and vineyards/ Cognac. Quite easy to get to as well.
my parents had a holiday home near Carcassone which was great, inland but closeish to Bezier, Nimes etc. they then bought a home and retired to Languedoc Rouisillon, close to Ceret and Collioure. We loved it, BUT they struggled to sell and also to integrate into French life to an extent. Good luck!

Definitely stay away from Nice, Cannes, Antibes. I have a lot of family there and they are forever battling with traffic. Always stuck in traffic jams. Mosquitoes have become a lot more of a problem. They have tiger mosquitoes now that bite during the day as well as the indigenous ones at night.
I'd probably live in a lovely village or town within an hour of Carcassonne.

Do either of you hold an EU passport ? Sorry to be a downer, but unless you do, you'll be limited to 90 days per year. There may well be restrictions on bank accounts as well. The only people I know who kept their French house post BREXIT have gone for French citizenship, the others all sold up.

I love France and would happily spend more time there.

I'm not sure why this is confusing. I also speak extremely good German but Ive been to Germany once in my life when I was 14 (with school). I did French and German A Levels and have kept up both languages. I also did Russian at University but have never been! DH's mother is from Switzerland and he has spoken French from a young age.

France is actually 90 days in any 180 day period rather than 90 days per year.

How would you get there? Plane? Ferry? Tunnel? I would choose a destination within easy reach of the airport/station/ferry terminal etc, probably within 1-2 hours, as you don’t want to spend all day travelling to get there.

You need to narrow down your search areas and spend 3 weeks plus in the areas to see what they are like, how you fit in.

That’s not correct. It’s 90 days in any 180 day period

I have a friend who lives in Normandy and their summer was as cold, wet and miserable as ours.

Is your DH eligible for an EU passport? It would be great if he is!
Good luck in your search - I love France

We have been planning similar as and we have done quite extensive research and also 2 longer (6 month) lets in areas we selected to try and get more than a 'holiday flavour' of an area & brush up on some slightly rusty french. I Would definitely recommend this and our first choice definitely wasn't right and this only really became apparent after we stepped out of holiday mode and also returned in the winter!

We've settled on charente-maritime for a number of reasons:
best weather without going all the way south
amazing beaches in easy driving distance (we're looking more inland mainly due to budget)
good value for money
We like the charentaise style properties
It's accessible by train (essential for us)
Drivable in a single day from (c.4 hrs from St Malo / 7.5 from Calais) as we also have a dog

If we were skiers I'd be looking east/south east accessible to the Alps (this is where we started but we're not fanatical skiers and a once a year trip is sufficient so didn't warrant basing our house choice on this). If you plan to rent it out this can dramatically increase your season!

I used to have a dream about lovely cottages in the French countryside and keeping chickens/growing my own veg, but actually the cheap places are usually in the middle of nowhere and rural France can be dull in the summer, let alone in the winter. I would love an apartment in Juan Les Pins or Antibes or on the Italian Riviera, or somewhere like Puglia/Calabria and we are seriously considering this. But global warming worries me and there has been some extreme weather in recent times. Being near a big sandy beach resort further north might actually be a better investment in the longer term - especially if you want to rent the place - people will avoid 40 degree temps in the south.

It's 90 days in any 180, not per year

The mountains around lake Annecy. Beautiful and great for water sports and paragliding in summer, handy for ski-ing in winter.