France travel guide

Before you go to France

Currency: EUR €
Emergency number: 112 / 17
Plug type: Type E
Tap water: Tap water is safe to drink throughout France. Sparkling mineral water (Evian, Perrier, Badoit) widely available.
Tipping: Tipping appreciated but not obligatory. Service charge (service compris) is legally included in restaurant bills. An extra 5–10 % is a warm gesture for good service. Round up taxi fares. Hotel porters €1–2 per bag.
Bargaining: Not expected
eSIM: Available
Card networks: Visa, Mastercard, Amex
ATM fees: Usually free at bank ATMs; avoid Euronet

Paris The most visited city on earth and France's luminous capital — a living museum of art, fashion, gastronomy and romance. The Eiffel Tower,…
Nice The jewel of the Côte d'Azur — a sun-drenched city where the French Riviera's blue sea meets Baroque architecture and Italy's culinary…
Lyon France's gastronomic capital and UNESCO World Heritage city — a compact powerhouse of silk-weaving history, Renaissance traboules (hidden…
Cannes The global capital of glamour — a Riviera resort city synonymous with its International Film Festival, hosted every May on the palm-lined…
Marseille France's oldest and most visceral city — a brash, beautiful port founded by Greek settlers 2,600 years ago on the Mediterranean coast. The…
Bordeaux The wine capital of the world — an 18th-century UNESCO-listed port city where grand neoclassical boulevards converge on the Place de la…
Strasbourg The capital of Alsace and de facto capital of the European Union — a fairy-tale city of half-timbered houses, a soaring Gothic cathedral…
Toulouse La Ville Rose — named for the rosy terracotta brick that glows pink in the southern light. Toulouse is a young, energetic city on the…
Nantes The creative capital of western France and former ducal seat of Brittany — a sprawling, innovative city on the Loire estuary that blends…
Avignon A medieval walled city on the Rhône that served as the seat of the Catholic papacy for 70 years in the 14th century. The colossal Palais…