France - best place to live in Europe

frogblogger said:

But Spain comes a close second

See this thread in the French forum.

One thing's for sure, whether France or Spain, the place to avoid at all costs, and bottom of the list, is .... yes you've guessed it ... the UK.

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And Norway ?

Not important enough to figure

I love Espana of course and will probably live here for the rest of my life (I would certainly chose it over France) but I must post a word or two in defence of the Old Country. If you lived a privileged existence and didn't have to worry about money, taxes, yobs or traffic and you could put up with the weather, Britain is still a great country to live.

Hmm... not worried about money, traffic, yobs or traffic, with a fondness for fog, wind and rain. I've a feeling if everyone who didn't fall into that category were to up sticks and leave, the UK would be somewhat deserted!

I dispise the UK for lots of reasons which I wont go into! I think I like France over Spain, but I dont think its as easy to re-locate there, the French certainly dont seem to make life easy for expats, nor do they come across as quite as welcoming as Spain - and good for them, ironically thats probably what I like about them!!! - So we came to Spain!

Jo xxxx

I've lived in both France and Spain. For the entire time I was in France it was 'closed'! I adore France as a country and it is such a great place to be, but I found the French (& I have many French friends) to be the laziest nation I have met, and also they shoot themselves in the foot big time. France does not encourage entrepreneurship, nor small businesses. It is costly and their redundancy system makes the French lazy.

I found more work in Spain in a 5 day trip that 12 months in France...and my French is better than my Spanish! As a businessman I need to get out and network, and France closes 12.00 to 4.00 and then doors shut and lights out after 7.00 unless you are in the big cities. Shame really...

There have been big changes in France in recent years, much more pressure is put on the recently redundant and long-term unemployed to find work. New incentives for the entrepreneur, tax breaks, you name it. Still not up to Anglo-Saxon standards - fortunately, or I would have to leave for good.

Have to say though - in or out of the big cities, France definitely does not close between 12 and 4 and never has. And there is plenty to do of an evening, if you are in the know.

Any experienced 'networker' in France knows how the system can be worked; within easy reach of the smallest of villages there are always several restaurants open, and unless you live in a hamlet, there'll be a bar or two around open until quite late evening. The cities, as always, are humming, loads to do.

I didn't live in Spain (Madrid) that long - but there are a lot of similarities between the ways of life of rural areas in Spain and France, imho.

The only 'active' bar in my hamlet was frequented by unemployed spending their 'dole' on the horses as it doubled as the bookies!

I was not far from Avignon, which closed at 7.00, apart from a gay bar. Sure there is much more going on at some of the resort areas like Antibes etc but not around where I was....unfortunately.

frogblogger said:

But Spain comes a close second

See this thread in the French forum.

One thing's for sure, whether France or Spain, the place to avoid at all costs, and bottom of the list, is .... yes you've guessed it ... the UK.

Click to expand...

Bit slow on the French forum this morning I suppose!

This topic has also come up here

http://www.expatforum.com/expats/sp...s-living-spain/2717-cost-living-sticky-8.html

and

http://www.expatforum.com/expats/sp...spain/31366-good-news-those-living-spain.html


for those who are interested

Expat Steve said:

The only 'active' bar in my hamlet was frequented by unemployed spending their 'dole' on the horses as it doubled as the bookies!

I was not far from Avignon, which closed at 7.00, apart from a gay bar. Sure there is much more going on at some of the resort areas like Antibes etc but not around where I was....unfortunately.

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Don't know which Avignon you're talking about, but if it's the city of some 90,000 people I've lived next to for fifteen years then - depending on your tastes - it's jam-packed with 20 or so speciality music bars and pubs that I can think of off the top of my head, cafe-theatres, a dozen or so night clubs....

And that's out of season. In the summer months especially when the festival's on, there's a fantastic, all-night atmosphere.

(There is a PMU café in vitually all towns and villages by the way, betting shops per se are not allowed).

Pesky Wesky said:

Bit slow on the French forum this morning I suppose!

This topic has also come up here

http://www.expatforum.com/expats/sp...s-living-spain/2717-cost-living-sticky-8.html

and

http://www.expatforum.com/expats/sp...spain/31366-good-news-those-living-spain.html

for those who are interested

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Ah but that newspaper got its headline wrong - it's not Spain, but France that's the best place to live in Europe

frogblogger said:

Ah but that newspaper got its headline wrong - it's not Spain, but France that's the best place to live in Europe

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Yeah, that's right, I wonder why they said Spain...
However, while I haven't lived in France I've visited quite a lot and... I'm perfectly happy in Spain. Haven't got much choice actually - try getting OH out of Spain!!!