You can live anywhere East Coast US, Spain or France - which city do you choose?

[Yepper]

We currently live in Switzerland and love the lifestyle and weather. The kids 8 and 10 are now fluent in French. I’m the breadwinner, DH has a small trade-based business which he does pt whilst juggling looking after the children.

I’ve been headhunted for a new role in an industry I’d love to get in to. Whilst the company takes a “remote-first” approach, the role can’t be based anywhere meaning we need to move out of Switzerland.

Out of the list they’ve specified, east coast US, France and Spain are the locations we would go to.

But given it’s a wfh role, we can pick the city. So where do we begin?!?

So ignore things like visas etc for a moment. Based on lifestyle choices, where would you live?? We love skiing in the winter and swimming (lake/sea) in the summer.

Working from home means less opportunities to socialize through work and would be relying on school / kid / hobby stuff.

Lyon could give us a similar lifestyle to now - close to skiing, not far from lakes or even the coast, along with travel opportunities. Toulouse may be similar. Paris is a great city but not sure we’d get the leisure activities there.

Barcelona I’m not sure about Catalan being thrown in the mix, but nice lifestyle. Madrid feels too inland? No idea on other Spanish cities.

US east coast, I wouldn’t know where to start!! Connecticut? NYC? Upstate NY? Florida??? God knows.

Help!!!

I would stay put if you love the lifestyle you already had and aren't unhappy in your current Job. Work isn't everything.

I’m in Suisse Romande too. I’d pick Lyon if you want a big city tbh. It’s a gorgeous place, so lively.

Your kids are already fluent French speakers, it’s not that far from Switzerland so not too much of a big change. The closest ski resort would be in Monts Jura and whilst small are pretty good.

Could you just move into France? So somewhere like Pays de Gex or Annemasse or even Annecy?

You couldn’t pay me to live I the USA. It’s a cesspool.

Waves at @LadyCampanulaTottington

Annecy indeed could be an option.

I think we’d envisaged our next move taking us somewhere new/different. Which France doesn’t really offer us, or at least not to the extent we’d imagined.

I don’t know what I feel about the US tbh. I’m sure it’s not all bad and maybe would nice for a few years. Dunno really.

I wish Singapore was on the list actually!

Montpellier is really nice, pretty, close to the sea, University city so plenty to do. Motorway so good access to other places (Barcelona A9).

Smaller option is Avignon , culturally and architecturally interesting, motorway access to Lyon / Marseilles (A7). It's also a University town but not on the same scale.

Virginia? On the outskirts of DC, or Richmond. Charlottesville even (which is lovely). Wintergreen ski resort is in the blue ridge mountains, 3 hour drive from DC, much closer to Richmond/Charlottesville

I’ve lived in the US in the past and loved it. Right now though, it’s too dangerous for kids and women of reproductive age so that would be a hard pass. I’d personally go with France, somewhere on the Cote d’Azur or just inland as finances permit.

I'd go for Lyon. Everyone moves out of Paris with kids and a lot go to Lyon so it retains some of the buzz, with the obvious housing and mountains advantages. I've never lived in Barcelona, but I get the impression from friends that housing is a nightmare with the tourists and that a lot of people leave as soon as they graduate because of jobs, so it lacks some of the opportunities for middle aged socialising. Montpellier is nice but doesn't have big employers besides tourism and university so it's quite poor and misses the city buzz. Everyone I know raves about living in Toulouse, but I've never lived there. Grenoble is awesome for skiing but terrible for pollution. Marseille is a bit marmite, but good for skiing and sailing. Nantes is really chilled and politically more liberal than Lyon, good for surfing but a long way from the mountains.

What other countries are on the company list? If it's just for a few years and salary would cover international school maybe somewhere more adventurous would scratch the itch? None of Spain, France or the US are going to give you a massive cultural shake up, apart from the annoyance of a new language in Spain, and probably the 2 nations 1 language culture shock in the US.

Biarritz, SW France. Beautiful city on the Atlantic coast with great beaches, culture, restaurants etc and also near the Pyrenees for skiing in the winter.
Not to mention about half an hour from the Spanish border with towns like San Sebastián, Bilbao and Pamplona within easy reach.
Also lots of very nice towns on the French side going north with great beaches, oysters, (Arcachon) and even Bordeaux.
All in all, a very civilised place.

I’d suggest Bayonne rather than Biarritz.

Montpellier. Near the coast, couple of hours away from skiing.

I am prejudiced because I live near Barcelona, and love the Catalan lifestyle. But a PP is right, Barcelona city itself can be a nightmare to live in unless you can afford to be in one of the better neighbourhoods. Problems can include higher crime, noise, dirtier streets and expensive (and small) apartments.

I live about 40 minutes away from the city centre itself (a €6 train ride one way) on the Tarragona side so I am equidistant between 2 great cities. Both have plenty of culture, shopping, events, arts and great dining, and yet I still have the peaceful countryside and gorgeous coastline to enjoy too. But there is always the Maresme which is the coastline north of Barcelona which is lovely too (although more expensive than the south coast towards Tarragona) and might be worth considering.

Also, the Maresme has easy access for great skiing in the winter.

I would also add don't worry about not speaking Catalan. I mostly speak castellano and so do nearly all the people I know here. It's only in the smaller more isolated villages that you can occasionally get people who will be a bit off with you if you don't speak it.

I hope wherever you end up, you and your family love it 😀

Nice. Visited in April and fell in love with the place.

Some great ideas here, adding Montpellier, Avignon, Biarritz, Richmond, Charlottesville to the list. I am keen for it to be somewhere quite multicultural and international. My children are in local school in Switzerland but where we live is very international which we all think is great.

Yes there are certain contextual things with the US that are a concern, though conscious of media hype vs reality of day-to-day living. I have a few friends out there who love it (west coast though).

I’m not wildly enamoured by the French school curriculum tbh. But it would be a shame for the kids to lose their French. Maybe international schools could be a way forward. Need to see if the package would cover that.

I had similar thoughts re Barcelona in terms of housing and new language. Again, I have an ex colleague there who really raves about it.

At the moment we are 40-90 mins away from awesome skiing so moving away from that will be tough.

Other possible countries are Lithuania, Hungary, Romania which I’ve discounted due to low salaries (it will also be hard to move off a Swiss salary!!).

Portugal, Luxembourg and Germany are options but I don’t fancy those for some reason…

UK is also on there, but no desire to move back at this point in time!

keep the suggestions coming!!

I moved from Paris to Lyon when my dc arrived. Agree that it is a great city for kids ( and teens) plus so easy to get to the coast, mountains and Italy. I also love the fact that it is so easy to get out of the city and into the countryside. ( we actually ended up moving out of the city but with great transport links for teens they were in Place Bellecour in 20 minutes).

Friends live in Merritt Island, Florida & we visit every year. It's between Cocoa Beach & Cape Canaveral. Fly to Aspen for ski ing. There's the whole of the rest of USA to explore for holidays. DCs could learn Spanish & become tri lingual.

Annapolis on the US East Coast is lovely (had UK friends based there), another US friend is moving to the Carolinas.

Is Canada on your list? Montreal?

Florida sounds dreamy in one sense. But summer heat puts me off a little bit…. And I get the impression it’s somehow seen as a bit backwards / country bumpkin. Happy to be proven wrong here!!

The east coast should be very much state by state.

I'd entirely avoid Florida, which in the past few years has lurched rightward, including relaxing gun laws and tightening up women's/gay rights.

I'd consider coastal Maryland, Connecticut (anywhere), Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. Good politics, great state schools (most of the place); lovely way of life; great universities nearby; close to lots of important world cities. I assume your employer would offer a corresponding salary and great benefits (including health care). It's a hard place to be poor, but it's a lovely place to be rich (or at least comfortable).

Would go for Girona. You would be close to beach, forest and mountains as well as the lovelh lake at Banyoles. You wont be too far from france either.
The wether is great as is the food and the lifestyle. There is plenty to keep you occupied in your spare time and the cost of living is low so those on i internacional salaries can really make the most of it.
There are a lot of pople who live in Cataluya without learning Catalan and if you already know French it wont be too hard to understand anyway.

I thought Lyon before reading your post. I love that city.

Munich has lakes and skiing within a short drive and would be a lovely option as Germany is available. A very lovely city and worth a visit to consider.
I have cousins in Buffalo and Philadelphia who love it there. But visa issues for spouses maybe more challenging and then there is a wider US issues.

Lyon has a good international school.

Before reading responses Annecy sprang to mind. Easy access to Geneva airport, beautiful area with skiing almost on doorstep, and a small international bilingual school for primary ages.
Once the kids are older, could always attend int'l school in Geneva as 'frontaliers'

Don't discount Germany, Munich would suit you. Possibly too similar to Switzerland and has new language faff. But it has everything you want.