• Festivals
• Public Holidays
• Visas
• Health
• Language
• Time
• Electricity
• Weights & Measures
• Money, Banks etc.
• Emergencies
• Telephone, fax
• Post
• Museums and monuments

Festivals

Festivals, both traditional and modern (eg Avignon Theatre Festival in July) are not so plentiful as in Spain, but worth looking out for:

Festivals search on the French Tourist Office website, not great but…(new window):

French Public Holidays 2012

Visas:

Nationals of the EU, the USA, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and Israel do not require visas to visit France as tourists for up to three months. Except for people from a few other European countries, everyone else must have a visa.

Health risks:

Sunburn, foot blisters, insect bites and upset stomachs from overeating and drinking.

Language:

French, and it’s always a big help to know a few phrases in the local lingo…

Bonjour! Learn French online for free!

This is a great site, you choose the phrase you want to hear and listen to the pronunciation.

• Greetings and Courtesies
• Alphabet, Numbers, Days, Months and Seasons
• Question Words, Quantities, Weather, and Time
• Asking for Help, Emergencies
• Banks, Taxis, and Restaurants
• Transportation and Finding Your Way
• Touring, Socializing, and Famous Expressions
• Love and Romance

Time:

GMT/UTC +1

Current French time

Electricity:

220V, 50Hz, 2-pin (round) plug

Weights & measures:

Metric

French Weights and Measures and their equivalents

Clothing and shoe sizes conversion: US, UK, Europe

Money:The Euro (€)

Check out our Euro Guide (with pictures)

• As of January 1, 2002, the euro (€) replaced the national currency of 12 countries within the European Union, including France. You can exchange currency at any bank branch (hours are listed below). Automatic cash machines can be found in most commercial centres.
• Bank Opening Hours Banking hours in Paris are usually  from 10am to 5pm,  Monday to Friday. Throughout the rest of France, banks are usually open from 10am to 1pm, and 3pm to 5pm, Tuesday through Saturday. Banks often close earlier the day before a public holiday.
• Currency exchangeCurrency exchange can be carried out at all bank branches and Post Offices. Bureaux de change can also be found in large department stores, railway stations, airports and near to tourist sites. Please note: although the exchange rate is fixed, commission rates are not. By law these must be clearly displayed.

Check out the current Euro exchange rate with your currency here (close the new window to return): Travel Signposts Currency Converter

Credit Cards

They are accepted in a large number of shops, hotels and restaurants. Shopkeepers often state a minimum amount required to be spent.

If you lose your credit card, immediately contact your credit card emergency hot-line to cancel the card, or call your credit card company’s local office – see numbers below:

Eurocard-Mastercard: 01 45 67 84 84

http://www.eurocardmastercard.tm.

Visa: 01 42 77 45 45

http://www.carte-bleue.com

Diner’s Club: 01 47 62 75 75

http://www.dinersclub.fr

American Express: 01 47 77 72 00

http://www.americanexpress.fr

Emergencies

In case of emergency, dial these numbers

If you have lost

• your documentsReport the matter to the local police station, they will give you a receipt, then contact your consulate.
• your keys, or a personal itemAsk at the police station for the number of the Lost & Found Office(in Paris: 01 55 76 20 00).The RATP (Paris public transport authority) and the SNCF (French National Railways) have their own department.
• Your car Your report will be recorded at the police station or you will be directed to the car pound, if your car has been illegally parked and removed by the police.
• Your credit cardImmediately contact your credit card emergency hot-line to cancel the card, or call your credit card company’s local office – see numbers here – then report the loss to the police.
• Your dog, cat or pet goanna Contact the Société de protection des animaux (French animal protection society). Tel.: 33 (0) 1 43 80 40 66

Telephone & Fax

All telephone numbers in France are have 10 digits.

To telephone France from abroad, dial the international code of your country +  33 and then, the nine digit number of the person you are calling (without the 0 at the beginning of the French telephone number), e.g. +33 1 47 77 72 00

To call somewhere in France when in France, dial the 10 digit number which starting with “0″, e.g. 01 47 77 72 00.

From France to a foreign country: dial 00 + the country number + the number of the person you are calling. You will find all telephone cards (for phone boxes, recharges for mobile phones, pre-paid cards.) available at Post Offices, tobacconists, souvenir shops.

All rates and country numbers are at www.francetelecom.fr/

France has excellent mobile phone coverage by the three French mobile phone operators. Find out from your own operator which French network to choose so that you can use your mobile phone in France.

Post

Mail boxes

In France, Mail boxes are coloured yellow and can be found along street and in every Post Office. Mail collection time are displayed on them.

Stamps

You can buy stamps at any Post Offices and at any tobacconist.

Postage cost varies according to the weight of your mail and its destination. All rates at www.laposte.fr/

Delivery times

The French mail service is efficient: allow 24 to 48 hours for a letter sent in France to a destination in France; from France to abroad, allow 1 to 5 days.

Museums and Monuments

The towns and regions of France have all sorts of museums and monuments for the visitor.

• Museum opening times vary, but please note that municipal museums are closed on Mondays, and national museums are closed on Tuesdays (except the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, which is closed on Mondays).
• Usually they are open from 10.00am to 7.00pm. Some large museums have late-night opening on Wednesdays or Thursdays.
• Find out everything about places to visit from the Regional Tourism Council or Tourist Office. You will find everything you need to know there.
• You can also consult the website of the centre for national monuments to find out about 200 monuments to French heritage: www.monum.fr
• or go to www.rmn.fr to find out about the 33 national museums across France

Our France pages:

Travel to France for a Europe Tour with Joie de Vivre!

Tour Routes in France

When to travel to France: weather and seasons

Food in France: a brief gastronomic tour

Book your sightseeing tours or day-trips in France online

Book your hotel in France online

Paris City Guide

TRAVEL TO FRANCE WITH US: PHOTO HIGHLIGHTS

Map of France

Virtually all multi-country Europe tours pass through or originate in Paris, but few see much more of France. It is possible to do a pretty extensive tour of France but even so some fairly important areas will be missing or only covered briefly. Regional tours are popular and give you more of an insight. Here’s a pretty complete route that would take at least 24 days (plus Paris):

Note: links to the towns go to photo albums on the Travel Signposts website

PARIS – Versailles – Rouen – Caen – Normandy Beaches – Bayeux – Mont St Michel – St Malo – Nantes – Chateaubriant – Angers – Saumur – Usse – Tours – Amboise – (Chateaux country: Villandry, Azey-le-Rideau, Amboise, Clos Luce, Chaumont, Blois, Chambord, Cheverny, Chenonceau) – Cognac – Limoges – Brive La Gaillarde (Lascaux) – St Emilion – Bordeaux – Biarritz – Lourdes – Carcassonne - Montpellier – Stes Maries-de-la-Mer (Camargue) – Arles - Avignon (Chateauneuf du Pape) – Luberon - Aix-en-Provence – St Paul de Vence – Nice – Cannes – Monaco – Grenoble – Annecy - Chamonix - Beaune (Vezelay) – Nuits-St Georges – Gevrey-Chambertin – Dijon – Colmar – Riquewihr – Strasbourg – Metz – Verdun – Reims – Epernay – PARIS (Chartres, Giverny)

You’ll note that there are some “detours” which could be chopped off if you wanted to travel straight through, eg the Lascaux Caves section. On the other hand, I have not named all the interesting villages etc in some regions, eg around Arles and Bordeaux. And some major towns, like Nimes, could be used as an alternative to those listed. But it gives you an idea and constitutes a good cross-section of what France has to offer. Regional coach tours can be judged according to what they miss out!

Don’t know where a place is? Try our google satellite map (just zoom in and use the map interface): Map of France

Other France pages:

Travel to France for a Europe Tour with Joie de Vivre!

When to travel to France: weather and seasons

Useful facts, dates and links to help you plan your tour of France

Food in France: a brief gastronomic tour

Book your sightseeing tours or day-trips in France online

Book your hotel in France online

TOUR ROUTES IN FRANCE: PHOTO HIGHLIGHTS

Paris: Arc de Triomphe on the Champs Elysees

There’s a lot more to France than Paris and Provence. Travel to France involves a journey into the whole French way of looking at the world, and life. Not for nothing do we use the french words “savoir-faire” and “joie de vivre”!

France lies at the crossroads of European culture

With the mediterranean influences of Italy and Spain in the South, and the more phlegmatic influences of Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands in the North, France lies at the crossroads of European culture. A tour of France involves a continually changing landscape, not so much of a physical nature (though that is often true) but rather of traditions, architecture, food and wine, ways of life and even language.

An inexhaustible variety of landscape

Watermill near Bayeux

From the plains of Flanders and Normandy to the rocky coastline of Brittany, the historic Chateaux of the Loire Valley to the green farmland and forests of Bordeaux and the Dordogne, the mountainous Massif Central to Beaujolais, the Rhone and the French Alps, and Provence’s limestone hills to the sun-drenched beaches of the Cote d’Azur, the only stone-cold certainty about a tour of France is its inexhaustible variety. And the rich, memorable experiences you’ll encounter wherever you go in this always-surprising country.

Travel to France for a Europe tour with joie de vivre indeed…and that’s even without Paris!

Our France pages:

Tour Routes in France

When to travel to France: weather and seasons

Useful facts, dates and links to help you plan your tour of France

Food in France: a brief gastronomic tour

Book your sightseeing tours or day-trips in France online

Book your hotel in France online

Paris City Guide

TRAVEL TO FRANCE WITH US: PHOTO HIGHLIGHTS