🇫🇷France

How your entry route is decided

France applies the Schengen rules, and it applies the documentary conditions more literally than most.

1. EU / EEA / Swiss citizens have freedom of movement. A valid national identity card or passport is all you need.
2. Visa-exempt third-country nationals (the USA, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan and others) get 90 days in any 180-day period across the whole Schengen area.
3. Everyone else applies for a Schengen type C visa through the France-Visas portal before departure, lodged via VFS Global, TLScontact or Capago. The fee is EUR 90 for adults.

Passport rule: issued within the last 10 years and valid at least 3 months beyond the day you leave the Schengen area. Consulates advise keeping 6 months to avoid a boarding refusal.

One French quirk worth knowing: France does not accept the 12-page emergency passports issued by some US embassies for visa-free entry. Holders have been refused boarding.

What the officer can ask for

• A return or onward ticket out of the Schengen area - flight, train or coach.
• Proof of accommodation for the whole stay: a hotel booking, or an attestation d'accueil if you are staying with someone. That document must be obtained in advance by your host from their local mairie and shown as an original.
• Proof of funds, and France publishes the numbers: EUR 120 per day with no pre-booked accommodation, EUR 65 per day with a hotel booking, and EUR 32.50 per day if you hold an approved attestation d'accueil. Cash, bank cards or recent statements all count.
• Travel health insurance of at least EUR 30,000 covering emergency treatment and repatriation.

Formalities that apply to everyone

• EES biometrics: since 10 April 2026 the EU Entry/Exit System is fully live at French borders. You are photographed and fingerprinted at self-service kiosks before reaching the desk, and the stamp is gone. Overstays are calculated automatically.
• ETIAS is not live yet. The fee is fixed at EUR 20, with under-18s and over-70s exempt, but as of August 2026 no launch date has been announced and no applications are open. Sites selling ETIAS today are frauds.
• Long-stay visa holders (VLS-TS) must validate the visa online within 3 months of arrival on the interior ministry portal.

Overstaying brings administrative detention, fines, a removal order and an entry ban recorded in the Schengen Information System.

• Between EU countries there is no duty-free limit. Goods bought tax-paid in another member state travel with you; customs may only ask what a very large quantity is for, against indicative figures of 800 cigarettes and 10 litres of spirits.
• Arriving from outside the EU the allowance is one set of numbers: 200 cigarettes, 1 litre of spirits over 22 % (or 2 litres of fortified or sparkling wine), 4 litres of still wine and 16 litres of beer.
• Other goods are capped by value - EUR 430 arriving by air or sea, EUR 300 by land - and the allowance cannot be pooled between travellers for a single item.
• Cash of EUR 10,000 or more must be declared, counting notes, coins, cheques and prepaid cards together. The money is seized for not declaring it, not for carrying it.
• The Andorran border is a customs border. Coming down from Andorra you are entering the EU from outside it, and the queues at Pas de la Casa exist because the allowance is checked.

Care is excellent and the tap water is safe everywhere. No vaccinations are required; keep routine ones current.

• Hospitals: AP-HP in Paris, Hospices Civils de Lyon and CHU de Nice run emergency departments. Private cliniques give faster specialist access.
• Insurance: at least EUR 30,000 of cover for treatment and repatriation is mandatory for short-stay visa applicants and strongly advised for everyone else. EU and EEA visitors should carry the EHIC.
• Pharmacies only, marked by a green cross. Paracetamol and ibuprofen are not sold in supermarkets.
• Tiger mosquitoes carry a small seasonal dengue risk in the south in late summer. No malaria anywhere in metropolitan France.

Bringing your own medication - read this before you pack

• Ordinary prescription medicine: up to a 3-month supply for personal use, kept in the original packaging with a signed prescription.
• Controlled drugs (stupefiants): a maximum 28-day supply, carried in person in hand luggage, with a doctor's letter or an ANSM certificate. Posting or shipping medication into France is illegal.
• Adderall and other amphetamine-based ADHD medicines are not authorised in France and are illegal to bring in at all. This catches out a lot of American travellers. Methylphenidate (Ritalin, Concerta) is authorised but classified as a narcotic and needs the Schengen or ANSM paperwork.

Have the passport in hand at check-in. Hosts are legally required to complete an individual police record (fiche individuelle de police) for foreign guests, checking a passport for non-EU visitors or a national ID card for EU ones.

The tourist tax is charged on top

Paris rates per person per night: palace EUR 15.60, 5-star EUR 11.38, 4-star EUR 8.45, 3-star EUR 5.53, 2-star EUR 3.25, hostel or 1-star EUR 2.60. Unclassified rentals such as Airbnb are taxed at 5% of the nightly rate per person, capped at EUR 15.60. Under-18s are exempt. It is often collected in cash at the desk rather than included in the online price.

Where to stay for a first visit

• Paris: Le Marais in the 3rd and 4th for central, walkable boutique lodging; Saint-Germain-des-Pres in the 6th for the classic cafe streets; Opera and Grands Boulevards in the 9th for the best transport connections and easy airport access.
• Nice: Carre d'Or for the beach and restaurants; Vieux Nice for the old town; the Promenade des Anglais for the view, at a price.
• Lyon: Presqu'ile in the 1st and 2nd, on the spit between the Rhone and the Saone; Vieux Lyon in the 5th for Renaissance streets and the traditional bouchons.

Booking platforms: Booking.com and Airbnb dominate, Abritel is the French VRBO, and Gites de France is the one to know for rural bed-and-breakfasts.

If you are here for under two weeks, buy an international eSIM and skip the counter entirely.

• The cheap French deals are not available to you. The famous EUR 10 forfaits require a French bank IBAN, so visitors are pushed onto tourist prepaid packages at three to four times the price.
• Passport registration is mandatory by law at the point of sale for any French prepaid SIM. Staff scan your identity page.
• An international eSIM from Saily roams on a French host network and activates before you land: USD 3.99 for 1 GB over 7 days, USD 11.99 for 5 GB over 30 days. For a short trip this is both cheaper and faster than queueing for a local chip.
• EU and EEA visitors need nothing at all - roam-like-at-home applies.

The networks

• Orange has the strongest national coverage, urban and rural, and is what most international eSIMs ride on. Its Holiday Prepaid pack with 12 GB to 30 GB and EU roaming is EUR 39.99.
• SFR is close behind in cities and along transport corridors. Its tourist SIM or eSIM gives 60 GB of 5G, unlimited calls within Europe and 120 international minutes for 30 days at EUR 34.99 - the best value of the local tourist offers.
• Bouygues Telecom sells a My European SIM data package at EUR 39.90.
• Free Mobile is the low-cost operator, strong 5G in cities and weaker in the countryside. Its prepaid pass is EUR 19.99 plus a SIM fee, but eSIM support is limited to store kiosks.

Where to buy

• Airport: Relay newsagents and electronics kiosks in the arrivals halls at Paris Charles de Gaulle, Paris Orly and Nice Cote d'Azur. Expect premium pricing and only the higher tourist tiers.
• In town: the flagship stores of Orange, SFR, Bouygues Telecom and Free Mobile sell at standard rates and will set the phone up for you.

All four networks support native eSIM profiles if you would rather stay local.

Sockets in France are Type E at 230 V, 50 Hz, and the earth is a pin standing out of the wall rather than a hole in it.

• A Europlug fits every socket in the country. Phone chargers, laptop bricks and camera chargers all end in one, and none of them needs earthing.
• A plain German Schuko plug does not fit. The French socket's earth pin gets in the way. Almost every appliance sold in Europe now ships with the hybrid CEE 7/7 plug, which is shaped for both, so this bites mainly on older kit and cheap extension leads.
• British, American and Australian plugs need an adapter. Buy one before you fly; airport shops charge three times the supermarket price for the same thing.
• 230 V is the danger for American appliances. A hair dryer or shaver marked 120 V only will burn out. Anything marked 100-240 V - which is nearly every charger made this century - is fine.
• Older buildings often have unearthed sockets. They take the same plugs and simply leave the earth pin unconnected, which matters for a travel iron, not for a phone.

Say bonjour first. Every time, to everyone.

Walking into a shop, a bakery or a pharmacy and going straight to your question is read as genuinely rude in France - not brusque, rude. Bonjour (or bonsoir after dark) before anything else, and merci, au revoir on the way out. This single habit changes how you are treated more than any amount of French vocabulary.

• Power: Type C and E sockets, 230V, 50Hz. Dual-voltage devices need only a plug adapter.
• Time: CET (UTC+1) in winter, CEST (UTC+2) from the last Sunday in March to the last Sunday in October.
• Shops: roughly 09:30 or 10:00 to 19:30 or 20:00, Monday to Saturday. Many small shops close Sunday, and plenty close for a couple of hours at lunch. Large supermarkets and shops in tourist zones open Sunday mornings.
• Public holidays: 1 May is the serious one - transport and commerce shut down almost entirely. 14 July and 25 December also close most things.
• Tap water is safe everywhere. Ask for une carafe d'eau in a restaurant and it is free by law. Street fountains marked eau potable are drinkable.
• Toilets: the automated sanisettes on Paris streets are free.
• Language: English is fine in hotels, attractions and larger restaurants in Paris, Nice and Lyon, and drops off quickly in rural areas.
• Dress: shoulders and knees covered in cathedrals.

Money and paying for things

France uses the euro (EUR).

• Contactless is universal - bakeries, pharmacies, transit gates, taxis, restaurants all take Visa, Mastercard, Apple Pay and Google Pay. Keep EUR 1 to EUR 10 in coins for open-air markets, some public toilets and the occasional very small purchase.
• Use bank ATMs: BNP Paribas, Societe Generale, Credit Agricole, LCL, BPCE and La Banque Postale do not add their own fee for a foreign card. Withdrawal limits run EUR 300 to EUR 500 per transaction.
• Avoid Euronet. Its machines cluster around landmarks and stations and combine a heavy access fee with an aggressive conversion prompt.
• Decline dynamic currency conversion every time. Paying in your own currency instead of euro costs 6% to 12% over the interbank rate. Choose EUR.
• Do not use the airport bureaux de change such as Travelex at CDG or Orly - wide spreads plus commission on a service an ATM does better.

Tipping

Service is legally included. French bills carry a 15% service charge (service compris), so tipping is entirely optional and never expected. Rounding up EUR 1 to EUR 2 for good cafe service, or leaving around EUR 5 after a fine-dining meal, is a compliment rather than an obligation.

What things cost

Coffee costs less standing at the counter than sitting at a table, and less inside than on the terrace. That is not a scam, it is the published tariff - it is displayed by law.

Paris fares were simplified in 2025 and are now flat across the region - but they are sold digitally, not on paper.

• Paris: a metro, RER or train single is EUR 2.55; a bus or tram single is EUR 2.05. One flat price wherever you travel in the region, transfers included within the mode. Load tickets onto a Navigo Easy card, the Ile-de-France Mobilites app, or your phone wallet.
• Airport journeys are priced separately at EUR 14 on the Paris Region Airports ticket. A normal single will not get you to CDG or Orly.
• Nice: Lignes d'Azur runs the buses and trams; a single is EUR 1.70 on a EUR 2.00 rechargeable card.
• Lyon: TCL runs metro, tram, bus and the two funiculars on one ticket.
• Ride-hailing: Uber and Bolt are everywhere; Heetch is the French competitor and is often cheaper in cities at night.
• Between cities, book the train early. SNCF runs TGV InOui (full service), Ouigo (budget high speed) and TER (regional). A TGV booked weeks out can be a quarter of the walk-up fare. FlixBus and BlaBlaCar Bus undercut rail on time-insensitive routes, and BlaBlaCar carpooling is genuinely mainstream here.
• Strikes happen and they are announced. A greve on the RATP or SNCF is published days ahead in the apps. Check the morning of a travel day rather than assuming.
• Watch the cycle lanes and scooters. Central Paris is capped at 30 km/h for cars, but bikes and e-scooters move fast in their own lanes beside the pavement.

• Ile-de-France Mobilites - https://www.iledefrance-mobilites.fr/en - Buys and stores every Paris-region ticket, including the EUR 14 airport ticket. Install it before you land.
• Bonjour RATP - https://www.bonjour-ratp.fr/en/ - Official RATP routing for metro, RER, bus and tram, with live disruption notices.
• SNCF Connect - https://www.sncf-connect.com/ - National rail: TGV InOui, Ouigo and TER bookings and live platform information.
• Citymapper - https://citymapper.com/ - The best routing in Paris and Lyon, and it reroutes around strikes properly.
• Lignes d'Azur - https://www.lignesdazur.com/ - Buses and trams in Nice and the Riviera.
• Uber - https://www.uber.com/fr/ - Rides in Paris, Nice, Lyon and Marseille.
• Bolt - https://bolt.eu/ - Ride-hailing and e-scooters.
• Heetch - https://www.heetch.com/ - French ride-hailing, competitive at night.
• BlaBlaCar - https://www.blablacar.fr/ - Long-distance carpooling, mainstream and cheap.
• DeepL - https://www.deepl.com/ - Translation that handles French menus better than most.

Tolls at barriers on the autoroutes, a Crit'Air sticker for the cities, and priorite a droite where nothing says otherwise.

• Tolls are paid on exit by card or cash; the orange lanes marked with a "t" are for transponder holders only and blocking one is a fuss you do not want.
• A Crit'Air sticker is required in a growing list of low-emission zones - Paris, Lyon, Grenoble, Strasbourg and others. It is ordered online from the government site and takes days to arrive by post, so it is a before-you-go job.
• The alcohol limit is 0.5 g/l, and 0.2 g/l for drivers in their first three years.
• The rural limit is 80 km/h on undivided roads, except where a department restored 90 - the signs are the authority, and the cameras follow the signs.
• Priorite a droite still exists on unmarked junctions in villages, which is the one rule that catches British and American drivers.

The threat is your bag, not you. France sits at "exercise increased caution" in US and UK advisories because of terrorism risk and frequent demonstrations, but ordinary visitors overwhelmingly meet only theft.

The scams you will actually be offered

• The gold ring: someone "finds" a ring on the pavement in front of you and offers it for emergency cash. It is brass.
• The clipboard petition: a fake charity petition near the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre or Sacre-Coeur, the board blocking your view while an accomplice works your pockets.
• The friendship bracelet: men on the Sacre-Coeur steps weave string onto your wrist and then demand payment aggressively. Keep your hands down and keep walking.
• Airport taxi touts inside baggage halls, charging unmetered rates far above the fixed EUR 56, EUR 65, EUR 36 and EUR 45 airport fares.

Where to be alert late at night

• Paris: Gare du Nord, Gare de l'Est and Chatelet-Les Halles after dark, and the northern peripheral areas of Seine-Saint-Denis.
• Lyon: around Perrache station late at night.
• Nice: isolated northern quarters such as L'Ariane after dark.

Rules and hazards

• Drugs are strictly enforced, cannabis included. Possession draws an on-the-spot criminal fine (amende forfaitaire delictuelle) of EUR 200.
• Demonstrations and strikes are frequent and usually announced. They are rarely dangerous but they close streets and stations at short notice.
• Wildfires are a real summer risk in Provence, on the Cote d'Azur and in Corsica in July and August; access to forest areas gets closed at short notice.
• Winter flooding along the Seine and Rhone can disrupt riverside transport.

Solo and female travellers are safe; a firm "Non merci" ends persistent street approaches. LGBTQ+ travellers have full legal equality and high acceptance in the cities.

Emergency numbers

• 112 - the European emergency number, routes to police, fire or ambulance, English spoken
• 15 - SAMU, medical emergencies and ambulance
• 17 - Police Secours
• 18 - Sapeurs-Pompiers, fire and rescue, and the usual first responders to trauma
• 3624 - SOS Medecins, a 24-hour doctor call-out service for urgent but non-emergency problems

SOS Medecins is the number worth remembering. A doctor comes to your hotel room, which for a fever or an infection at 22:00 is far better than a Paris emergency department.

If your passport is lost or stolen

1. File a declaration (declaration de vol ou de perte) at the nearest Commissariat de Police. The written statement is required before any embassy will issue an emergency travel document.
2. Contact your embassy.

Embassies in Paris

• United States - 2 Avenue Gabriel, 75008 Paris, consular section at 4 Avenue Gabriel - +33 1 43 12 22 22 - Metro Concorde. No laptops or large bags are allowed on the premises, and there is nowhere to leave them.
• United Kingdom - 35 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore, 75008 Paris - +33 1 44 51 31 00
• Canada - 130 Avenue Victor Hugo, 75116 Paris - +33 1 44 43 29 00
• Australia - 4 Rue Jean Rey, 75015 Paris - +33 1 40 59 33 00 - Metro Bir-Hakeim

EU and EEA citizens are covered by the EHIC for necessary state care. Schengen visa holders must carry at least EUR 30,000 of medical insurance.