Aelos

10/29/2026

Most “best places to retire in France” lists are really lists of pretty places. We wanted to answer the less glamorous questions: Can you find a family doctor? How far is the nearest university hospital? Will the town still feel alive in February?

So we compared 55 French towns using official French data on healthcare, housing, climate and transport, and ranked them.

A few results surprised us. Caen scores 100 on doctor access, and housing there costs about €2,900 per square meter. Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, Biarritz and Collioure all rank lower than their reputations, mostly because of healthcare access and quiet winters.

There’s no single best town for everyone, and the article shows how the list changes for a couple on a budget, one chasing sunshine and one flying home often.

Read it here:

We scored 55 French towns on doctor access, hospitals, housing costs, climate and more. Our picks for American retirees, with the trade-offs.

10/15/2026

Thinking about buying a home in France?

The process can be very different from what American buyers are used to—from how you find properties to how agents work, how much you can negotiate, what inspections cover, and what happens between making an offer and closing.

In our latest video, I spoke with Vera Brown, co-founder of French Property Focus, about the biggest things Americans should understand before buying property in France.

We talk about:
- why there is no French equivalent of Zillow or the MLS
- how to search effectively from the U.S.
- how asking prices and negotiation work
- diagnostics and property inspections
- the compromis de vente and the role of the notaire
- closing costs and renovation surprises
- the most common mistakes foreign buyers make

If buying property is part of your move to France, I think you’ll find this one very useful.

Watch here:

Thinking about buying a home in France? In this conversation, I spe...

10/15/2026

For Americans considering retirement in France, one of the biggest questions is how much money you'll actually need.

We recently put together a detailed 2026 cost guide with three illustrative budgets:

🇫🇷 Single retiree in Montpellier: ~€1,720/month

🇫🇷 Couple in Bordeaux or Lyon: ~€2,920/month

🇫🇷 Couple on the Riviera: ~€3,910/month

The guide also covers rent, healthcare, groceries, transportation, taxes, Social Security, and the one-time costs of moving.

These are planning examples rather than universal averages, but they're a useful starting point if you're comparing locations.

Full article:

What does it really cost to retire in France in 2026? Constructed monthly budgets by city and lifestyle, healthcare and tax costs, and what changes for Americans.

09/15/2026

Jody and Dan retired from Raleigh, North Carolina and made the move to Strasbourg, France.

They love their new life here — but, as they told us, there were plenty of things they wish they’d known before moving. We sat down with them to talk about why they chose France, what surprised them, what they miss about the U.S., and the realities of navigating visas, housing, healthcare and French administration when you don’t speak the language.

They also shared what it’s been like having Aelos alongside them since we met along the way.

A candid conversation about the good, the frustrating, and what they’d do differently. Watch the full interview on YouTube:

Jody and Dan retired from Raleigh, North Carolina and moved to Stra...

09/07/2026

Planning to move to France and take medication with you? Here's the question worth answering before you go: what happens to your prescriptions once you're there?

A few things surprise people. You can usually bring a generous supply of ordinary medication, up to what your prescription covers. But controlled drugs, like ADHD stimulants, opioids, and sleep medication, are much more restricted, and you need the original prescription at the border.

A French pharmacist may agree to fill your American prescription, but it's their call, so don't count on it. The better plan is to see a French doctor early and switch your treatment to French prescriptions. Your drug is almost certainly sold in France, just often under a different name, so you look it up by active ingredient (Lipitor is atorvastatin, Synthroid is levothyroxine) rather than the US brand.

And the prices are a relief: a box of atorvastatin runs about €3.50 before reimbursement.

We put together a plain-English guide on what to bring, what to ask your US doctor for, and how to hand your care over without a gap.

Can you bring a six-month supply to France? Will a French pharmacy fill your US prescription? A practical guide for Americans on medication, controlled drugs, costs, and the transition to French prescriptions.

09/03/2026

France, Portugal, Spain, or Italy?

If you've thought about retiring in Europe, you've probably narrowed it to those four. From a distance, they look almost identical: universal healthcare, a mild climate, good food, a visa made for retirees. Up close, they're not.

Take taxes. Your US Social Security and pension are often barely touched in France, thanks to the US-France treaty, while Spain taxes them like a local's and Italy offers a flat 7% deal if you move to a small town in the south. Or healthcare: all four cost a fraction of what you'd pay in the US, and France leaves you paying the least out of pocket, around 9%, because its public system reimburses more.

No single country wins on everything. But if your income is mostly US Social Security, a pension, and retirement savings, France tends to come out looking very good.

We put together a full comparison, with real numbers and sources, so you can see how the four stack up for your own situation.

France, Portugal, Spain, or Italy for retirement? An evidence-based comparison for Americans: taxes, healthcare, visas, cost of living, and estate planning, with the numbers.

07/31/2026

"Where in France should we retire?"

Only you can really answer that, because it depends on how you want to spend an ordinary week. But there's a way to decide it well.

The trap is choosing a town the way you'd choose a vacation. A place that's magic for five days in June can be a long, quiet, car-dependent winter the rest of the year. The right place is the one that still works on a gray Tuesday in February.

We put together a full framework for American retirees: how to figure out the life you're actually after, tell your genuine must-haves from the postcard fantasies, check the things that matter (healthcare, getting around, year-round life, real airport connections), and visit a place like someone who lives there. And why, for most people, renting before buying is the smart move.

If a move to France is on your mind, this one's worth a read:

https://www.aelos.net/blog/where-to-live-in-france-american-retirees

07/27/2026

On the France-Visas portal, the long-stay visitor visa looks like a form you could finish in an afternoon.

Filling the boxes is the quick part. What takes weeks is everything behind them: bank and pension records assembled just so, an insurance certificate with the exact right wording, and proof of accommodation that changes depending on how you're housed. Renting an apartment, booking short-term, or staying with family each call for a different set of documents, and one inconsistency sends you back to the start of a queue you waited weeks to reach.

And the paperwork is only the first layer. The visa is wired to four other decisions, and getting the order wrong in one can undo work in the others:
- Validate the visa within 3 months of landing, or you put your legal status at risk.
- That same validation quietly starts your one-year driver's-license exchange clock, which most people don't discover until month eleven.
- French tax residency attaches based on when you actually move, so the move date is a tax event, not a travel detail.
- Your French public healthcare doesn't start on arrival, so the private insurance the visa requires has to bridge a gap of months.

None of these is hard on its own. The difficulty is that they happen at once, in a second language, in an order where each depends on the others.

We wrote the whole thing up for American retirees:

The French long-stay visa for American retirees: the paperwork that has to be exact, the deadlines that don't forgive, and the order it all has to happen in.

07/22/2026

Do I keep paying for Medicare once I'm living in France?"

It's one of the most common questions we get, and one of the easiest to get expensively wrong.

Medicare doesn't cover you in France, so paying for Part B while you're in the French system can feel pointless. But dropping it carries a penalty that follows you for life if you ever move back, and keeping it is what protects your ability to get supplemental coverage later without being turned away for your health.

So we wrote a plain-English guide: what each part of Medicare does when you move, the penalty math, the trap most people miss, and who should actually keep paying versus drop it. Every figure is checked against CMS and Social Security.

If you're planning a move, or already made one and have quietly wondered whether those premiums are worth it, this is for you:

Medicare doesn't cover you in France. Whether to keep paying for Part B is the real decision: the 10% lifetime penalty, the Medigap risk, and who should keep it.

07/13/2026

Two Americans move to France on the same day. A few months later, one swaps their US license for a French one with some paperwork and a form. The other is in a driving school, studying for a written exam in French and booking lessons, starting over from scratch.

The difference isn't how well they drive. It's which US state issued their license.

France recognizes licenses from only about 18 states. If yours is one of them, you can exchange it. If it isn't (California and New York aren't), you take the French tests, in French. And there's a one-year window after you arrive to sort it out, which is easy to miss when you're buried in visas, housing, and healthcare.

We wrote a full guide: which states qualify, when your clock actually starts, and the road rules that catch Americans off guard (priorité à droite being the big one).

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Can you drive in France on a US license? Whether you can exchange it depends heavily on your state. A chronological guide to licenses, the one-year window, and the road rules that surprise Americans.