Travel to France
Browse listings of Home Exchange, Vacation Rentals, B&B, Homestay (furnished apartments, villas, cottages, condos, farmhouses and other types of accommodations) by regions of France.
Last Minute Tips Before you Travel to France
- Time Zone: GMT/UTC +1 (Eastern European Time)
- Electricity: 220V, 50 Hz (bring an adapter/transformer for your hair drier, laptop, cellular phone etc.)
- Currency: Euro (Euro)
- Country Dialing Code: 33
Must See - Properties on UNESCO World Heritage List
- Mont-Saint-Michel and its Bay (Lower Normandy)
- Palace and Park of Versailles (Ile-de-France)
- Vézelay, Church and Hill (Burgundy)
- Decorated Grottoes of the Vézère Valley (Aquitaine)
- Palace and Park of Fontainebleau (Ile-de-France)
- Amiens Cathedral (Picardie)
- Roman Theatre and its Surroundings and the "Triumphal Arch" of Orange (Côte d'Azur)
- Roman and Romanesque Monuments of Arles (Côte d'Azur)
- Cistercian Abbey of Fontenay (Burgundy)
- Royal Saltworks of Arc-et-Senans (Franche-Comté)
- Place Stanislas, Place de la Carrière and Place d'Alliance in Nancy (Lorraine)
- Church of Saint-Savin sur Gartempe (Poitou)
- Cape Girolata, Cape Porto, Scandola Nature Reserve and the Piana Calanches in Corsica
- Pont du Gard (Roman Aqueduct) (Languedoc-Roussillon)
- Strasbourg - Grande île
- Paris, Banks of the Seine (Ile de France)
- Cathedral of Notre-Dame, Former Abbey of Saint-Remi and Palace of Tau, Reims (Champagne-Ardenne)
- Bourges Cathedral (Centre)
- Historic Centre of Avignon (Alpes-Côte-d’Azur)
- Canal du Midi (Midi-Pyrénées)
- Historic Fortified City of Carcassonne (Languedoc-Roussillon)
- Pyrénées - Mont Perdu (Midi-Pyrénées)
- Routes of Santiago de Compostela in France
- Historic Site of Lyons (Rhône-Alpes)
- Jurisdiction of Saint-Emilion (Aquitaine)
- The Loire Valley between Sully-sur-Loire and Chalonnes Provins, Town of Medieval Fairs (Ile de France)
Location:
Western Europe, bordering the Bay of Biscay and English Channel, between Belgium and Spain, southeast of the UK; bordering the Mediterranean Sea, between Italy and Spain
Capital
Paris
Population
65,630,692 (July 2012 est.)
Note: the above figure is for metropolitan France and five overseas regions; the metropolitan France population is 62,814,233
Administrative divisions:
27 regions (regions, singular - region); Alsace, Aquitaine, Auvergne, Basse-Normandie (Lower Normandy), Bourgogne (Burgundy), Bretagne (Brittany), Centre, Champagne-Ardenne, Corse (Corsica), Franche-Comte, Guadeloupe, Guyane (French Guiana), Haute-Normandie (Upper Normandy), Ile-de-France, Languedoc-Roussillon, Limousin, Lorraine, Martinique, Mayotte, Midi-Pyrenees, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Pays de la Loire, Picardie, Poitou-Charentes, Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur, Reunion, Rhone-Alpes
note: France is divided into 22 metropolitan regions (including the "territorial collectivity" of Corse or Corsica) and 5 overseas regions (French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Mayotte, and Reunion) and is subdivided into 96 metropolitan departments and 5 overseas departments (which are the same as the overseas regions)
Dependent areas:
Clipperton Island, French Polynesia, French Southern and Antarctic Lands, New Caledonia, Saint Barthelemy, Saint Martin, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Wallis and Futuna
note: the US does not recognize claims to Antarctica; New Caledonia has been considered a "sui generis" collectivity of France since 1998, a unique status falling between that of an independent country and a French overseas department
Largest cities of France:
Paris, Marseille, Lyon, Toulouse, Nice, Nantes, Strasbourg, Montpellier, Bordeaux, Lille, Rennes, Reims, Le Havre, Saint-Étienne, Toulon, Grenoble, Angers, Dijon
Climate
Metropolitan France: generally cool winters and mild summers, but mild winters and hot summers along the Mediterranean; occasional strong, cold, dry, north-to-northwesterly wind known as mistral
French Guiana: tropical; hot, humid; little seasonal temperature variation
Guadeloupe and Martinique: subtropical tempered by trade winds; moderately high humidity; rainy season (June to October); vulnerable to devastating cyclones (hurricanes) every eight years on average
Mayotte: tropical; marine; hot, humid, rainy season during northeastern monsoon (November to May); dry season is cooler (May to November)
Reunion: tropical, but temperature moderates with elevation; cool and dry (May to November), hot and rainy (November to April)
Ethnic groups
Celtic and Latin with Teutonic, Slavic, North African, Indochinese, Basque minorities
overseas departments: black, white, mulatto, East Indian, Chinese, Amerindian
Religions
Roman Catholic 83%-88%, Protestant 2%, Jewish 1%, Muslim 5%-10%, unaffiliated 4%
overseas departments: Roman Catholic, Protestant, Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, pagan
Languages
French (official) 100%, rapidly declining regional dialects and languages (Provencal, Breton, Alsatian, Corsican, Catalan, Basque, Flemish)
overseas departments: French, Creole patois, Mahorian (a Swahili dialect)
Government type
Republic
Background
France today is one of the most modern countries in the world and is a leader among European nations. It plays an influential global role as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, NATO, the G-8, the G-20, the EU and other multilateral organizations. France rejoined NATO's integrated military command structure in 2009, reversing de Gaulle's 1966 decision to take French forces out of NATO. Since 1958, it has constructed a hybrid presidential-parliamentary governing system resistant to the instabilities experienced in earlier more purely parliamentary administrations. In recent decades, its reconciliation and cooperation with Germany have proved central to the economic integration of Europe, including the introduction of a common exchange currency, the euro, in January 1999. In the early 21st century, five French overseas entities - French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Mayotte, and Reunion - became French regions and were made part of France proper.
Learn French in France
French Basic Words
Hello,Good morning - Bonjour
Good bye - Au revoir
Yes - Oui
No - Non
OK - D’accord
Excuse me - Excusez-moi
How are you? - Comment allez-vous?
Very well, thanks - Très bien, merci
Please - S’il vous plait
Thank you - Merci
You are welcome - de rien
How much is it ? - Combien ça coûte ?
Where are the toilets? - Où sont les toilettes?
Some French Dishes
France does not have one national dish because of the different products and specialties of each region.
Normandy
- Canard à la Rouennaise - (duck stuffed with its liver and cooked in red wine)
- Camembert - cheese exclusively produced in Normandy for about 200 years
Brittany
- Crêpes - Pancakes with sweet and savory fillings
Champagne
- Flamiche (leeks cooked with cream and eggs in a pastry crust
Alsace and Lorraine
- Baeckeoffe -stew of marinated meat and vegetables .
- Choucroute - sauerkraut garnished with potatoes and served with hot sausages, bacon or pork.
- Tarte flambée - thin layer of pastry topped with cream, onion and bacon and cooked in a wood-fired oven.
- Quiche lorraine - eggs and cream with cheese, vegetables, seafood or ham.
Burgundy
Burgundy red and white wines.
Boeuf Bouguignon beef stew marinated with Burgundy red wine.
Coq au vin - chicken in red wine
Escargots à la Bourgignonne - stuffed with garlic butter.
Frog's legs - sautéed in butter with fine herbs.
Languedoc-Roussillon
- Cassoulet - stew made of sausage and white beans
- Garbure - thick stew made with vegetables, herbs, spices and preserved meats.
Provence
- Boeuf en daub - beef stewed with red wine, onions, garlic, vegetables and herbs
- Bouillabaisse - fish soup brimming with lobster, crab, mussels or clams, served
- Rouille - a spicy mayonnaise made with olive oil, garlic, chilli and fish broth - and warm bread.
- Ratatouille - vegetable stew made out of tomatoes, peppers, zucchinis, onions and olive oil
- Salade Niçoise - lettuce, tomatoes, green beans, tuna, eggs, black olives and anchovies.
Flag of France
The origin of the flag dates to 1790 and the French Revolution when the "ancient French color" of white was combined with the blue and red colors of the Parisian militia; the official flag for all French dependent areas.
Note: the design and/or colors are similar to a number of other flags, including those of Belgium, Chad, Cote d'Ivoire, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, and Netherlands.
France Travel and Accommodation – Your Tips for Travelers
If you would like to share your experiences of traveling to France or to any other country, please send us your article and we will gladly post it at this website.
Paris à Pied - Part I by Joe Wiebe
Paris à Pied - Part II by Joe Wiebe
Golfe Juan
Provence, France By Chéron Stéphanie
Source: Central Intelligence Agency.
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