Moving to France Guide & Resource Centre

French Riviera

The Côte d'Azur, often known in English as the French Riviera, is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France, also including the sovereign state of Monaco. There is no official boundary, but it is usually considered to extend from either Menton or the Italian border in the east to Saint Tropez, Hyères or Cassis in the west.

Its largest city is Nice, which had a population of 347,060 in 2006. It also contains the seaside resorts of Cap-d'Ail, Beaulieu-sur-Mer, Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, Villefranche-sur-Mer, Antibes, Juan-les-Pins, Cannes, Saint-Raphaël, Fréjus, Sainte Maxime and Saint-Tropez. It is also home to a high-tech/science park or technopole at Sophia-Antipolis (north of Antibes) and a research and technology center at the University of Nice Sophia-Antipolis. The region has 35,000 students, of whom 25% are working towards a doctorate.

The French Riviera is a major yachting and cruising area with several marinas along its coast. According to the Côte d'Azur Economic Development Agency, each year the Riviera hosts 50% of the world's superyacht fleet, with 90% of all superyachts visiting the region's coast at least once in their lifetime.

As a tourist centre it benefits from 300 days of sunshine per year, 115 kilometres (71 mi) of coastline and beaches, 18 golf courses, 14 ski resorts and 3,000 restaurants.

The text and photos on this page are provided by Wikipedia.org and licensed under Creative Commons

MOVING TO FRANCE: MAPS AND TRANPORT ROUTES

J.A.C. European Transport at a glance:

Bi-monthly overland transport service

Single items - Part loads - Full loads

Secure Storage in UK

Door-to-door collection and delivery

All inclusive competitive pricing

France Guide and Resource Centre

France Guide/Resource Centre

Brittany, Dordogne, French Riviera, Toulouse, Loire Valley

Quick Request Form - House Removals/Transports to France

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BRITTANY FACT SHEET

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

GEOGRAPHY

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Area:

34,023 km2 (13,136 sq mi)

Largest Settlements:

Nantes

Rennes

Brest

Lorient

Quimper

Vannes

Redon

Saint-Brieuc

Saint-Nazaire

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CLIMATE

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Located on the west coast of France, Brittany has a warm, temperate climate. Rainfall occurs regularly – which has helped keep its countryside green and wooded, but sunny, cloudless days are also common. In the summer months temperatures in the region can reach 30 °C (86 °F). Brittany's most popular summer resorts are on the south coast (La Baule, Belle Île, Gulf of Morbihan), although the wilder and more exposed north coast (the Côte de granite rose, Perros-Guirec, etc.) also attracts summer tourists.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

TRANSPORT

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Airports in Brittany serving destinations in France, Great Britain and Ireland include Brest, Saint-Malo, Lorient, and Rennes. Flights between Brittany and the Channel Islands are served by Saint-Brieuc airport, which also has direct flights to Bournemouth.

Brittany

Brittany is a region in the north-west of France. Previously as a kingdom and then as a duchy, Brittany was a fief of the Kingdom of France. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain (as opposed to Great Britain). It is characterized as one of the six Celtic nations.

Brittany occupies a large peninsula in the north west of France, lying between the English Channel to the north and the Bay of Biscay to the south. Its land area is 34,023 km² (13,136 sq mi). The historical province of Brittany is divided into five departments: Finistère in the west, Côtes-d'Armor in the north, Ille-et-Vilaine in the north east, the Loire-Atlantique in the south east and Morbihan in the south on the Bay of Biscay.

In January 2007 the population of historic Brittany was estimated to be 4,365,500. Of these, 71% lived in the région of Brittany, while 29% lived in the région of Pays-de-la-Loire. At the 1999 census, the largest metropolitan areas were Nantes (711,120 inhabitants), Rennes (521,188 inhabitants), and Brest (303,484 inhabitants).

Dordogne

Dordogne is a départment in south-west France. The départment is located in the region of Aquitaine, between the Loire valley and the High Pyrénées named after the great river Dordogne that runs through it. It roughly corresponds with the ancient county of Périgord.

DORDOGNE FACT SHEET

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

GEOGRAPHY

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Area:

9,060 km2 (3,498.1 sq mi)

Prefecture

Périgueux

Subprefectures

Bergerac

Nontron

Sarlat-la-Canéda

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BRITISH IN DORDOGNE

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dordogne has become one of the favourite destinations of British immigration to France, (more than 20 000 in 2006).

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CASTLES

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There are more than 1,500 castles in Dordogne, including the following:

Beynac

Biron

Bourdeilles

Castelnaud-la-Chapelle

Commarque

Hautefort

Milandes

Monbazillac

Pécany

Puymartin

The famous caves of Lascaux have been closed to the public, but the duplicate model cave of Lascaux II is open to visitors and is a major tourist attraction. Périgueux has important Roman ruins, including an arena which is still visible inside a public park located near the town centre.

FRENCH RIVIERA FACT SHEET

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

GEOGRAPHY

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Places on the Côte d'Azur (following the broadest definition), following the coast from south-west to north-east, include:

Cassis

La Ciotat

Bandol

Sanary-sur-Mer

Six-Fours-les-Plages

Toulon

Hyères and the Îles d'Hyères (Porquerolles, Port-Cros and Île du Levant)

Le Lavandou

Cavalaire-sur-Mer

Saint-Tropez

Inland - Grimaud, with Port-Grimaud on the coast

Sainte-Maxime

Fréjus and Saint-Raphaël

Inland - Fayence

Les Adrets-de-l'Estérel

Théoule-sur-Mer

Mandelieu and La Napoule

Inland - Grasse

Inland - Mougins

the Îles de Lérins - Île Sainte-Marguerite and Île Saint-Honorat

Cannes

Inland - Vallauris

Inland - Valbonne

Inland - Sophia-Antipolis

Golfe-Juan

Juan-les-Pins

Antibes

Inland - Biot

Villeneuve-Loubet

Cagnes-sur-Mer

Inland - Vence

Inland - Saint-Paul-de-Vence

Inland - Saint-Jeannet

Saint-Laurent-du-Var

Inland - Belvédère

Nice

Villefranche-sur-Mer

Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat

Tanneron

Beaulieu-sur-Mer

Èze

Cap d'Ail

Monaco (including Monte-Carlo)

Beausoleil

Roquebrune-Cap-Martin

Menton

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CLIMATE

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Côte d'Azur has a Mediterranean climate, with sunny, hot, dry summers and mild winters. Winter temperatures are moderated by the Mediterranean; days of frost are rare, and in summer the maximum rarely exceeds 30 °C (86 °F).

PHOTOS OF BRITTANY, FRANCE

FRENCH RIVIERA VIDEOS

TOULOUSE FACT SHEET

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

GEOGRAPHY

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Area:

118.3 km2 (45.7 sq mi)

Region:

Midi-Pyrénées

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CLIMATE

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Toulouse has a temperate climate that is usually classified as oceanic under the Köppen climate classification, falling just short of a humid subtropical climate classification. Toulouse is located at the junction with the Mediterranean climate zone, but uniform precipitation prevents it from being classified this way.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DEMOGRAPHICS

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Toulouse is the fourth largest city in France, after Paris, Marseille and Lyon, and the fifth-largest metropolitan area after Paris, Lyon, Marseille and Lille. Its total population in 2006 was 437,715.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CULTURE

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Toulouse, known as the Ville Rose ("Pink City") for its distinctive brick architecture, is host to a rich and diverse culture. The Théâtre du Capitole is the home of opera and ballet; there has been a theatre on the site since 1736. The Orchestre National du Capitole, long associated with Michel Plasson, plays at the Halle aux Grains.

The city's gastronomic specialties include Saucisses de Toulouse, a type of herb sausage, cassoulet Toulousain, a bean and pork stew, and garbure, a cabbage soup with poultry. Also, foie gras, the liver of an overfed duck or goose, is a delicacy mainly made in the Midi-Pyrénées.

Toulouse

Toulouse is a city in southwest France on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km (366 mi) away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. With 1,102,882 inhabitants as of Jan.1 2006, the Toulouse metropolitan area is the fourth-largest in France, after Paris (11.8 million), Lyon (1.8 million), Marseille (1.7 million).

Toulouse is one of the bases of the European aerospace industry, with the headquarters of Airbus, Galileo positioning system, the SPOT satellite system, and CNES's Toulouse Space Centre (CST), the largest space centre in Europe. Its world renowned university is one of the oldest in Europe (founded in 1229) and, with more than 97,000 students, is with Lille the third-largest university campus of France after Paris and Lyon.[3]

Toulouse was the capital of the former province of Languedoc (provinces were abolished during the French Revolution). It is now the Chef-lieu of the Midi-Pyrénées region, the largest region in metropolitan France. It is also the Chef-lieu of the Haute-Garonne department.

LOIRE VALLEY FACT SHEET

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

GEOGRAPHY & CLIMATE

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The valley includes historic towns such as Amboise, Angers, Blois, Chinon, Nantes, Orléans, Saumur, and Tours.

The climate is mild most of the year, the river often acting as a line of demarcation in France's weather between the northern climate and the southern. The river has a significant effect on the mesoclimate of the region, adding a few degrees of temperature. The climate can be cool with spring time frost while wine harvest months may have rain. Summers are hot; however influences from the Atlantic moderate the temperature with breezes.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

WINE

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Loire Valley wine region includes the several French wine regions situated along the river from the Muscadet region on the Atlantic coast to the regions of Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé just southeast of the city of Orléans in north central France. Loire wines tend to exhibit a characteristic fruitiness with fresh, crisp flavors.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CULTURE

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On December 2, 2000, UNESCO added the central part of the river valley, between Maine and Sully-sur-Loire, to its list of World Heritage Sites. In choosing this area that includes the French départements of Loiret, Loir-et-Cher, Indre-et-Loire, and Maine-et-Loire, the committee said that the Loire Valley is: "an exceptional cultural landscape, of great beauty, comprised of historic cities and villages, great architectural monuments - the Châteaux - and lands that have been cultivated and shaped by centuries of interaction between local populations and their physical environment, in particular the Loire itself."

The Loire Valley chansonniers are a related group of songbooks attributed to the composers of the Loire Valley and are the earliest surviving examples of a new genre which offered a combination of words, music, and illuminations.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ARCHITECTURE

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The architectural heritage in the valley's historic towns is notable, especially its castles, such as the Châteaux d'Amboise, Château de Chambord, château d'Ussé, Château de Villandry and Chenonceau. The châteaux, numbering more than three hundred, represent a nation of builders starting with the necessary castle fortifications in the 10th century to the splendor of those built half a millennium later. When the French kings began constructing their huge châteaux here, the nobility, not wanting or even daring to be far from the seat of power, followed suit. Their presence in the lush, fertile valley began attracting the very best landscape designers. In addition to its many châteaux, the cultural monuments illustrate to an exceptional degree the ideals of the Renaissance and the Age of the Enlightenment on western European thought and design.

Loire Valley

The Loire Valley, spanning 280 kilometres (170 mi), is located in the middle stretch of the Loire River in central France. It comprises an area of approximately 800 square kilometres (310 sq mi). It is referred to as the Cradle of the French Language, and the Garden of France due to the abundance of vineyards, fruit orchards, artichoke, asparagus and cherry fields which line the banks of the river. Notable for its historic towns, architecture and wines, the valley has been inhabited since the Middle Palaeolithic period. In 2000, UNESCO added the central part of the Loire River valley to its list of World Heritage Sites.