Annecy named best place to live in France

Annecy, a town located in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France, has been ranked the best town to live in, in France.

Situated in the Haute-Savoie department, Annecy beat almost 35,000 other villages, towns and cities to be heralded the country’s most liveable location.

The survey, carried out by the Villes et villages où il fait bon vivre association studied 182 criteria in eight key areas – education, shops and services, health, sports and leisure, solidarity, quality of life, and transport.

Annecy scored highly in a number of areas, but Its picturesque location, low unemployment rate and the high purchasing power of its inhabitants, some of whom work in Switzerland where salaries are higher than in France, helped propel it to the number one spot. Even higher that average property prices, and a rising population, couldn’t deny the town top spot.

Bayonne and La Rochelle, both in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, were ranked second and third, while the Pays de la Loire cities of Angers and Le Mans completed the top five.

The association decided to discount asking residents for their views, focussing instead solely on official data provided by the French National Statistics Office. “There is no element declaring the feelings of the inhabitants, as individuals, one may consider that they do not live well in a well classified city, or vice versa,” Thierry Saussez, president of the association told the Journal du Dimanche, which published the results.

Of the larger cities, Nice comes in sixth, then Bordeaux (eighth) and Strasbourg (11th). Toulouse was ranked 29th, Lyon 56th, Paris 58th, Marseille 85th and Lille 86th.

Article published 22nd January 2020