Options on the Mediterranean

[STERN.SCALY-0O]

My husband and I are considering the south of France for retirement, specifically along the Mediterranean. We plan on renting and have identified the following cities:
Nice - may be too touristy and pricey
Hyeres
Toulon
Montpellier
Sete
We are looking for:
Great weather
Weekly market
Expat community
Walkable - no car
Access to beach
Restaurants, shopping, cultural activities
Public transport

Any other cities we should consider?
Any of these not fit our criteria?
I really appreciate any feedback. We are in process of planning an exploratory trip.
Thank you!

[FRANCE]

Bonjour!
Those are all great spots - for different reasons. A scouting trip is a good idea to check off all your "must-haves" and see what the local community is like.
Toulon and Hyeres have very few North American expats, just a quick FYI.
A lot of people like Antibes and, surprisingly, Cannes.
Also, you could check out Nice "adjacent" cities along the coast like Villefranche-sur-Mer.

-Tuula, IL France Correspondent

[LLEE3303]

@TUULARAMPONT-0, follow up question for you. I have the same criteria. In terms of weather, I've read that most of the towns along the Med are hit with furious winds in the winter -- Mistral, Tramontane, and others. Are there places where the wind isn't so bad, or do residents just stay indoors during the winter???

[FRANCE]

Hello, The Mistral wind is a bit of a fact of life in the south of France. Unfortunately, it’s present and every city I can think of along the coast and inland. It usually comes in threes - 3 or 6 days of wind. It’s a bit of a hassle, but I find it’s a small price to pay for living in this beautiful region.

[KATEGREEN03]

We stayed for awile last year south of Aix and enjoyed that a lot. Now we are spending three months in Laroque-des-Alberes which is 25 minutes to Perpignan and close to Spain. It's "OK" but we won't buy here or live longer. Everything shuts down near the beach and even the inland villages are pretty dead in winter. And I mean nothing is open! The wind is rocking the house as I write this and looks to be bad for a couple of days. It is strong. It's also just not as pretty as other places and there are so many (closed) mobile home parks that make the whole area jam packed in summer. For me I will head back east from Montpelier onward next time.

[RSBRUBACHER]

We lived at the foot of Mt. Ste. Victoire (a year) years ago and loved it. My favorite city/town is mentioned above: Villefranche Sur Mer half way between Nice and Monacco and just a train trip over the border to Italy. The climb to Eze and the walks to St Jean Cap Ferrat are lovely and the hilly town, great. We are spending a month, however, this time in Beziers on the west towards Spain and loving it. Places seem to be larger for less but a new up and coming town that has loads of beautifully restored, and being restored, Haussmann buildings. It was the 4th largest city in France in 1900, in the Languedoc wine region, but went downhill for decades now being renewed. The Allee Paul Riquet is beautiful, the markets great, the vibe good, people helpful and it has loads of events. The Canal du Midi runs through it with small pleasure boats and lovely walk and bike paths. It almost sounds like a sales pitch lol but we are loving it and I think it has more to go. Sharon