FrenchTips

All you need to know for an hasslefree trip in France !!!...

The Tips

Bulk

  • Tap water is safe nearly everywhere and if not, it’s written.
  • Tipping is not required in bars and restaurants or anywhere else except sometimes in theatres where you can tip the usher with €1.
  • In restaurants, you have to ask for the bill. It is considered impolite to bring you the bill if you don’t ask it.
  • When changing money, refuse the €50 bills or more, often they are not accepted for paying little amounts.
  • ATM is the easiest and cheaper way to get cash. It’s free of charge if your card is issued in the Eurozone. Beware of the maximum amount you can spend weekly. Traveler’s checks are not common, avoid it.
  • Mastercard and Visa are accepted almost everywhere. Amex is accepted mainly in smart shops and airlines, and often refused in restaurants, gas stations and regular shops.
  • All prices come with tax included, so the price you see is the amount you pay.
  • Except in large cities, most of the shops and services ( Bank, post office... ) are closed for lunchtime (12:00-14:00).
  • Shops are closed on Sunday, except in touristic areas ( Champs Elysées in Paris for example ), so do not plan shopping on Sunday...
  • You can be topless on all beaches. No one cares.
  • You can be naked on most of the beaches on the Atlantic coast from the Spain border to the beaches of Vendée. It’s less common elsewhere, often prohibited on beaches located near resorts, touristic places or cities.
  • In public swimming pools, you must wear a swimsuit in the European style ( a short one ) or a competition like swimsuit. The board short style or long swimsuit like weared in the US are prohibited.
  • Electricity runs on 220-volt, 50-cycle AC current. This is not a problem for cell phone and PC, you just need to buy a plug adaptor.
  • We use both the 0-12 and 0-24 hours system for time. When you have to talk about schedules, always use the 0-24 system.
  • In Paris and touristic places, you can find restaurants open all the day along. Everywhere else, restaurants are often close after 14:00 and reopen around 19:00.
  • In buildings, floors are numbered from 0. 0 is the ground floor, often called "Rez-de-chaussée" or "RDC". If your hotel room is on the 1st floor, your not at the street level but 1 floor above.

Socializing

  • Always greet with a "Bonjour !" before asking something or beginning any conversation. To ask an information in the street, you can use "Excusez moi....". Never ask something or begin a conversation directly. THIS RULE HAS NO EXCEPTION and is one of the main cultural issue with visitors.
  • Avoid to speak overly loud, it’s considered to be rude, but you can be enthusiastic about our monuments, culture etc... We love that !!!!....
  • Political convictions: Don’t ask, don’t tell. But you can freely argue about the political actuality.
  • To begin a conversation with someone in a bar or have a drink for example means a greater implication than in other culture. It could be considered very rude to stop abruptly the conversation.
  • Do not talk about the french colonisation if you have no reason to do it. Frenchmen who are talking to are not those who were involved in the colonisation process. These ones are dead for a while. Same for slavery.
  • You can freely drink alcohol in the street, but not to be drunk ( even if it’s quite common ! ).
  • When talking, avoid touching your interlocutor.

Traveling

  • Foreign debit/credit card ( even Visa/Mastercard/Amex ) are often refused in automatic gas station. Choose a gas station with cashier to pay cash, or ask for a french costumer to pay for you with his own card and give cash to him.
  • When arriving to a crossroad, if there is no traffic light or signal like a "Stop", or if you are in an ambiguous situation, you must let the cars coming from your right pass. No matter the size of the roads. This is one of the most dangerous rule of our traffic law.
  • On multi-lane road, you have to drive on the lane the most on the right. Use the others lanes only if the traffic is heavy or to pass another car. (In the facts, this rule is often not respected and the central lane is the most used ).
  • To pass a car, always do it on the left side, and come back to the right lane.
  • After buying a train ticket, you must validate it ("composter") just before boarding the train by putting him in a yellow machine. These machines are located everywhere in the stations. This is not required if you have printed by yourself an Internet ticket.
  • Taxis are expensive. Grab a cab is not so common than in others countries. Small runs can be denied.
  • All taxis have meters. When you call a taxi by phone, they charge you from the point they are when receiving the call, this can add extra charge to €15-€20 !!!.....
  • It’s nearly impossible to grab a cab on saturday night when you need it !!!!...
  • When flying on domestics flights, always compare the fare with all extras ( luggage, extra for paying with credit card etc... ) between low-cost and major airlines. Most of the time, there is no difference and major are much more flexible.

Paris

  • There is no "downtown" or "center" in Paris. Usually, tourists consider that the main touristic area is located around Le Marais - Chatelet - Louvre - Quartier Latin. Get off at "Chatelet" or "Saint-Michel" metro stations.
  • The center of Paris is a safe place. You just need common sense to avoid any issue.
  • Parisian often use numbers to locate an area ( 1st, 2sd, 3th etc... ). This refer to the districts numeration. It’s like a snail with the 1st in the center, to the 20th in the north-east.
  • You should buy at least one of these weekly guide: "Le Pariscope" or "L’officiel des spectacle" ( both have the same informations). For less than €1, you have all the shows, theatres, museums, movies, exhibitions etc... available for the week. When hanging out, it’s more convenient than looking for a wifi hotspot !!!....
  • In Paris, you do not need a car. Bus, metro and your feet are the best way to visit the city.
  • Bus routes and metro lines maps are given free of charge at all metro stations.
  • Bus and metro tickets are the sames.
  • A metro ticket is valid until you get off the metro, whatever the number of transfers.
  • A bus ticket is valid 1h30. You need to validate it each time you board a bus ( several validations in case of transfer). Bus/bus transfers are authorized with the same ticket, but not metro/bus transfers, in this case, you need a new ticket.
  • If you have only one monument to visit, climb the Eiffel Tower !!!... It’s not only a cliché, it’s really the best point of view of the city. Climb to the 2sd floor, it’s the best one. Climb the 3th floor just for fun, the point of view is less interesting than the 2sd and the line much more longer. By metro, use the "Trocadero" metro station, the view of the tower from the Trocadero is amazing and is the best place to take a photo.
  • Le Louvre museum: If the main entrance is packed out, you have less known entrances on the sides, at Rue de Rivoli, Quai des Tuileries and Avenue du général Lemonnier ( and may be more but I don’t know them.... ).
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