France

France combines strong healthcare, dense transport and regions with genuinely different characters, from the Atlantic to Provence and the Alps. Costs run above Spain and Portugal, and rent in Paris and on the Riviera absorbs most of a budget, though the social system softens the maths. The north is cool and rainy, the south is dry and hot in summer, and the mountain snow season holds from December to April. Prepare for French without concessions, long administrative procedures and high taxes.