France

Traveling

Passport and visa service: Consult the website of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Diplomatic representations: Consult the website of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Recommendation: Almost all French cities have a public transport network which is safe, and quality is high (as regards frequency, comfort, safety/security, limited risk of accidents, etc.) Where there are only buses in the smallest towns, the biggest cities have trams, metro, buses and self-service bicycles. Using taxis is also very practical. However, they are very difficult to find in rush hours except for people who have a season ticket. The Paris metro is one of the most extensive in the world. In the ranking of the world's 10 best metro systems, it is in 2nd position.
Maps of urban networks: The Paris RATP network (Paris city transport authority)
The Ile de France Transilien train network
The Lyon transport network
The Marseille transport network

Recommendation: To travel from city to city the best means of transport is the train. From Paris you should count between 2 and 4 hours to reach other big cities; fares are affordable, the trains comfortable and you arrive directly in the city center.
By plane it is about 1 hour 30 minutes' travel time to go from one end of the country to another.
As soon as you leave the city center, you really need a car to get around.
Rail companies: The SNCF (French national rail company) and its on-line reservation service

Recommendation: Traveling by your own means in France poses few problems; it is easy to rent a vehicle, the road network is very good and the road sign system is very clear.
The French authorities have set up a large number of speed cameras on the roads to encourage drivers to keep to speed limits. For further information, consult regulations and penalties enforced.
There is a high risk of traffic jams in and around the big cities.
Road maps: Maps of the road network
Map of the motorway network
Motorways and national (main) roads
Find an itinerary: ViaMichelin
Mappy

Historical: 40 000 monuments to visit among which 10 000 châteaux, abbeys and manor houses, the landing beaches.....
Cultural: 6 000 museums, 1 000 festivals.
Sculptures, Paintings, Theater, Concerts, Cinema, Literature, etc.
Nature: Many protected natural parks. Consult, too, the French Unesco World Heritage Sites.
Religious: Lourdes, Chartres, Lisieux, Mont Saint-Michel
Thermal: Consult the balneology in France website
Beach: The Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea, the English Channel. 5 500 km of coastline in all.
Winter sports: The Alps have some of the most pleasant (and most expensive) ski resorts in Europe, such as Chamonix. You can ski less expensively in the Pyrenees or the Massif Central.
Outdoor activities: Rambling, mountain biking, rock climbing, mountain climbing, rafting
Shopping: France is well-known for being the greatest destination in the world for shopping as regards fashion (the website of the French Federation of Haute Couture), culinary specialties or wine (The guide to French wines), in small specialized boutiques or in the large department stores (Galeries Lafayette, Printemps), etc.

Top 10 highlights of the capital city
The Eiffel Tower
The Louvre
The Sacré Cœur Basilica
The Arc de Triomphe and the Champs Elysées
The Château of Versailles
The Invalides Museum
Boat trips on the Seine (Les Bateaux mouches)
The Georges Pompidou Center
The Cathedral of Notre Dame
The Paris Opera

Top 10 highlights of the country
The Châteaux of the Loire
Strasbourg Cathedral
The Palace of the Popes in Avignon
Stanislas Square in Nancy
The Amphitheater of Nîmes
Camargue
The Aveyron gorges and the Valley of the Lot
Reims Cathedral
The Mont St Michel
The Lourdes Basilica

Health precautions

No vaccination is required.

International hospitals

The American hospital in Paris

For further information on sanitary conditions

Information pages of the Ministry of Health

For further information on safety conditions

Police	17
Firemen	18
SAMU (emergency medical services)	15
Telephone assistance in all European languages	112

Time and time difference: It is %T:%M %A in Paris (GMT+1 in winter, GMT+2 in summer)
Summer time period: Summer time from March to October.

Fuseau(x) horaire

Type of climate: In France, the climate varies according to the region: temperate, oceanic, with mild winters and summers in the West and North West; continental in the East; Mediterranean, with hot, very dry summers, and mild, wet winters, sometimes very windy in the South East.

Climate

Culinary specialties: France is one of the countries where the cuisine has a lot of variety. With dishes such as: tournedos; rib steak with béarnaise sauce served with green kidney beans or pommes dauphines; meat on skewers; blanquette of veal; etc. Near the sea, fish and sea food are on offer such as mussels, cockles and shrimp. Alsace and Lorraine are the regions where you find sauerkraut, kugelhof, quiche Lorraine and tarte flambée. Lyon, the biggest city in the Rhône valley, is the heart of French cuisine. One of the region's specialties is pike quenelles. There are 365 sorts of cheeses; for example, Camembert, Brie, Roquefort, Reblochon and the blues of Auvergne and Bresse.
Drinks: In France, wine is the alcoholic drink people drink most: Champagne, Bordeaux, Burgundy, Côtes de Provence, Côtes du Rhône and wines of the Loire region, etc. Many aperitifs and liqueurs are also drunk: : Pastis, Pineau, Muscat, Chartreuse, fruit liqueurs, brandies, etc.
Dietary taboos: There are no dietary taboos in the country

Domestic currency: Euro
ISO Code: EUR
To obtain domestic currency: The most practical way is to withdraw money directly from ATMs. There are many of them and they are easily accessible in airports, city centers, and all over the country.
Possible means of payment: Places where you can pay with foreign currency are rare.
In stores, restaurants, hotels, cafés payment is made in cash or by Credit Card, according to the sum. American Express cards are not taken so often.

Official language: French
Other languages spoken: The regional languages (Breton, Corsican, Catalan, etc.) are only spoken locally and by a minority of French people.
Business language: According to the type of company contacted, its geographical location and sector of activity, it may be difficult to find someone who speaks English.
Getting some knowledge: Use the travlang website
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