7 Best Places to Live in France for British Expats

One of the largest European countries, France is an incredibly diverse destination with a mind-blowing wealth of experiences and an inviting lifestyle on offer.

Only a short hop across the channel from the UK it’s one of the most tempting countries in Europe for British expats.

But what is the best place to live in France?

According to Insee, the French national statistics agency, 19% of Brits living in France settle in very sparsely populated rural communes. Compare that to 9% of Belgians and just 5% of Germans living in France, and you can see the pattern.

Turns out, we don't move to France for the city lights. We move for the village down a winding lane, the boulangerie that opens at 7am, the house that costs less than a Greater London semi.

The most recent Insee data shows around 137,500 Brits registered as resident in France as of 2021, down from a 2016 peak of 148,300. Brexit clearly didn't help. Neither did the slow grinding cost of getting paperwork sorted as a third-country national, suddenly subject to long-stay visa rules and prefecture appointments…

Still, France pulls Brits in a way that no other European country quite manages. Spain has the volume. Italy has the lifestyle reputation. But France has the specific draw: a way of life that just barely tolerates rather than welcomes outsiders, set in landscapes that British people have loved for two centuries.

So if you're seriously thinking about it… the question is where.

Here are seven of our top picks…

1. The Dordogne (Nouvelle-Aquitaine)

Ahh, the heart of British rural France.

If you've heard the phrase "Dordogneshire" mumbled half-jokingly in a Cotswolds pub, it's not a joke that came from nowhere. The Dordogne has the highest concentration of Brits anywhere in France outside Paris, and in some communes the proportion is properly eye-watering…

In the small market town of Eymet, Brits make up roughly a third of the population. THIRD.

Why here?

The answer lies mostly in the property prices, the climate, the food culture, and the head start.

The Brits who came here in the 80s and 90s built up a network so dense that Eymet has English-language doctors, a cricket club, and signs in English on the way into town. If you arrive cold without French, you'll find people who can hold your hand through every administrative step.

The Dordogne is gorgeous, the food is exceptional, and the weather is meaningfully better than the UK… but keep in mind you'll be living in a Britain-with-vineyards rather than France proper. If your fantasy involves making French friends and being invited to actual French dinners, you'll have to work harder here than almost anywhere else.

Property prices have also been rising. Not London-fast, but enough that the bargain stories of 2010 ("we bought a 4-bed farmhouse for €120,000!!") are mostly gone in the present economy. Expect €250,000-€400,000 for a renovated stone house in a decent village.

Best for: retirees who want a soft landing into rural France and fancy a strong British community.

2. Brittany

Another staple option for Brits.

Brittany has tens of thousands of British residents, with strongholds inland from the north coast (places like Callac, Huelgoat, and the broader Côtes-d'Armor and Morbihan departments). In Callac, Brits make up around 9% of the population.

The pitch here is different from the Dordogne in some important ways.

Firstly, obviously, Brittany is closer to the UK. Two ferry routes (Plymouth-Roscoff, Portsmouth-St Malo) put you on a boat with your car loaded for under £400 return, depending on the season.

Many of the Brits who settle in Brittany are still doing some kind of UK-France bouncing. Visiting family back home. Running businesses across both. Or just keeping kids close to grandparents.

The weather is the obvious downside.

We'll be honest about it.

Brittany rains. It rains a lot!

While average summers hit a respectable 22-24°C, the winters are mild and damp in a way that won't feel particularly different from Cornwall. If you're moving to France for sunshine, this is the wrong region to be targeting.

But… if you're moving for cheaper property, beautiful coastline, and a Celtic culture that British visitors find oddly familiar, Brittany is a strong shout.

Property is also cheaper than the Dordogne. €100,000-€200,000 still buys a habitable house in a decent inland village, and the further you get from the coast, the more your money stretches.

Best for: Brits who want France within ferry distance of family back home, and who prefer green-and-grey to dust-and-heat.

3. Provence and the Côte d'Azur

Provence and the French Riviera attract a totally different British demographic: those with serious money or serious careers, often both.

We're talking about Cannes, Nice, Antibes, and the inland villages of the Luberon and Vaucluse made famous by Peter Mayle's A Year in Provence.

You'll know within a glance whether this is your slice of France or not.

Check your bank balance after a month here and you’ll know for sure!

The food is absolutely exceptional. The weather is the best on the French mainland. The cultural depth, from Roman ruins to Picasso, is hard to match anywhere in Europe.

And there's a real British community here, though it does skew wealthy, older, and more international than the Dordogne crowd. You'll be drinking with Belgians, Russians, Americans and Italians as often as your fellow Brits. And by nature of mingling with this crowd, it can feel a bit more… transient.

We have to emphasise that this is a PRICY place to live.

Property in Cannes' centre or anywhere in Saint-Tropez now rivals Mayfair on a per-square-metre basis. Even modest inland villages are pricing out of reach for anyone hoping to move on an average £400k UK property sale. And the cost of everyday life (eating out, parking, supermarkets) is a step up from elsewhere in France.

The other downside is summer.

July and August on the Côte d'Azur are tourist hell. Roads jam, restaurants triple their prices, and locals who can afford to leave… leave. Settle in here full-time and you'll find yourself escaping inland or up the coast for two months a year.

Probably while complaining about your fellow Brits!

Best for: higher-income retirees and professionals who want France in its most cinematic form… and crucially, those who can stomach the prices.

4. The Charente and Haute-Vienne

Guess you could say this is the budget answer to the Dordogne, and arguably better value pound-for-pound.

The Charente sits just north of the Dordogne, and Haute-Vienne (with Limoges as its capital) sits just to the east. Together they form the heart of what the French sometimes call "la diagonale du vide" (the empty diagonal): the long thin strip of rural France with the lowest population density in the country.

For Brits, this is fertile territory.

Property is cheaper than the Dordogne by 20-30%. The climate is similar (long summers, mild winters, a real spring and autumn). The British community is smaller and more dispersed… which means more pressure to learn French but also more authenticity to the experience. If that matters to you.

Confolens, Aubeterre-sur-Dronne, and Le Dorat all have established British populations without feeling like the stereotypical Little Britain. Limoges itself is a proper working French city of 130,000 with porcelain heritage, a TGV connection to Paris, and a price level that hasn’t yet spiralled out of control.

It's also very… quiet.

If you're under 50 and moving with kids, the social isolation can prove problematic. There's a reason this region's population has been dropping for decades.

Internet connectivity has improved with national fibre rollouts, but rural means rural. The nearest hospital is a drive. So is the nearest decent supermarket.

For the right person, that's the appeal. But you have to know what you’re getting into.

Best for: retirees on a tighter budget, or remote workers who actively want isolation.

5. Normandy

Normandy gets less press than Brittany or the Dordogne but has a quietly substantial British presence (particularly in Calvados and Manche) and one of the strongest practical cases of any region.

What does it have going for it?

Well, it's the closest part of France to the UK by ferry. Caen-Portsmouth is six hours; Cherbourg-Poole is four. For Brits with elderly parents in the UK or grown children visiting at weekends, Normandy collapses the distance better than anywhere else on this list.

Property is also still cheap.

Not Charente-cheap, but you can find a renovated four-bed for €180,000 in a market town, and the houses tend to be properly built. Half-timbered, slate-roofed, designed for the actual climate.

The food culture is attractive to many Brits. Normandy is, after all, the heart of French dairy (camembert, calvados, cider). The seafood off the Cotentin peninsula is some of the best in France. And the historical pull (D-Day beaches, Bayeux, Mont-Saint-Michel) gives the region a depth that less famous parts of rural France can lack.

We'd flag two warnings…

The weather is the most British thing about Normandy. It rains. It's grey.

Summers are pleasant rather than hot. If you're moving to France to escape British weather, Normandy is more of a step sideways.

The other warning is the British community. It exists, but it's smaller and more spread out than in Brittany or the Dordogne. You'll need French to really settle in.

Best for: Brits prioritising proximity to family in the UK, and who don't need Mediterranean sun.

6. The French Alps

You probably already know iff this will appeal to you.

The Alps is host to a sizeable British community concentrated around Chamonix, Morzine, Les Gets, Méribel, and Val d'Isère. Many of these Brits originally came on seasonal contracts (chalet hosts, ski instructors, mountain guides) and stayed after falling in love with the lifestyle.

Obviously, that lifestyle is for more of an active crowd.

If you ski, snowboard, climb, or hike, the Alps are unmatched anywhere in Europe. The summers are spectacular for outdoor sports. Geneva airport is on the doorstep, with direct flights to most UK cities. And there's a nice organised British community with cricket clubs, English-language schools, and even British-run ski schools.

Fair warning though… property in the chocolate-box ski villages is now in lifestyle-asset territory.

A modest 2-bed apartment in Morzine starts around €450,000 and goes wild from there. Even the larger valley towns (Sallanches, Annecy) have seen serious price growth as remote workers and second-homers have pushed in.

There's also a seasonality issue.

The economy of these towns runs on December-April and June-September. Shoulder seasons (October-November, May) can be ghostly, with restaurants closed and lift access shut. If you're not ready for that rhythm, the off-season can pose some real challenges.

Best for: sporty Brits with the budget for it, and those who actively want a community shaped around mountain life.

7. Paris

It’s easy to fall for the seductive charms of France’s capital city.

Paris has beguiled artists, intellectuals and dreamers for centuries thanks to the city’s elegance and inimitable style.

Here you’ll find some of the best restaurants in the world, some of the hippest bars and clubs, some of the most inspiring galleries and museums, some of the most cutting edge fashion and design.

Paris hosts roughly 6,650-6,930 British residents according to Insee, a tiny fraction compared to the Dordogne or Brittany. But for a specific kind of Brit (the working professional in finance, tech, fashion, or culture), Paris is one of the few places in Europe that can match London for career opportunity at a reasonable lifestyle cost.

You have to square up the reality that Paris is no cheaper than London on rent. A central one-bed in the 4th or 11th arrondissement will cost around €1,500-€2,200 a month, not too dissimilar from Zone 1-2 in London.

If you’re used to non-London prices in the UK, it will seem very expensive indeed.

But everything else (food, transport, culture, schools) is cheaper. A monthly Navigo travel pass costs €88. Lunch in a real bistro is €18-€25. Public schools are excellent… and free.

As for the British professional community in Paris, it is small but well-connected, with networks built around the British Embassy, City of London-style finance hubs in La Défense, and the international school scene around the 16th and Neuilly.

The downsides are familiar to anyone who's spent time in Paris.

The bureaucracy is famously hostile. Banking can be a six-week ordeal. Building French friendships is slow work… and the Brit community is a drop in the ocean when you compare it to the wider Paris population (over 13 million in the broader metro area).

Paris is another city that, in August, empties to the point of feeling apocalyptic. The locals all leave for the south, and so does any sense of the city you'd come to love.

Still, for the right Brit, Paris is one of the best lateral career moves available without crossing the Atlantic.

Best for: working-age professionals who want to stay in their industry, in a global capital, while paying less than London.

Before you commit…

Drawn to a new life across the Channel?

Any stay in France beyond 90 days in a rolling 180 requires a long-stay visa (visa de long séjour), and the most common route for non-working Brits is the visa de long séjour visiteur, the long-stay visitor visa.

It requires proof of sufficient income (broadly equivalent to French minimum wage, around €17,500 per person per year), private health insurance for the first year, and proof of accommodation.

There's no equivalent of Spain's digital nomad visa in France. Remote workers earning from non-French sources typically use the visitor visa, but it carries restrictions: you cannot legally work for a French entity on this visa. The Talent Passport is an alternative for entrepreneurs and skilled workers, with stricter income thresholds.

Tax is also a major issue if you move here.

Become tax-resident (the trigger is broadly 183 days, or France being your "main centre of interests"), and you'll be taxed on worldwide income. France has a wealth tax (IFI) on real estate over €1.3 million, including foreign property. The UK-France double taxation treaty prevents double-taxation on most income, but Spanish-style fast-track residency for retirees just doesn't exist here.

The good news for retirees: UK State Pensions are paid in full in France and increase annually under the reciprocal agreement. The S1 form, for retirees with a UK State Pension, gives access to French public healthcare with the UK paying the cost. That's a significant ongoing benefit.

Overall, France has a lot going for it and the close proximity to the UK makes it a great option for expats who want something “different”… but not too far from home ties.