France: main airports
France has over fifty airports with active connections: Paris Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly, as well as the major regional hubs (Nice, Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Nantes, Lille) and a dense network of medium and small airports serving practically every French region, from Brittany to Corsica, from the Alps to the Pyrenees.
France: recommended activities
France: visa and entry requirements
As a member of the European Union and the Schengen area, France does not require a visa for EU citizens, who travel with a valid ID card or passport, nor for citizens of many other countries (including the US, Canada, the UK, Australia) for tourist stays of up to 90 days.
France: safety
France is generally safe for tourists, with the usual precautions against petty theft and pickpocketing in the very crowded areas of major cities, particularly Paris (the metro, main tourist sites) and on the French Riviera in high season. No significant security concerns are reported for visitors in most of the country.
France: health situation
No specific vaccinations are required for entry. The healthcare system is among the most efficient in the world; the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) is valid for EU citizens. Travel insurance nonetheless remains advisable.
France: currency, payments and connectivity
The currency is the euro. Credit cards are accepted almost everywhere, including small businesses. Uber and Bolt operate in the main cities. For connectivity, the operators Orange, SFR, Bouygues Telecom and Free sell prepaid SIM cards; as an EU citizen, those arriving from another EU country benefit from free roaming ('Roam Like At Home').
France: travel guides
Aurillac: the French capital of the umbrella
Perpignan: more Catalan than French
Calvi: the citadel said to be Columbus's birthplace
Reims: where the kings of France were crowned
Marseille: France's oldest port
Rouen: where Joan of Arc was burned
Grenoble: the bubble cable car to the Alps
Toulouse: the pink city of aerospace
Figari: wild coves in southern Corsica
Poitiers: the battle that halted an empire
Avignon: the city of the Popes on the Rhône
Lille: more Flemish than French
Annecy: the Venice of the French Alps
Brive-la-Gaillarde: the gateway to Lascaux and Rocamadour
Quimper: the most authentic Brittany
La Rochelle: the towers that chained the harbour
Toulon: the great naval base of the Mediterranean
Nîmes: the Rome of France
Le Puy-en-Velay: the cathedral atop the volcano
Montpellier: the city without a medieval centre
Lorient: from Nazi submarine pens to a Celtic festival
Bordeaux: the world capital of wine
Chambéry: the elephants that never saw India
Tours: the gateway to the Loire castles
Rennes: the Breton capital reborn from fire
Ajaccio: Napoleon's Corsica
Angoulême: the world capital of comics
Bastia: Corsica's Genoese port
Clermont-Ferrand: the city born from a volcano
Strasbourg: Europe's capital between two cultures
Saint-Malo: the corsair city behind the walls
Pau: where the Pyrenees seem within reach
Rodez: the pink cathedral of the Aveyron
Lourdes: the sanctuary born from an apparition
Angers: the Angevin castle on the Loire
Bergerac: the imaginary homeland of Cyrano
Caen: rebuilt after the Normandy landings
Dijon: mustard and the dukes of Burgundy
Nice: Promenade des Anglais and the old town
Saint-Étienne: from coal to industrial design
Limoges: the porcelain that conquered the world
Nantes: the mechanical elephant and Jules Verne
Le Havre: modernism rebuilt after the war
Metz: a cathedral of light in French Lorraine
One day in Paris: itinerary and highlights
Béziers: the massacre that preceded peace
Épinal: the popular prints that gave a name to idealized imagery
Brest: the city rebuilt after the war
Castres: unexpected Goya in the heart of the French Tarn
Carcassonne: Europe's largest medieval fortress
Mulhouse: France's automobile capital
Biarritz: where the empress invented the Basque Coast
