Selling our business & moving to Europe - but where? Please help!
 

My husband and I have an eco-friendly landscaping business in northern California. We are now in our early 30s and are ready to sell the business and live abroad. Since we both know how to speak Portuguese, Spanish, and English and feel we could learn French and Italian somewhat easily, we figured we would target countries that speak those languages.

The problem is we don't know where to start. What we do know is that we are willing to travel for about 3-4 months, targeting areas that fit the type of lifestyle we seek. We are looking for the following:
--Pedestrian or bike friendly (we want to be able to walk or bike to the local market or bakery)
--Some type of night life; I'm not referring to nighclubs, but rather places that have people strolling in the evenings whether it be to restaurants, for cocktails, the theatre, etc.
--No extremes in weather (ie: no snow)

Please help us put some points on the map. If you have lived or visited places that you can suggest and seem to fit our description, please let us know!

You first need to figure out the visa issues. Even your 3-4 month scouting trip really isn't possible. Well, if you go for exactly 90 days - that's OK.

But Americans are only allowed to visit the Schengen zone for 90 days w/i any 180 day period. All of the countries you list are w/i Schengen.

I should have mentioned that we are dual citizens: Portuguese & American. We originally lived in the Azores islands before moving to the U.S.

wow, what an adventure you have ahead of you! i guess, i'd also want to narrow it down by size of town/city. Do you want a big city like Paris or Rome or a bit smaller like Lisbon or smaller still. Most urban places in Europe will have areas that give you the walkability you desire. Since you do speak both Portugese and Spanish, I'd suggest you start there.

Oh - leaving out important info like that makes it tough . . . .

You say no extremes of weather - no snow. Is very hot/humid weather OK?

Also - what sort ofhousing budget do you envision?

Paris, as any large French town or city, is walkable to your neighborhood store and the market that will come by usually twice a week. But do you know what type of work you will be doing? Wouldn't that define your choices?

I there, well if you don't want snow or extreme weather try South of Portugal, south of Spain ou south of Italy...

In terms of size, I think we are looking for a small to medium sized location. A small town or city would fit the bill perfectly as long as it had something to keep us entertained in the evening if we so desired. So, I'm thinking Paris and Rome are too large and Lisbon, may still be larger than what we would like. We currently live in the countryside on a ranch and adore our natural surroundings and lovely views, but miss the energy and stimulation we feel from a city. If we could find a place that meshed the two we would have found our dream location.

If you want no extremes of weather that leaves out most of Spain - which, except for the Atlantic cost - is incredibly hot for much of the year. Similar for a good part of Italy - summers can be truly brutal.

For a more moderate climate I would head for France or Belgium. and the latter has the dvantage of the best food in europe.

But- agree there are questions to answer

Do you want a large city, smaller one or just a town

Will you be working or starting a business there (or are you assuming you have enough money to last for the next 50 years)?

nytraveler: refer to my post above yours regarding the size

Our first step in this search is to create a list of locations that fit the daily lifestyle we desire. After we have compiled the names of specific towns or cities we will look into how we plan on making a living there. The probability is that we will begin another business, but may wait until exploring the location before deciding what type of business.

I would look at Lagos, Portugal and Valencia , Spain.

A place like Beaucaire (www.ot-beaucaire.fr) in the Terre d'Argence region of the Provence in the South of France- a small town near bigger towns, the kind of pretty rustic/semirural character place where you have all that you list above, with nature paradise Camargue nearby, and the cities of Arles, Nîmes, Avignon, and Montpellier nearby that have festivals and cultural events and what-have-you.

@DalaiLlama Thank you for being so detailed and specific with your suggestion. It sounds devine and I'm quite excited to do some research about Beaucaire.

@bobthenavigator I also appreciate you suggesting specific locations in Portugal and Spain and will add those to my list of places to research.

I really look forward to receiving anyone else's suggestions of specific towns/cities!

Most of the places I know in France would not fit; I bow to DalaiLlama's superior knowledge of Provence (that's not sarcasm).

How about somewhere on the Costa Brava? Barcelona is probably too big, but maybe Girona?

I run a business in Spain, I can assure you it is not so easy.
Do you speak any other language other than English?
I would read through this informative forum before taking the leap:
http://britishexpats.com/forum/

You certainly have a lot of research to do. It's impossible for any of us on here to recommend places that you will like to live in, we can only recommend places that we would like to live in!

Doesn't a great deal depend on the type of business that you start? If you're going to have an outdoor dependent business, then I understand no extremes of climate and most of the Spanish Costas and the Algarve area of Portugal don't have the extremes in terms of winter snow. Yes, they're hot in the summer, but that's OK for me, what about you and yours?

If you're not climate dependent, then the weather state is only for your leisure time. As you enjoy wandering around in the evening and would like a larger town near at hand, then these would be some of my choices:

Portimao--Algarve
Lagos--Algarve
Javea area--Costa Blanca
Almeria--Spain
Malaga area--Costa del Sol
Puerto de la Duquesa--Costa del Sol

All of these are near the sea and have a healthy (even now) ex pat population with houses etc. that require services from English speaking trades. It's a good time to pick up house price bargains in Spain, as the market is low at the moment.

It even snows in Corsica, so "no snow" leaves out France completely.

ribeirasacra, she said they speak English , Spanish and Portuguese

I would like to suggest Lake Como but I am biased! Also there can often be snow.

However, a truly wonderful place is Monte Argentario. You will be able to cycle to the small villages or slightly further afield to Ansedonia, Orbetello etc.

Rome airport is just over an hour away. The scenery, climate etc are magnificent.