A French couple built the town-comparison site we always wished existed — and it goes all the way down to villages of under 2,000 people
If you’ve ever spent an afternoon going down the rabbit hole of “but which part of France?”, this one’s for you. We found a tool that genuinely changes the research game, and we couldn’t wait to share it.
👉 villedereve.fr — you’ll want to translate the page with your browser
What it is and why it’s remarkable
Ville de Rêve — “dream town” — lets you search, compare, and rank cities, towns, and villages across France using an impressive range of hyper-specific data. We’re not talking about the usual surface-level stats. You can filter by the number of sports facilities in a town. You can look up how many “tropical nights” a place gets — defined as nights where the temperature stays above 21°C (70°F). You can discover mid-sized cities you’ve likely never heard of and might instantly fall in love with.
What makes it especially useful is the regional comparison feature. When we first looked up Eymet, some of the scores seemed low and we didn’t entirely agree with them. But switching to the regional view — comparing Eymet against nearby towns rather than against all of France — made the results feel much more accurate and meaningful. That context matters enormously when you’re evaluating a rural village against a national average.
What you can explore on Ville de Rêve:
- Side-by-side town comparisons across dozens of categories
- Climate data, including “tropical nights” and sunshine hours
- Local amenities: sports facilities, schools, healthcare, shops
- Rankings to surface towns you’d never have thought to search
- Villages with fewer than 2,000 residents — rare to find anywhere
The story behind it
A French couple built this during Covid, when they wanted to leave Paris but felt completely overwhelmed by the options. Sound familiar? Here’s the thing worth remembering: France is so full of extraordinary places that even the French struggle to choose. If you’re finding it hard to narrow things down, you’re not behind — you’re right on schedule.
The fact that they’ve included villages under 2,000 people genuinely surprised us. That level of granularity is almost impossible to find through normal research channels. We seriously want to send them a thank-you note.
How to use it well
Think of Ville de Rêve as a planning and discovery tool, not a verdict. It’s brilliant for the couch-research phase — when you’re still in the U.S. or elsewhere, narrowing down regions and dreaming about possibilities. Use it to surface places worth putting on your visiting list, then compare them against your own priorities.
Pro tip: always switch to the regional comparison tab when evaluating a specific town. National scores can be misleading for rural areas — the regional view gives you a much more honest picture.
And of course, nothing replaces the gut-check of actually visiting. But getting to that visit with a clearer, more informed shortlist? That’s exactly what this tool makes possible.
Clear your schedule before you click. This site is a genuine rabbit hole — and a very good one.
Baguettes and butter 4eva — Raina ❤️
