Looking for small to medium sized town such as Gap, Hautes-Alpes

[robert]

I've always wanted to live in France and I'm at a point in my life where I can actually do it. I telecommute for my job with a US company and they don't care where I live as long as I have a high speed internet connection. We plan to live in France for two years; I am a dual citizen EU/US and my wife and child are US citizens.

We are a family of 3 (with a lovely 2 year old) and are looking for a small to medium sized town with the following characteristics:

1. family-friendly
2. low crime rate
3. walker-friendly
4. within 2-3 hours of major airport

Any recommendations for towns that would fit these characteristics?

We will be going to France this summer to check out some places but so far we only have one: the city of Gap in the departement of Hautes-Alpes. Anybody familiar with the town? Or anybody close enough to that town/region?

[Bevdeforges]

Hi, and welcome to the forum.

Thanks to France's governmental structure, there are well over 30,000 towns in the country - ranging from just a few people to the city of Paris. Even then, most towns are split into districts or "communes", so it can be difficult to generalize about even a small town.

There is also the matter of "major airport" - if you're talking international travel, particularly trans-Atlantic, there is only one airport: Paris, Roissy-Charles de Gaulle. Most other airports funnel their international traffic into Roissy or Orly, though there are a few trans-Atlantic flights that fly to Nice these days. You may want to look into the area around Mulhouse, where the airport serves 3 countries and is alternatively referred to as "Freiburg/Mulhouse/Basel" airport. But to my knowledge, there are no trans-Atlantic flights from there - you still have transfer at Paris, Frankfurt or Zurich.

You might do better to narrow things down to a couple of regions - say, Alsace, Hautes-Alpes, Dordogne, or whatever and then try and find reasonable towns or areas within your chosen region. The other strategy is to look for towns not far from the major TGV (high speed train) lines.

Overall, France is much more "wired" for high speed Internet than the US, so that's not much of an issue. Family-friendly is more of a national characteristic than a local one - the French culture is just "that way". Crime rates aren't published as widely here as in the US, so you have to work that one out for yourself.

Walker-friendly is an interesting concept. The French tend to regard sidewalks as places to park their cars, but there are hiking groups in nearly every town in France. If you're looking for a place where you can walk to shopping, schools, etc., then you'll need to live in the center of a moderate sized town, probably in a fairly urban area. Some towns in rural areas are spread out pretty widely - and not all towns have their own shops or markets - or even schools these days. Forget about public transit outside major urban areas. "Large-surface" shopping centers are limited to the far outskirts of town and generally you need a car to get to a Carrefour or Auchan - there's just no other way to get there. For walking access to everything you need, Paris is probably the place to be.
Cheers,
Bev

[robert]

Thank you so much for your reply, Bev! Very informative, as always! We narrowed down our region to Hautes-Alpes and will be going there this summer to check out some towns. Do you know of any expat groups in Hautes-Alpes that I can contact with specific questions? Our top choice at this point is the city of Gap - Is there any way to find out if there are any expats in the city that would be willing to share some opinions on living there? Thank you

By the way - you are doing a fantastic job on this forum; I started copying and pasting most of your answers in a dedicated notebook; you should write a book about this stuff - unless you've already done it. Thanks again

Robert

[Bevdeforges]

You're in luck! There just happens to be an AVF in Gap. Follow this link (it's all in French, but you can handle it): AVF -- Accueil AVF is the French association charged with welcoming newcomers to towns - and it's a great way to get integrated quickly into the community on arrival.

It doesn't look like the Gap AVF group has a website or a phone number you can call. It's also the case that most AVF groups are pretty inactive during the summer. (Most of France is inactive over the summer - another of the things you'll have to get used to. <g>) The main AVF website has a contact page where you can ask questions and have them forwarded to the appropriate town or area.

For US oriented groups, check the website of the US Embassy in Marseille, which covers Hautes-Alps U.S. Consulate General Marseille - over on the right side of the page, click on Associations.

You may want to try the British and Canadian embassies in France (their websites) as they also have lists of expat groups.
Cheers,
Bev

PS I used to do some work for a publisher of "Living and Working in..." books - which is where I stumbled onto lots of my assorted information.