Best place in France to live?

[SaligoBay]

According to Le Point, the top ten best places to live in France are:

Lyon, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Nantes, Tours, Grenoble, Rennes, Metz, Orléans, Chambéry.

Number 100 is Sète, a port town down here on ye olde Medde Sea.

Lots of classifications, employment, study, investment, appearance, money, they're all on the Le Point website:

http://www.lepoint.fr/sommaire.html

 

 

[Tourangelle]

I was going to post on this too, not least because I live in Lyon and I don't think it is all that great!!!   The tables they have done in Le Point are really interesting though, but have to be read with a bit of objectivity.  For example, Lyon is down as having an average temperature of 11, which does not take into account that we absolutely freeze in winter and in summer it is way too hot.    My criteria are definitely not theirs, I don't like skiing so being close to ski resorts is not a plus, for example.  And frankly there may well be 22 starred restaurants here but I still can't afford to go.  So I'm a bit surprised to find myself living in the best place to live in France, especially as I bought the magazine because we want to move   But it does tell you interesting stuff if you read through all the tables in terms of the price of housing, whether or not there is an airport, TGV and so on.

Jane

[Alcazar]

And only last year, one of the French papers was hammering Lyon for a high crime rate, and too many immigrants

Alcazar

[letrangere]

Lyon: and much too noisy?  Remember reading an article in same publication (Le Point) few years ago talking about mayor and some group called CALM trying to force many bars and restaurants out of the city centre (5eme?) to a specially designed area elsewhere where clients could make as much noise as they wanted whilst coming and going at night.  Apparently much too much late night noise in the historic centre and local inhabitants unable to get a good night's sleep.  Odd how these articles stick in the mind.

Have several good friends from Bordeaux, who rate the city very highly indeed.  And same too for Nantes.  Had a French teacher once who reckoned it was the only place in France to live.

M

[Cjb]

Life here on the Cote D'Azur isn't bad. Fortunately, we live about 20km's back from the coast, so it's a little quieter. The climate's great, you have both the beach and the ski resorts at your disposal and Italy is only an hour away. I know it's not cheap, but it still works out cheaper than the UK. The best months have to be May, June and September. July and August can be a little too much!! They're currently constructing a tramway in Nice, so traffic's a nightmare, but apart from that I've no complaints.

[Tourangelle]

I've just looked at the survey again in Le Point and realised they have done the very French thing of considering Lyon just as the commune rather than le grand lyon, which means they leave out the nasty suburbs of Vennisieux and Vaulx en Velin amongst others.  Sneaky

[Teamedup]

I've just realised that the other three members of our household have been attacked in three of the above listed towns.

I quite like the centre of Lyon, for a day's shopping it is very good. For a night out at some sort of spectacle it is rather nice too. There is a lot going on in Lyon. However, I have been lost there too and it can be rather frightening if you know that you are not too far from one of the no go areas.

[Chouette]

Visited Lyon last year and thought it was a dump!  Granted there is beautiful architecture and interesting places to visit, such as the roman ruins, but practically every upright surface is daubed in graffiti and there is a bad litter problem.  It's also a nightmare of a place to find your way around in. 

[Celtic Voyager]

You can keep the Cities, Grande Villes etc., I liked Rennes,went there way back so probably changed a bit now, but I much prefer being tucked away in the countryside.

[Tourangelle]

Lyon is a paradox, the autoroute du soleil goes through the place, but it is an awful place to drive in becaues it is all one way streets.  But what I don't like about Lyon is the complex that the Lyonnais have always wanting to be as good as Paris.  Ask any Lyonnais what they like about their city, and they will all say, it is 3 hours from the sea and 2 from the mountains.  I know, because it comes up alot when I teach my business English classes, it is part of the general chit-chat like the obligatory weather jokes.  They all say the same thing.  And woe betide you if you say something like, so what your saying is it is good to beable to leave the place, or well that's true for Avignon, Gap, Grenoble, Perpignan ... the list goes on.  Your Lyonnais is stumped, and says, well it is better than Paris.  No, it isn't.  It has all the disadvantages of a big city, without the advantages of Paris.  Anyway, that is my coup de gueule for the day, 

Jane

[Teamedup]

And Tourangelle the lyonnais are not very popular in these here mountains. In fact the people's of the Savoy seem to prefer the parisiens.

 

And yet, as I said, we have to head west to see an awful lot of things.