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NICE

Why Nice beats Paris as the best French city for foreigners to live

The beautiful and usually sun-drenched southern French city of Nice has trounced Paris in the annual Expat City Ranking for quality of life.

Published: 26 November 2020 12:23 CET
Why Nice beats Paris as the best French city for foreigners to live
Friendly and sun-drenched Nice scored highly on a survey of its foreign residents. Photo: AFP

The report from international network Inter Nations ranks cities according to their experiences for international residents – including issues like quality of life, job opportunities and the cost of living.

In the global survey Nice came 16th while Paris trailed in 61st place.

The Spanish city of Valencia came out top, followed by Alicante and Lisbon.

Nice scored particularly well in the Quality of Life category, coming third overall, beaten only by Vienna and Valencia, with many people commenting on its laid-back lifestyle.

It also scored highly on the Weather and Climate section, with not a single survey respondent saying they were unhappy with the weather – perhaps unsurprisingly for a city that is sunny for 63 percent of its daylight hours.

READ ALSO 10 things you definitely didn’t know about Nice

Graphic: Inter Nations

Paris, on the other hand, scored poorly on the financial section with many saying they are unhappy with the famously high living costs in the capital – which recently topped a global poll of the most expensive places to live.

Only 19 percent of people said they found it easy to find housing and 70 percent described the city as ‘unaffordable’.

READ ALSO Locals reveal how to live cheaply in Paris

On the positive side, it scored well for job opportunities – around a third of the French economy is concentrated on Paris and many sectors such as media, international organisations and tech are heavily focused on the capital.

But it seems that Parisians’ infamously grumpy reputation also counted against the city, with 40 percent of people saying the locals are not friendly and 56 percent saying they found it hard to make friends.

READ ALSO The 10 best things about Paris the movies never show

On Brazilian resident passed a brutal judgement, telling the survey: “In general, Parisians are angry, complain too much, and smile too little.”

The Inter Nations survey asked 15,000 people representing 173 nationalities about their experiences living in 161 countries. They were asked to rank 25 aspects of their new lives abroad on a scale of one to seven, from social lives to career opportunities and housing costs.

No other French cities made it into the top 66. 

The top 10 best cities for foreigners are

  • Valencia  
  • Alicante
  • Lisbon
  • Panama City
  • Singapore
  • Málaga
  • Buenos Aires
  • Kuala Lumpur
  • Madrid
  • Abu Dhabi

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PARIS

Fluffy nuisance: Outcry as Paris sends Invalides rabbits into exile

Efforts to relocate wild rabbits that are a common sight on the lawns of the historic Invalides memorial complex have provoked criticism from animal rights groups.

Published: 14 February 2024 13:01 CET
Fluffy nuisance: Outcry as Paris sends Invalides rabbits into exile

Tourists and Parisians have long been accustomed to the sight of wild rabbits frolicking around the lawns of Les Invalides, one of the French capital’s great landmarks.

But efforts are underway to relocate the fluffy animals, accused of damaging the gardens and drains around the giant edifice that houses Napoleon’s tomb, authorities said.

Police said that several dozen bunnies had been captured since late January and relocated to the private estate of Breau in the Seine-et-Marne region outside Paris, a move that has prompted an outcry from animal rights activists.

“Two operations have taken place since 25 January,” the police prefecture told AFP.

“Twenty-four healthy rabbits were captured on each occasion and released after vaccination” in Seine-et-Marne, the prefecture said.

Six more operations are scheduled to take place in the coming weeks.

Around 300 wild rabbits live around Les Invalides, according to estimates.

“The overpopulation on the site is leading to deteriorating living conditions and health risks,” the prefecture said.

Authorities estimate the cost of restoring the site, which has been damaged by the proliferation of underground galleries and the deterioration of gardens, pipes and flora, at €366,000.

Animal rights groups denounced the operation.

The Paris Animaux Zoopolis group said the rabbits were being subjected to “intense stress” or could be killed “under the guise of relocation”.

“A number of rabbits will die during capture and potentially during transport,” said the group, accusing authorities of being “opaque” about their methods.

The animal rights group also noted that Breau was home to the headquarters of the Seine-et-Marne hunting federation.

The police prefecture insisted that the animals would not be hunted.

In 2021, authorities classified the rabbits living in Paris as a nuisance but the order was reversed following an outcry from animal groups who have been pushing for a peaceful cohabitation with the animals.

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