April 2026: A first month in France.
We’ve had 3 months now since we got back to full-time travel…and April was definitely the best month we’ve had to date. And that might be because we’re really enjoying France.
On April 2nd, we took the train from Girona to Carcassonne. We realized that it had been a long time that we hadn’t crossed a European border by train when, having crossed the border, police came on and asked to see everyone’s ID. When did that start happening? We just don’t remember that happening on any of our previous travels through the Schengen zone.
I have to admit feeling a bit of happiness and excitement knowing we had entered a new country. We’ve lived the last 5 years in Spain and have had a lot of mixed feelings: we’re happy we’ve earned permanent residency in Spain and that it’s an EU country that we can come back to anytime we wish. But the truth is that Spain hasn’t felt like “home” to us, even after 5 years. I don’t know if it ever will to be honest.
When we decided to go back to full-time travel it was two-fold: we missed travelling. We’ve always enjoyed the adventure of travel, it always excites us. We know there’s an expiry date to the way we travel (we’re both 59 now) so it feels like a last shot at it. I’m sure we’ll still travel in 10 years (if still alive) but it most likely won’t be as house-less nomads. So there’s that. But besides travel, we told ourselves that we’re going to keep our eyes and minds open to other places where we could see ourselves settling in the future. Maybe, balancing a whole bunch of factors, nothing beats Spain. We know that no place is perfect. But sometime in the next 5 to 10 years we’re going to have to say “this is it” and commit to a country.
I’m going to expand on the above at some point. But I’ll say this: it’s only been a month in France but it has felt more like “home” than Spain ever has. We lived 25+ years in Montreal, we know the French culture, the cuisine, the language. The people, the way they express themselves, their sense of humour all feel familiar. We’ve had more in-depth conversations here than we ever had in Spain.
We see things here in France: more bums, more migrants, more begging. A much bigger police presence than in Spain. Yesterday we saw the police chase down a young man on the main street here in Avignon. The cost of basics is substantially higher in France than in Spain (I’ll cover our monthly costs below as I usually do). France has its issues. But if you ask us how we feel here, I’d tell you that we feel pretty damn happy so far.
Anyway, I’ve gone a bit off tangent. In this post I’ll cover the usual: the highs and lows of the month, observances and experiences, the cost of things…and I’ll touch on why France has been pretty good to us 😉.
Highs and Lows of the month
There weren’t really any lows during the month, it was pretty much smooth sailing and we enjoyed every place we visited.
The month started in Girona, a beautiful small city in Catalonia. I’ve mentioned previously that it somehow feels like a slice of Italy.
From Girona we took the train across the border and up to Narbonne, from where we switched trains to Carcassonne. Carcassonne is spectacular, a UNESCO site and one of the most impressive medieval cities in Europe. We spent 3 days there, visiting the old city a few times (most of which is free as I cover in this guide to Carcassonne). We stayed in this Airbnb apartment, run by a friendly lady named Odile. A few funny quirks to the apartment but overall a very good stay and I would recommend it if wanting to stay in Carcassonne.
*Carcassonne is a place which, in hindsight, is probably best suited for just a day trip or a 1-night stop over. But we have a lot of time on our hands and spending 3 days allowed us to get to explore the different parts of the city including La Bastide Saint-Louis.
Our next stop was Montpellier, a very pretty city in Occitanie where we spent 10 days. After over a month of “fast travelling” it was our first stop of a week or more. It felt good to have a base: a beautiful Airbnb which unfortunately had the worst bed (and couch) we’ve had in our 3 months getting back to full-time travel. The Airbnb is run by an agency and they got very defensive when I told them that the bed was horrible (foam within a plasticky cover. We got in bed and it felt like we were swallowed up by the mattress). It made for 10 days of really bad sleep. One of the things we’ve noticed: there are more and more Airbnbs run by agencies and they don’t really care. Going forward we’ll make double sure we’re not renting from an agency.
While Montpellier doesn’t have any one huge attraction, it is uniformly a beautiful city – full of churches, plazas and monuments – that’s made for walking and for sitting somewhere and having a coffee or beer while people watching. We had day trips to Béziers and Sète, two excellent excursions from Montpellier. Despite poor sleep we enjoyed the city.
We then went on to Avignon which we had booked for a month. Avignon is fantastic: a small, beautiful city circled by medieval walls and located on the banks of the Rhone river. We’re staying here a month, staying in a great apartment right next to Les Halles, the municipal market. I would usually link the apartment but in this case I think I’ll keep it to myself: Avignon is a place we could see ourselves coming back to and price-wise the apartment is a great deal.
Avignon has two famous attractions. The first is the Palace of the Popes, the largest Gothic building in Europe built to hold the Pope (Briefly: in 1309, Pope Clement V moved the Papacy from Rome to Avignon. Succeeding Popes would stay there until 1377 when the papacy was moved back to Rome). The second major highlight is the Pont D’Avignon, a 13th century bridge that was part of the most important pilgrimage routes between Italy and France. But parts of the bridge would always be swept away by the strong currents of the Rhone and in the 17th century the bridge was abandoned. What’s left today is a short bridge that abruptly ends in the middle of the river.
Avignon is also well situated for day trips: across the river is charming Villeneuve-lès-Avignon with its huge castle. Orange and Nimes are both easy train rides, both destinations known for some incredible Roman sites (Nimes for its Roman arena, Orange for its Roman theatre). We have a few more destinations to visit while here including to Arles, another city famous for its Roman artefacts.
But really, it’s been much more than that. We’ve just enjoyed the French culture in Avignon: shopping at the market, having coffee and croissant at our favorite café, sitting on the square with a beer. We have a favorite restaurant on a square where we go to a lunchtime “special menu” and order a bottle of wine. The waitress is now our best friend.
I like wines so I’ve been trying out different wines from the region. And like the locals, we have a baguette with every meal.
In short we’ve been decadent and we have to get back to better habits. But that’s been hard in France.
April 2026 Costings
Overall, April was a lot less expensive than March – I mentioned on our last monthly summary that I was surprised by how expensive accommodation was in Northern Spain (an average of 102 Euros/night). Accommodation in March made up much of the 5,895 monthly total.
April was a lot less expensive primarily because of accommodation: we paid an average 59 Euros/night for accommodation in France. Most of that is because of our accommodation in Avignon, an average of 37 Euros/night (a great deal, 1,110 Euros for a 30 day stay). But even our other stays were less expensive than Northern Spain: we paid an average of 85 Euros for 3 nights in Carcassonne and 80 Euros/night for 10 nights in Montpellier. Who would ever have thought we’d paid less for accommodation in Southern France than in Northern Spain (places like Girona, Tarragona, Sitges and even Tossa de Mar)? I find that surprising.
Note: we have a couple of stays coming up in May that will be more expensive and more in line with what we paid in Northern Spain.
Travel expenses in April were less than in March but that’s a bit deceiving: in March we crossed all of Spain, in April we actually covered little ground. What I actually realized was that taking the train in France is actually quite a bit more expensive than in Spain. A couple of examples: Montpellier to Beziers 13 Euros each one way (a 45 minute ride), Montpellier to Sète 7 Euros (a 15 minute ride). One thing we found is that you should buy your tickets as early as possible: Montpellier to Avignon cost us 17 Euros each when we booked a week ahead (a 1 ½ trip).
What really costs a lot more in April (in France) versus March (in Spain): Restaurants and Groceries ie. anything to do with food. For the “Restaurants” category: what we’ve found expensive is having a coffee and a pastry somewhere. It often comes out to 7 Euros/pp for a cappuccino and a pastry, so 14 Euros between the two of us. If you do that a lot it adds up fast. We’ve looked at restaurant menus in France and find it expensive: usually about 12 Euros for an appetizer, 25 Euros for a main, 7 Euros for a dessert. Instead, we’ve looked for restaurants that have a lunch time special: our favorite here in Avignon is the Grand Café Barreta: they have a lunchtime menu that includes appetizer, main course and dessert for 22 Euros/pp. We get a cheap bottle of wine with that (they have a wine menu where wines start at 20 Euros). We come out of there usually paying 75 Euros which is about what you’ll pay in Spain at a nice restaurant. But if you go to a restaurant and order off the regular menu it’ll easily be double.
*Note: same concept as in Spain where they have a menu “menu de dia”. But in Spain you can eat out at night and prices are reasonable. We haven’t seen that in France yet.
Groceries are much more expensive than Spain, in fact shockingly so. We paid 1,273 Euros for groceries in April. In February and March (when in Spain) we paid 737 Euros and 717 Euros. So that’s an almost 80% jump. I’ve read that groceries in France are about 25% more expensive than either the UK or Spain – but that study was done in 2021 and I think it’s even more than that. We have 2 more months coming up in France so we’ll see…
But it’s more than that. In Spain you can find those huge Chinese-owned stores that sell everything under the sun for really cheap prices. Need wood glue, tape, underwear, a notebook, paper clips, an umbrella, a chair etc etc then you go to the China shop in Spain. We haven’t seen anything like this so far in France. So you’ll spend more on miscellaneous items.
The bottom line is that consumer goods cost a lot more in France.
I would argue one thing: the quality of things, including groceries, is better in France. Just the fruits and vegetables we buy here for example seem to be fresher and taste better than the ones we bought in Spain. I’m not sure why that is.
As far as being a tourist goes, France is cheaper in some ways. Cathedrals are free (in Spain you’ll usually pay from 7 Euros to 15 Euros per person to enter a Cathedral) and museums are mostly all free. Here in Avignon there are 6 museums that you can visit for free. There are other free things, such as a ride on the ferry across the Rhone (free) and on the 1st of May we took advantage of a May day special 1 Euro fare between Avignon and Nimes.
Anyway, always interesting how things are different in different places.
But the bottom line is that France is more expensive than Spain in many ways. Off the top of my head I’d say about 50% more expensive overall (excluding accommodation). Again, we’re here for 2 more months so it’ll be interesting to compare.
The month ahead
We’ll be spending half of May in another part of Provence before moving on to Lyon. I’ve only briefly mentioned the people – we’ve found the French extremely nice, even friendly (not a word that often comes up with the French). The phrase that often comes up when we talk about them; “common curtesy”. It’s nice to see a people with common curtesy. As we go up higher into France we’re almost nervous about how much that will change. But for now have really enjoyed our time in France.
Related: March 2026: Another month of full-time travel in Spain
Related: FULL-TIME TRAVEL 2.0!
Hi Frank,
Enjoyed reading about your experiences and impressions of France. I am intrigued by your take on the people (and perhaps by extension the culture ) in France vs Spain. Having spent well over a year’s time in Spain over the past few years (visiting as well as walking different Camino routes) and a few months in France (including slow cycling for a month from Nantes to Nevers – Euro Velo 6), I find myself having mixed feelings about both countries.
Our Spanish is much better than our non-existent French and hence relatively easier to ‘hit the ground running’ if you will in Spain. Yet, France charmed us in a way where we felt a certain gentleness/ politeness /appreciation towards enjoying life that we realized matters to us.
In the long run (moving to a country perspectiveI I wonder if it is more relevant to be aligned to the culture and mindset of the people than being conversant in the language.
By that token I suppose we feel the most at home in England!
Hope you will write more at some point about the embodied experience of being in Spain vs France from that angle.
Thanks.
Thank you Michael! It’s funny, Lissette speaks the better Spanish and I speak the better French. So we both help each other out with languages. Having said that, we’ve realized that we both much prefer France. No doubt. I think we relate much better to the people. I know I’ll get in trouble for this but France is civilized. Sometimes Spain, especially Andalusia, feels a bit 3rd world. I will indeed write about that more at some point 🙂