I fell in love with the idea of Paris at a very early age. I didn’t know how I would do it, but I was certain that I’d someday call the City of Lights my home.
By 2014, I was studying abroad in Paris and living my dream — but it wasn’t living up to my expectations.
The lavish meals and fabulous apartments I’d envisioned for myself were well out of my price range. The metro I’d idealized wasn’t fashionable and fast, but often unreliable, overcrowded, and lacking AC.
I’d thought at least I’d get a chance to perfect my French, but even that felt impossible when I realized the mostly bilingual locals would default to English the moment they noticed my accent.
By the end of the term, I returned to the States with my tail between my legs, vowing that I’d never again live in Paris — but France as a whole still held a special place in my heart, so I wasn’t against trying again elsewhere in the country.
Fast-forward almost 10 years, and my French husband and I were living in a small village near his family. Isolation wasn’t working for us, and we started thinking about relocating to a bigger city somewhere in France.
Right away, we both agreed that it wasn’t going to be Paris. Although we love certain aspects of the city and enjoy the occasional visit, the cons of the French capital ultimately outweigh the pros for us.
However, there was another city in France that had all of the perks of Paris, minus many of the aspects we don’t enjoy. We ended up moving to Lyon, one of France’s largest cities, and have never looked back.
The cost of living in Paris feels way higher than in Lyon
I spent my four months of study abroad with a host family in the 16th arrondissement of Paris — one of the most notoriously pricey neighborhoods in the city — but all the renters I knew were shelling out big time, sometimes for impossibly small spaces.
By contrast, we’ve found a lot of affordable housing options in Lyon. Our rent is just over $1,500 for roughly 1,000 square feet, whereas I’d likely pay up to double or triple that for the same space in Paris.
Whenever I visit Paris, I’m shocked by the prices of everything from cocktails to bread — even Paris metro tickets are 2.55 euros, compared to Lyon’s 2.10. This isn’t a huge difference, but it can definitely add up.
My home is well-connected to my other favorite parts of France
Part of why we prefer Lyon is that we’re neither far from my husband’s family nor some of our favorite French vacation destinations, from the beach to the mountains.
With some help from the high-speed train, I can be in Montpellier, Marseille, and other parts of southern France in just a couple of hours. My travel time would be twice as long if I were to leave from Paris.
Best of all, that same train also gets me to Paris in under two hours whenever I want to visit.
Lyon has a lot of what Paris has to offer, but on a smaller, more manageable scale
The size of the city and the volume of activities were part of why I didn’t enjoy living in Paris — there was simply too much to keep up with.
There’s a lot less to do in Lyon, but that doesn’t mean the culture is lacking. There are fantastic museums to take in the arts, iconic Haussmannian architecture just like in Paris, and events that have made the city a standout in its own right.
One of my favorites is the Fête des Lumières, a citywide light show that was first invented in Lyon and has since been popularized all around the globe.
Lyon is also widely considered the gastronomic capital of France, so I never have trouble finding something good to eat, whether that’s a traditional meal from a bouchon Lyonnais or fantastic Indian food.
With fewer English speakers around me, it’s been easy to perfect my French
Between the tourists, expats, and bilingual natives, it was harder to find folks in Paris to practice my French with than I had expected.
Lyon doesn’t have as much of an international population, so I’ve found that a lot of locals speak French and only French — which means I’ve had no option but to put my knowledge of the language to use in order to get by.
It hasn’t always been easy, but I’m grateful for it. I have my time in Lyon to thank for my newfound ability to express myself confidently in any situation.
Now, when I go to Paris, locals don’t even notice my accent.
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