Daniel Feau: Luxury real estate in Paris, a safe haven.
“There’s nowhere I’d rather be than Paris in the summer,” G. says to me, as she shows me around her Airbnb, in an unfashionable corner of the 18th arrondissement she refers to as “Not-martre.” Give it a few days, I think to myself, as the heat index climbs and dark splotches pool across my tank top.
Barely twelve hours later, she announces that she’s bought an AC unit from the Darty down the road—the last one they had, which she lugged ten long blocks over to avoid the expedited shipping fee.
It’s a well-known fact that Paris empties out in the summer, as locals flee to the South of France to seek respite from the heat, in a country where air conditioning is viewed with as much skepticism as grocery store baguettes. In fact, this yearly pilgrimage is so common that there are terms for those who vacation in July (juilletistes) vs. those who vacation in August (aoûtiens).
The Côte d’Azur’s summertime popularity, however, has only really been a thing for the past century. Back in the mid-1800s, Nice and its surrounding towns were actually considered wintertime destinations, as the region’s mild temperatures offered a pleasant alternative to the harsh cold of England or elsewhere in the North of Europe. This was where the British aristocracy would come to mingle at balls and cultural events in the evenings, and enjoy long strolls by the beach during the day. (In fact, this is where Nice’s main drag gets its name, the Promenade des Anglais.) The city’s cultural influence made such an impact on the region that “Nice, Winter Resort Town of the Riviera” was added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 2021.
It wasn’t until the 1920s when a gaggle of American artists and socialites were attracted by the French Riviera’s low off-season cost of living, and the escape it offered from Prohibition. It all began with Gerald and Sara Murphy, a couple of wealthy expats, whose lavish parties and fabulous eccentricities attracted the likes of Ernest Hemingway, Pablo Picasso, Cole Porter, and F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald to join them at their new home in Antibes. (At the time, F. Scott Fitzgerald described the strangeness of this venture as being akin to “going to Palm Beach for July.”) The Murphys were immortalized as the fictional Dick and Nicole Diver in Tender is the Night, and their lifestyle became the blueprint for summers on the Côte d’Azur.
It’s tragic to consider, then, that within the next century, the juilletistes and aoûtiens will likely have to find somewhere else to enjoy their summers, or perhaps consider switching their vacations back to the winter months. As climate change continues to push temperatures to unprecedented highs, the South of France won’t provide a break from the heat for long. In 2022, Nice recorded 104 tropical nights (60 of them consecutive), meaning the temperature didn’t dip below 68 degrees Fahrenheit. Average temperatures in the region could increase by up to 12.6 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of this century. Heat waves, droughts, and fires are becoming more common in Provence, and beaches have begun to disappear as the oceans rise. Cooler northern regions with their own beaches, like Brittany, have already seen a rise in interest from homebuyers as the South becomes less desirable from an investment standpoint.
