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An English-speaking circle, ready-made

Towns with a verified anglophone scene — every one individually cited. Scores are anchored to fixed real-world ranges — method and sources on the methodology page. For a ranking weighted to your answers, take the three-minute quiz.

1. Paris American-anchored scene The capital of everything — 2.1 million people across twenty arrondissements, at street level a federation of villages, each with its own market street. Home to the largest American community in France, and the most expensive square meter in it.
2. Eymet British-anchored scene A 13th-century bastide of about 2,600 in the southern Dordogne, the most famously British village in France — instant community for arrivals who dread isolation, and a bubble anyone chasing immersion should weigh honestly.
3. Lyon American-anchored scene France's gastronomic capital: half a million people in the Rhône department, where the Rhône meets the Saône — big-city medicine, a TGV to Paris in under two hours, and one of the best-organized American communities in the country.
4. Bordeaux American-anchored scene France's wine capital: a limestone city of about 268,000 in the Gironde, flat and walkable at the center, with a university hospital seven minutes away and Americans who have been organizing here since 1969.
5. Nice American-anchored scene The Riviera's capital — a seafront city of about 350,000 in the Alpes-Maritimes, UNESCO-listed as the coast's original winter resort, with big-city medicine, car-free living, and the most organized American community in the south.
6. Aix-en-Provence American-anchored scene Cézanne's hometown of about 150,000 in the Bouches-du-Rhône — a market every single morning, opera in July, and the most established American network in Provence, at prices to match.
7. Pau Mixed international scene A boulevard city of about 80,000 in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, with the snow line of the Pyrenees hanging at the end of its grand terrace — real-city amenities, gentle prices, and an anglophone habit going back 170 years.
8. Bergerac British-anchored scene A working river town of about 27,000 in the Dordogne — the practical capital of anglophone Périgord, with its own airport, its own hospital, and vineyards starting at the edge of town.
9. Antibes Mixed international scene A walled old town with a real working city around it — about 78,000 people in the Alpes-Maritimes, between Nice and Cannes, with Europe's biggest yacht harbor outside the ramparts and the easiest English on the coast inside them.
10. Toulouse American-anchored scene A rose-brick metropolis of half a million in the Haute-Garonne, run on aerospace and students rather than tourism — big-city medicine, an American club, and the Pyrenees an hour away.
11. Montpellier Mixed international scene A sun-drenched university city of about 310,000 in the Hérault — a car-free medieval core, the world's oldest working medical school, free trams for residents, and the Mediterranean one tram line away.
12. Uzès American-anchored scene A honey-stone duchy town of about 8,500 in the Gard, entirely complete in itself — one of France's great markets, a walkable Renaissance core, and more spoken English than you'd expect.
13. Sarlat-la-Canéda British-anchored scene The golden-stone seat of the Périgord Noir — a medieval town of about 8,800 in the Dordogne with one of France's great food markets, prices that undercut the fashionable south, and a summer that belongs to the crowds.
14. Périgueux British-anchored scene The Dordogne's prefecture — a working small city of about 29,000 with a five-domed cathedral, a winter food-market tradition few towns in France can match, and the department's principal hospital five minutes from the stalls.
15. Cannes British-anchored scene The most famous resort name in France is, three streets back from the Croisette, a working market city of about 74,000 in the Alpes-Maritimes — with nearly two centuries of English-speaking life and prices to match the postcode.
16. Menton British-anchored scene A lemon-growing town of about 30,000 in the Alpes-Maritimes, pressed against the Italian border — the mildest winters on the French coast, Italianate façades, and a pace closer to Liguria than to Nice.
17. Saint-Rémy-de-Provence Mixed international scene The polished heart of the Alpilles — a town of about 9,500 in the Bouches-du-Rhône where Van Gogh painted the olive groves, the Wednesday market is one of the south's great ones, and the world's affection is fully priced in.
18. Grenoble Mixed international scene A working university-and-research city of about 156,000 in the Isère, laid flat on its valley floor with three mountain ranges closing every view — big-city medicine and culture at prices that don't behave like either.