Moving to Colmar France temporarily to test life here before relocating next year. One month living in Colmar has already taught us more about quality of life, cost of living, healthcare, education, public transportation, and daily stress than we ever expected. This isn’t vacation. This is what everyday life in France actually feels like.
This is about our staying in COLMAR in the Grand Est / Alsace Region. This is NOT about Paris or all of France.
We came from the United States thinking it was “normal” to struggle. After one month in France, we’re realizing daily life doesn’t have to feel like constant chaos.
Walking is easy and safe.
Food is real.
Healthcare is fast and affordable.
Public transportation actually exists.
Kids are independent.
People are calmer.
Life feels human again.
We’re here temporarily before returning home to sell our stuff and prepare to move next year. We’re not experts—just a regular family trying to find a healthier, safer, more peaceful way to live. These are my opinions. I’ve been here just over a month—longer than a vacation, but obviously not long enough to pretend I understand every detail of French life. Everything here is based on what we’ve actually experienced so far. Opinions evolve. That’s normal. If yours are different, great—both can be true without anyone combusting in the comments. We’re here to get along, and we hope you are too.
👇 Chapters
00:00 Intro
00:53 Sanity isn’t supposed to be rare
02:53 Food that doesn’t fight you back
03:55 Supermarkets show how a country thinks
05:19 Public transportation and real access
08:39 Healthcare that actually functions
10:21 Education that builds people
11:52 Childhood without constant fear
12:41 A normal that isn’t our normal
13:34 What one month taught us
14:28 Outro
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#MovingToFrance #Colmar #FranceVsUSA #AmericanInFrance #ExpatFamily #QualityOfLife #CostOfLivingFrance #ChaosToCroissants
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We’re an American family of four leaving the United States to start a new life in Colmar—trading stress, high costs, and endless work hours for peace, charm, and small-city living. On Chaos to Croissants we share the real experience of moving abroad with kids, covering:
🇫🇷 Moving to France as a family
💶 Cost of living in France vs USA
🏠 Finding housing in France
🛒 French markets & local food
🎓 Education & healthcare in France
🚲 Life in a walkable, bike-friendly city
***** Filming Note (France): This video was recorded in public spaces where filming is allowed. The focus here is the public environment (streets, buildings, markets, etc.), not identifiable individuals. Anyone who appears is incidental and not the subject of the footage. Under French “droit à l’image,” consent is generally required only when a specific person is clearly identifiable and featured as the subject. If anyone believes their privacy has been affected, please contact me and I’ll review the clip.
28 Comments
IF YOU'RE LOCAL and have kids Rhys's (or Sylvie's) age that would like to hang out please send us an email. I'd love to get them some immersion, language exchange, etc. Thanks! Chaos To Croissants on g mail obviously without spaces. 🙂
German here: allthough there are differences european countries are similar in there ideas about humanity. But as we can see we ve to fight for these values every day.. England (brexit) and hungary (Orban) should be a warning for everyone. the daily desinformation news by far right and other russian assest are a real danger .
I moved to Amiens, France from L.A. 32 years ago and I can't say life is easy here in France but I've never regretted moving, not once! Vive la France, vive l'Europe!
Life seems easier in France (even whole Europe) than in the US. USA things are only bigger and more expensive, life is easy only for rich people.
The most german part of France 🙂
Greetings from the German side of the Rhine valley near Freiburg 👋
I visit the Alsace often by train and bike and I have to say it seems very carcentric to me, not as friendly for pedestrians and cyclists. The landscapes are beautiful, but I think I much prefer the German city planning. But I guess it's still miles ahead of the US.
And while I am not jealous about the french infrastructure at all, I absolutely envy the Swiss one. I can absolutely recommend you to visit Basel.
When I first saw this, I automatically thought you meant Taunton in Somerset (in the West of England) – I hadn't realised that there was a Taunton in the States. I'm originally from the UK, but I have lived in France for many years. You might like to know that there is a speakeasy page (among other things) on the FUSAC website and there is the English-language newspaper in France The Connexion that comes out every month – they also have some useful guides for people who wish to settle in France.
I've been to Colmar a couple of time. I love it there.
welcome to alsace, hope you'll like your stay.
It’s interesting to see that very few of the comments are from Americans. I can’t help wondering whether the YouTube algorithms filter out negative views from American’s feeds. You not allowed to question your freedom from corporate dominance . That’s not how good American consumers are supposed to behave.
It's good to be remembered that in someone else's eyes France is not that awful… Maybe we should go and live in the US for a few weeks just to realise…
If you want a fun experience you should visit the museum in Mulhouse. It's about 30 min from Colmar. It's got trains and cars. There's also a lot of parks and walkable places. It's not as traditionnal as Colmar but it's a nice place to visit i think (i know i'm biased. I live there.)
All those negatives mentioned can also be found in France (I'm French), and in most countries. This is just a small and calm rural place.
Move to Quebec in Spring or early summer, before the 85% humidity, 39 °C days of Late-July, Early-August get you to get something that will "kind" of feel like that. I'll rent you my 2-bedroom in downtown Quebec City for a REALLY good price and travel a bit for a month.
C'est fou hein, mais on retrouve toujours la même liste de choses que les américains apprécient en France ; la sécurité sociale, les transports publiques, l'école …. que des trucs de gauchiste ! Bizarrement on a jamais vu un américain se plaindre de n'pas avoir la liberté de choisir quelle compagnie d'assurance le plumerait.
Brace yourself but, if your are enjoying free health care, public transportation, healthy food, there is a chance you may be enjoying "socialism" … but it's ok, keep breathing, your not evil and that doesn't mean you want a dictatorship nor working in a goulag, you just want a world that care about human and not financial profit.
But don't take these thing for granted, the same asshole who turns usa in a liberal nightmare wants the same thing for the whole world, you would have to fight to keep there greedy hand off your public goods.
I'm glad you liked our city, but be careful not to idealize life in France, because over time you might be disappointed. Managing ones expectations is the best way to enjoy things as they come.
For instance, wages are very low here. And buses don't go everywhere all day long.
Ah, the American 32 day month.. just a little bit larger than other countries' months with just 31 days.. 🙂
But seriously, kudos to you for being able to escape the american bubble…
Ever tried to experience a month in Marseilles?:)))))))) Yankees aren t so stupid and they live in the east or South west France
Funny cuz I work at the market at 4:00 and let me tell you I live there since I'm born Colmar is beautiful but depressing like all of french countryside when your living in, there's basically nothing to do expect waking up, do your job and repeat the next day, I'm still glad I found a work cuz it's very hard to find one here
You also noticed no teenagers in the markets and that's true there are only rude old peoples who talks you like shit
As a Frenchman, I can tell you that, moreover, we know we can still improve our lives in France. And we're going to do everything we can to achieve that. 😊
Yes. Now come a month to Austria! 🙂
Thank you for your video. Too bad we didn't cross each other at Colmar. Hopefully some French can see your video and stop complaining. Mondialism is trying strongly to destroy our system… too social for them…people don't realize how dangerous it is to live a system that doesn't protect their citizens.
Welcom to france. Enjoy !
Hi there,
I live in Colmar, across the street where you stayed for a month. Quite nice to see a new perspective of how France feels like as a foreigner. I lived in the US too so I do realize some differences between our two cultures and lived them. I lived in LA, some would say it's NOT the US haha but I can assure you we do have fears of insecurity too in here and healthcare looks fantastic from a foreigner's perspective (and it is, even if we complain about it, French people never experienced going to the doctor after asking your banker if you can) but it's going FUBAR and not going to be better in the years coming.
Nevertheless, thanks for showing us on a good way and making the effort to go beyond the clichés (and in Alsace during december, it takes a lot to see something different than the postal card look) !
Also also, as a dad, massive respect to you and wifey to give your kids such multicultural experience. This is how we should teach our kids to live, by experimenting safely with their parents what life and the world have to offer, outside of home and the comfort zone !
I'm not French nor do I live in France, so I can't say 'Welcome to France!!' (even though I'd love to). But hey, welcome to Europe! I'm writing this from Portugal.
I've always been a huge fan of the US, despite knowing some of its flaws (healthcare, higher education costs, guns, food regulations, car-centric infrastructure, foreign policy, etc.). However, for the last decade, I've grown pretty disillusioned, and it seems many Americans are feeling the same.
The cost of living crisis is opening people's eyes to the realities of late-stage capitalism—whether it's the corruption in the two-party system or the need to go into debt just to survive. I really hope more Americans start looking at how the rest of the world works and vote for real change.
Anyway, rant over!
tl;dr: Welcome! I hope you and your family have a great life here.
From the time you are born, you are told that America is the best. It is never quantified, justified or explained in any way. And if you challenge it you are unpatriotic. It is The Great American con. As more Americans have gained passports and travelled elsewhere they have seen another side to life. The unofficial penal colony that is America, this experiment has failed. When the majority of people believe electing a felon to the highest office is a good idea, you are broken. When a Russian asset is in charge and making decisions that wreck the US economy and the rest of the world, you need change.
More and more Americans are looking to leave and you can't blame them but now is the time to stay and battle against tyranny. Leave after you've fixed the problem.
And which country is going on the straight way to third world… ?