Power sockets and voltage in France

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.