Bonjour Reader,

This week we're heading to a city Napoleon literally drew on a map — and it's quietly become one of the best-value retirement spots on France's Atlantic side.

From My Corner of the World

The end of March Madness always flips a switch in my head. Brackets go in the trash, and suddenly I want to be outside — walking, cycling, hiking, or just parked on the porch with the sunshine (and, let's be honest, the pollen).

It's one of the things that pulled me toward France in the first place. The French may live in cities, but they don't really live indoors.

Statista says 69% of French people build their vacations around nature. Around 16 million go hiking, and roughly a third of those hike weekly. Apéritifs happen outside. Sunday walks are practically a national sport.

It's the lifestyle most of us spend our retirement trying to build from scratch — already wired into the country.

📍 Hidden Gem

La Roche-sur-Yon, Vendée

La Roche-sur-Yon is the only city in France designed by Napoleon.

He looked at a quiet village in 1804, decided it should be the new capital of the Vendée, and had it laid out as a pentagon — straight streets, military precision, a giant central square.

Two centuries later, it's still shaped like that. And it still works.

Landmarks & local flavor:

The heart of town is Place Napoléon — one of the largest squares in France, redesigned in 2012 with reflecting pools, fountains, and a small herd of life-sized animal sculptures wandering across the stone (yes, really).

Around the corner sits Le Marché des Halles, the covered market that's been the city's daily kitchen for generations and still spills out into the surrounding streets on market mornings.

The Haras de la Vendée — the old national stud farm — sits inside the city itself, a rare working piece of equestrian France hiding in plain sight. The city tourism office has a clean walking-tour map if you want to plan a visit.

Get outside:

La Roche-sur-Yon plugs straight into the Vendée Vélo network, a web of well-marked, mostly-flat cycling routes that fan out across the department.

About 30 minutes west you hit La Vélodyssée — EuroVelo 1 — the Atlantic coast cycling route that runs all the way from Norway to Portugal. The Yon valley greenway gives you a leafy ride right out of town.

For walking, the Forêt de Mervent-Vouvant — one of the prettiest forests in western France — is an easy day trip with marked trails, lakes, and a medieval village tucked inside it. You can be on a bike, in a forest, or on the Atlantic by lunchtime, and home for apéro.

Accessibility + day-to-day vibe:

This is where La Roche-sur-Yon quietly outperforms. Direct TGV to Paris Montparnasse in about 3h30. Nantes is 40 minutes by train. The Atlantic beaches at Les Sables-d'Olonne are 35 minutes by car.

The Centre Hospitalier Départemental Vendée is the main public hospital and one of the largest in the region — a real consideration for retirees. And the pentagon street plan means the city center is genuinely walkable, with the markets, cafés, and Place Napoléon all within a few minutes of each other.

Affordability:

Honest take — the Vendée coast has been quietly pricing up for years. La Roche-sur-Yon is the smart workaround.

You get the prefecture, the train, the hospital, and the markets, but at inland prices. Three-bedroom homes near the center routinely come in under €200K. Headline coastal villages will charge you double for less square footage and more tourists. Buyers who do best here treat the beach as a 35-minute amenity, not a daily address.

📜 Taxes + Visa + Healthcare

Make It Easy for Them to Say Yes

Here's the question landing in my inbox most often right now: "My money is in a CD. My money is in a money market at Schwab. I can prove I can access it. Why isn't that enough for the consulate?"

I get it. As a CFP®, I understand exactly how those accounts work, and so do you.

The problem is the French consulate officer reviewing your VLS-TS long-stay visa application is not your financial advisor. They're reviewing dozens of files a day. They need to glance at your statement and immediately see that you clear the financial means threshold (currently pegged to the French SMIC — about €1,426/month net for a single applicant).

If your money is parked in a CD, a brokerage sweep, or a money market fund, it doesn't look like income or accessible cash on a statement. It looks like an investment.

And when in doubt, they say no.

Practical version: in the months before you apply, move enough to a plain US checking or savings account so that your statements clearly show 12 months of cash sufficient to meet the SMIC minimum, or a steady inflow if you're using Social Security or a pension. No explanation needed.

This is one of the most fixable mistakes I see. It costs you a little planning, not a lot of money. And yes — if you really want to do this, you'll find a way.

This is general guidance, not personal legal or immigration advice. When in doubt, work with a French immigration attorney or a CFP® who actually knows the cross-border landscape.

📺 France Must-Watch

Bienvenue à La Roche-sur-Yon

Ville de La Roche-sur-Yon

The official city video. Three minutes, in French — but you don't need the language to get the picture. It's a proud little postcard of a city most Americans have never heard of — which is exactly why I wanted you to see it.

→ Watch Now

🏡 Real Estate Spotlight

€191,700 (~$222,000) — 3-room townhouse, Pentagon district

This one is the La Roche-sur-Yon retirement starter pack.

An 80 m² (≈860 sq ft) townhouse a short walk from Les Halles and Place Napoléon, in the Pentagone — Pont-Morineau quartier. Open-plan living and kitchen on the ground floor. Two bedrooms upstairs, one with its own private terrace. A bathroom, a separate WC, and a quiet courtyard with no neighbors looking in.

The roof was redone in 2019 — which, in old-house France, is the listing detail that actually matters. Estimated annual energy cost runs €1,040–€1,460, which for an 80 m² house is reasonable.

It's not a château. It's better. It's the kind of small, well-located, low-maintenance home you can lock up for two weeks while you ride the Vélodyssée and not worry about. Walk to the market on Saturday morning. Coffee in the square. Train to Paris when you feel like it.

At roughly €2,400 per square meter in the prefecture of one of France's most desirable departments, this listing tells you everything about why La Roche-sur-Yon belongs on your shortlist. You're paying inland prices for coastal access, prefecture services, and a TGV station.

→ View Property Details

One question for you this week: what's the one thing about your current lifestyle you most want to keep when you move to France — and the one thing you can't wait to leave behind?

Hit reply. I read every one.

That's it for this week. À bientôt, Tommy

PS — During the France Fast Track™ I'll walk you through real "income tax free in France" scenarios for US retirees, and the specific hidden gem cities (La Roche-sur-Yon is one of them) where you can actually afford to live them. Join the waitlist here →