Ideas for places to live in the Languedoc area please!

[Sarah7697]

Hi everyone,

My husband and I want to move in or near the Languedoc-Rousillon area of France. We adore Collioure but would get bored living there. We love the old town of Montpellier but think we'd rather be nearer Spain. Narbonne is probably top of our list at the moment but all ideas greatly appreciated.

We are planning several holidays to explore areas and are just booking our next trip so we would love some recommendations to help plan our itinerary.

We are not ready for sleepy villages yet, we want somewhere with a bit of life, plenty of restaurants/bars. Would love to be by the sea, but budget may restrict and to be honest we want beautiful architecture rather than places that are too tacky if that makes sense.

My husband is French (although has now lived for 20+ years in Yorkshire so we have accepted him as an adopted Yorkshireman!!!) so language is no barrier. He is Parisian though, so is as ignorant as I am about where to live!

Thanks in advance x

[cyrian]

Hi Sarah,
Welcome to the forum.
I do not live near your prospective location but I have visited the area.
In the summer, I found it to be a lively vibrant and very attractive area and we spent our summer holidays there when the children were young.
However, we have also visited it "off season" on a grey day and found it to a bit depressing - as most places would be on such a day.
We also found an explosion of holiday apartments/villages which had closed down at the end of the season.
I suggest that you visit the area during the winter months to form your own opinion.
Apologies to anyone who lives there or really loves the area - I am just giving my opinion.
You haven't mentioned if you are retired or would need to find work.
HTH

[petitefrancaise]

I do know the area pretty well - I lived in Toulouse for 11 years.

Personally, I'm not fond of that area of the Med. Crowded with tourists in the summer and dead in winter. The wind blowing from the sea can be brutal too. You can go a bit inland - Thuir is nice for example.

I'd go to Spain. Those southern Pyrennean villages are beautiful and more lively in the evenings and winter than the French side.

[Sarah7697]

Thanks Cyrian and Petite Francaise,

Absolutely agree about visiting off season, that's what we did last year. Our next trip will be end August / beginning of September next year so we can see Narbonne when it will be busier and we wanted some ideas of other places too.

It's so hard to find somewhere beautiful, lively, by the sea and near Spain but without it being overrun by tourists! I think you're right that we might need to move further inland.

I'm afraid I really do have my heart set on France rather than Spain though. I'm sure you're right about Spain, but I want to be somewhere where we speak the language and neither of us speak Spanish. It's possible we may need to work or start up a business there for extra income so language is going to be important.

Thanks very much for your help x

[dmu]

Have to agree - most places, apart from Montpellier, Béziers and maybe Perpignan, are crowded in the summer and dead in the winter.
An area which attracts you should be visited at its worst, mid-winter.
La Tramontane is disconcerting, le Marin always brings rain (usually welcome, unless it's an "épisode cévenol" in the Hérault and Gard which occurs more and more often).
The former languedoc-Roussillon is one of the Régions with the highest unemployment rates and therefore not recommended if you're going to be looking for work.
Things have changed in France since your OH lived here and he should research healthcare insurance, for example, depending on your status, The Service-Public.fr site is invaluable for up-to-date info on all things Administrative, and the threads in the Read-Me: Moving to France FAQs above might give you useful info in various fields.
Good luck with your search.
Our posts crossed! It's easier to set up a business now than last century. Do a Forum search (button top right) to find other threads concerning the line of work you'd be doing.