We already determined 10 best places to retire in Columbia, but we are now moving along to Europe to discover 10 best places to retire in France.
But before you pack your bags and jump into the next plane, take a few minutes of your time to see both sides of France.
Besides being one of the most visited touristic destinations in the world, France is also considered to be one of the most dangerous countries according to the US Overseas Security Advisory Council’s Crime & Safety Report from 2017 due to the highest risks of terrorist’s attacks. Besides, Paris is, probably because of the overcrowding and the big flow of tourists, considered to be one of the most dangerous cities in France in terms of pickpocketing and theft. Of course, criminals lurk behind every corner waiting for the next victim, but they are most likely to act in public transportations and touristic attractions.
On the other hand, there is no one putting the target on your forehead if you live there, which makes you pretty safe in every sense. French people are actually very kind and welcoming, but there are, like everywhere else, the ones who like to mess with strangers, which, in this case, you won’t be.
France is very suitable for retirees because of their health care law. According to the World Health Organization, French health care system is one of the top 10 in the world and the government itself takes care of their citizens by investing 11,5% of GDP in the healthcare, which means that 70% of all medical costs are covered in front, unless someone is diagnosed with some serious disease or will need a long recovery. In that case, patients are cost free because the government is covering 100% of all expenses.
To determine top 10 places to retire in France, Insider Monkey took a look at the database of several sites such as International Living and Investopedia, for the average cost of the apartment per square feet and the average cost of meals for two. The third parameter was the IM score that was the combination of average costs found on Numbeo and the average temperature, number of rainy days and average daily sunshine hours per month from Holiday Weather. As the result, they found 10 best places to live in France as a retiree and among top three were Pau, Avignon, and Montpellier so lets’s see why.
We will start with the third ranked, which is Pau, the city with beautiful landscapes and the best cuisine in France, where the meal for two cost only $42.87. Besides, Pau is considered to be among cities with the lowest cost of apartments, which is approximately $208 per square feet. This city is perfect for the ones who enjoy hiking and winter sports but hate heat. It has a really low number of sunshine hours on a daily basis, but if you like the rain, this is definitely your next destination.
But if you, on the contrary, prefer better weather and a less rain, then move along to the second ranked city and that’s Avignon. The prices are a bit higher than in Pau, but the overall IM score for Avignon is 25, unlike Pau that was scored 23. And even though Avignon doesn’t have a beach, the Cote d’Azur is few miles away, so you will be able to make it there in no time.
And now, the best out of the top 10 best. Montpellier. Although the average cost of the apartment that was considered one of the main parameters by Insider Monkey’s team is $100 higher here, the weather and the fact that Montpellier is lying on Cote d’Azur are a big, big plus, which actually placed it on the top. Besides this, Montpellier is the fastest growing French city in the last 20 years, which means that it is really worth living in.
But for even more detailed information, let’s transfer to Insider Monkey’s site and find out which 10 best places to retire in France are.
