This is a question we’ve been asked many times, including this comment from one of the travelers on our Iceland trip last year (and repeat Six-Pack of Peaks challenger) Amy, who wrote:
I’d love to hear more about why/how you chose France vs Spain, Portugal, or Italy and what was your process for figuring out which city to move to within France. Also, did you do all of your own research or did you use a service to help steer you along the way?
First a little background. We have lived overseas once before, when Joan worked for an international school in Seoul, South Korea. It was a great experience and a very easy transition. At the school, we had a built-in community of English-speaking expats from around the world, and Seoul is a modern city with all of the modern conveniences you would expect — a great public transit system, every kind of cuisine you can imagine. It was different, yet familiar.
We’ve always talked about living in Europe at some point, but due to work obligations, it always felt like more of a “someday” dream — more concept than concrete.
That perspective shifted as I looked at retirement and began to think that maybe the time was right.
Initially, we didn’t settle on Dijon or even France. We just loved the idea of living in Europe and the ease of traveling and experiencing so many different countries so easily. I saw a news story of a village on Sardinia offering the infamous 1 euro house deal and imagined what it would be like to refurbish an ancient home in a small, remote village. That seemed a bit too remote and far removed for our tastes, but it did get me thinking about how close other places in Europe are, and how easy it would be to travel to the UK, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and more.
At this point the algorithm kicked in and started suggesting content. We learned about an expat couple that moved from Missouri to Albania, and followed that rabbit hole. Joan had a friend who moved to Portugal, and so we did some research on that (many of the doors are closing there).
Then on October 26, 2025 we watched this video from Amelia and JP Abroad on their 10 favorite retirement spots. They listed cities across the world, but Dijon, France piqued our interest. It seemed to have the right mixture of history, vibrant culture and modernity
From that, the algorithm suggested Suzi from Fired Up in France. Suzi is an American expat who has been living in Dijon for 17 years, and has a great channel with a lot of content for people curious about moving to France in general, and Dijon in particular.
This kicked off more research, learning about moving to France and getting to know the city of Dijon.
There are many wonderful things about France, and one of the financial elements that tips the scale is their favorable tax treaty with the U.S.. We still file and pay income taxes in the U.S., but don’t get double taxed in France — not true for all countries.
As for where in France, there are many wonderful cities, towns and villages to choose from. For us, we liked the climate of Dijon — very similar to what we experienced in Bend, Oregon, but with slightly warmer winters and slightly cooler summers. We didn’t want hot and sunny, but we also wanted more than a village — something where we could immerse ourselves in French culture, history, food and wine but also enjoy great public transportation, excellent walkability (Dijon has entire sections of centre-ville that are pedestrian-only), and good cost of living (about 30% lower than Bend, Oregon).
Dijon is located roughly 1 hour 40 minutes from Paris by high-speed rail, and we have excellent high-speed rail connections that can get us throughout Europe. Plus, most of the trains allow dogs, which is important for our two labradoodles.
Once we decided on the move, we enlisted help from two companies. Daniel Tostado Avocats helped us with our long-stay visitor visas. These allow us to establish residency in France, but there is a fair amount of paperwork to go through — tax records, bank statements, proof of income — and they were very helpful guiding us through the process. We had to travel to San Francisco to submit our paperwork, and we didn’t want to have to go through that process twice.
We started looking for long term rentals, initially using Seloger.com. Initially, we were getting virtually acquainted with the various neighborhoods and the rental market. About a month before we were scheduled to land in France, we worked with Ibanista to help us focus our search. They were extremely helpful in scheduling (and translating) walkthroughs, ultimately finding the apartment we ended up loving and walking us through the details of the lease agreement (which of course, is in French).
In six months we went from dream to reality. Now we are walking the dogs through centre-ville, stopping for a coffee and a croissant, and slowing down to savor the day.
We’re still setting up the apartment and getting settled in, but Dijon feels like home.
