🇫🇷 France

May, June and September are the best months nationwide: warm, long evenings, and outside the French holiday period.

July and August are when France itself goes on holiday. The coasts fill, prices rise, and in Paris a noticeable number of restaurants and small shops close for several weeks — the city is emptier of Parisians and fuller of visitors. The grape harvest in September and October is a good reason to be in wine country.

Winter is the season for the Alps and the Pyrenees, and a cheap, quiet time in the cities, with Christmas markets in Alsace among the best in Europe. The Mediterranean south stays mild; the north and the Atlantic coast are grey and wet.

France has four broad climates. The northwest — Brittany, Normandy — is oceanic: mild, damp and changeable all year. The northeast and the interior are more continental, with colder winters and hotter summers. The Mediterranean south has hot dry summers and mild wet winters, with the mistral wind funnelling down the Rhône valley.

The mountains are their own case: the Alps, Pyrenees and Massif Central hold snow through the winter and have high passes that close, while summer brings afternoon storms.

Summer heatwaves have become more frequent and more severe, particularly in the south and in cities where air conditioning is not standard in older accommodation.

France is in the Schengen area. Visa-exempt visitors may generally stay up to 90 days in any 180-day period, counted across all Schengen countries together rather than per country.

The Entry/Exit System (EES), which registers biometrics at the external border in place of passport stamps, has been fully operational across all Schengen countries since 10 April 2026. ETIAS, the pre-travel authorisation for visa-exempt nationalities, is scheduled to start in the last quarter of 2026, with the exact date to be communicated officially; it is not required yet.

Note that arriving from the United Kingdom means crossing an external Schengen border, including on the Eurostar and the Channel ferries, where French border checks are carried out before departure at some ports and stations.

Check the European Commission's own travel pages shortly before departure, as the ETIAS timetable has been revised more than once.

The TGV network is fast, frequent and the obvious way between cities. Fares rise steeply as the train fills, so book well ahead; regional TER trains are cheaper, unreserved and useful for short hops.

A car is genuinely worthwhile for the Dordogne, Provence's villages, Alsace's wine route, Brittany's coast and the Loire's châteaux, where public transport is sparse. Motorways are excellent and tolled, and the tolls add up on long routes; the toll-free national roads are slower and far more scenic.

Driving notes: many cities operate low-emission zones requiring a Crit'Air sticker on the windscreen, including hire cars, and fines are issued without it. Priorité à droite still applies at some unmarked junctions, particularly in older towns.

In Paris, the metro is dense and efficient; elsewhere, trams and buses cover the centres. Cycling infrastructure has improved sharply in the large cities, and long-distance routes such as the Loire à Vélo are a genuine way to travel.

France is mid-priced for western Europe, with Paris and the Côte d'Azur well above the national average and rural regions well below.

The everyday value is the formule or menu du jour at lunch: two or three courses at a fixed price, served on weekdays, at a fraction of the same restaurant's evening bill. Bakery food, market produce and supermarket wine are all inexpensive.

Costs that surprise: motorway tolls and fuel on a driving trip, museum entry in Paris, and the price difference between a coffee taken standing at the counter and the same coffee at a terrace table, which is legitimate and displayed.

Service is included by law in restaurant prices; leaving small change for good service is normal but a percentage tip is not expected.

The single most useful thing to know is that bonjour is not optional. Entering a shop, boarding a bus, approaching a desk or addressing anyone begins with bonjour, or bonsoir in the evening. Skipping it is the most common reason visitors find the French cold — the perceived rudeness runs in the other direction.

Use vous rather than tu with anyone you do not know. Add madame or monsieur to a greeting in formal settings.

Meals are structured and unhurried, and the bill is not brought until you ask for it. Bread goes on the table, not on a plate. Splitting a bill item by item is uncommon.

Many shops in smaller towns close for two hours at midday and on Sunday and often Monday. Plan food shopping accordingly. La bise, cheek kisses, is a greeting among people who know each other; a handshake is the safe default.

French cooking is regional before it is national. Normandy works with cream, butter, apples and cider; Brittany with buckwheat galettes, salted butter and shellfish; Alsace with choucroute, flammekueche and Riesling; Lyon with charcuterie and the bouchon tradition; the southwest with duck, confit and Armagnac; Provence with olive oil, vegetables and herbs.

Cheese is a course in itself and is served before dessert, not after. Each region has its own, and the AOP designations are legally protected.

Wine follows the same logic: Bordeaux, Burgundy, the Rhône, the Loire, Champagne and Alsace are distinct in grape and style, and the appellation on the label tells you where rather than what.

Practical markers of a good restaurant: a short, changing menu, fait maison indicated, and a dining room full of people speaking French. Tap water is safe and free if you ask for une carafe d'eau.

France is a safe country. The persistent issue for visitors is pickpocketing and distraction theft, concentrated in Paris on the metro and RER, around the major monuments, and at the Gare du Nord; the same applies in Marseille, Nice and Lyon city centres.

Common approaches include the petition signature, the ring found on the pavement, and the friendship bracelet at Montmartre. Firm refusal and walking on ends all of them.

Strikes and demonstrations are a normal part of French public life and can disrupt transport at short notice; they are announced in advance and are worth checking if your schedule is tight. Avoid demonstrations as a bystander.

Outdoors: Mediterranean beaches have strong currents in wind, summer wildfire risk is significant in the south and Corsica, and the Alps demand normal mountain precautions. Emergency number is 112.