Please note that outside Paris ticket charges are not the same.
Ask at your departure station for information.
For tourists: Paris Visit Ticket is valid for either 1,2,3 or 5 consecutive days and allows unlimited travel in all zones of the whole network (metro, bus, RER) and on the Montmartre Funicular.
Reduced price for children aged between 4 and 11 years old.
COACHES
Eurolines is the largest operator of scheduled coach services, offering regular services to over 65 destinations from London. These include Avignon, Bordeaux, Grenoble, Marseilles, Nantes, Paris (up to 4 services daily), Perpignan, St Malo, Strasbourg, Toulouse et Tours. Prices start at just £33 return. Connexions are available from around 1200 UK cities on National Express.
Tourist hotels are approved and examined by the authorities. They are split into 5 categories according to their facilities, areas and services. The categories are 1-star, 2-star, 3-star, 4-star and - for hotels of great comfort - 4-star L (luxury). Prices displayed outside the hotel and in bedrooms must be inclusive. They are unregulated and a surcharge can be levied for an extra bed or for breakfast. Rooms must usually be left by noon on the day of departure. There are about 17,500 hotels, inns and motels in France.
Finding a Room
It's always easier to reserve your accommodation through a travel agent before coming to France. You can also contact local Tourist Offices or the Syndicats d'Initiative: they will inform you on the local possibilities of accommodation.
Hotel Chains
There are dozens of hotel chains and reservation services for hotels in France which group standardized hotels or hotels each with its own character. The range covers all categories, from 'Relais & Chateaux', 'Chateaux et Hotels de France' hotels (3 - and 4-star) or more economical hotels near major cities (Hotel Formule 1, Etap Hotel, Balladins, Bonsaï, Liberté, Première Classe). Hotel chains usually have central reservation facilities.
Rates Quoted for per night for a single or double room. Rates are quoted per person if they include room and board. Hotels include taxes and service.
Reservations
Reservations should be in writing (letter, fax or email). At that time, an advance deposit should be sent to the hotel. Your reservation, room rate and receipt of deposit should be confirmed in writing, by the hotelier. To avoid problems, reservations should never be made orally.
Deposits An advance deposit is required to secure your reservation. The exact amount is not fixed by law but, in general, the deposit amounts to the equivalent of 25% of the total cost and one night for shorter stays.
Whatever the type of accommodation you choose, pay a deposit. The deposit will not be refunded unless the contract stipulates it. If the hotel cancels your reservation, he must pay you the double of the deposit.
Arrival Time
Guests are expected to arrive at their hotel no later than between 7 and 10 pm. To avoid misunderstandings, it is best to let the hotel keeper know the approximate arrival time, especially if it might be late. If you a telephone reservation has been made without a deposit, the hotelier is not required to hold the room after 7 pm.
Cancellations The French Civil Code, Article 1590, regulates the rights of hotel guests and hoteliers regarding cancellation. In addition, many hotels follow stipulations laid down by the international Hotel Convention. Be sure to request details of the hotel's cancellation policy along with the reservation confirmation.
ON-THE-SPOT Reservations
Passengers who want to book accommodations upon arrival may consult the Automatic Central Reservations Board in Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle Airport.
Reservations can be made for the day of arrival at the Syndicats d'Initiative or Tourist Offices in Paris and other cities.
At a campsite
France offers more than 9,000 fully equipped campsites officially grated from 0 to 4* and 2,300 farm campsites. The Official Campsite Guide is on sale at bookshops, newsagents, FNAC [national chain of department stores selling books, CDs, computers …] and all good retailers, as well as by mail order (postage and carriage: 3 euro per copy).
Fédération Française de Camping-Caravaning [French Camping and Caravanning Association] (tel +33 (0) 1 42 72 84 08). http://www.campingfrance.com
Camping off-site is permitted with the authorization of the landowner, but prohibited on beaches, roadsides or at designated sites.
For information, please ask at Tourist Offices or the Gendarmerie.
In tourist apartments
These are buildings housing apartments for rent, fully equipped and with a choice of hotel services.
Visit the website www.snrt. fr
In furnished accommodation
These are fully equipped holiday villas or apartments for rent to tourists: information from Tourist Offices and estate agents.
In Gîtes or Guest Houses
By renting a room in the owner's home (per night or per week, with breakfast and, occasionally with evening meal), you will have the chance to discover more about, and share in, the French way of life. www.gites-de-france. fr
In Holiday Villages
Non-profit making organizations who offer especially designed accommodation for families and groups, the holidays Villages also have excellent leisure activities. A stay in a holiday village is a great way to meet French people in a friendly environment and at the same time keep a feeling of individual freedom.
On holiday we like the simple outdoor life, we like to live out of doors, eat our meals in the sunshine and sip our wine under a clear sky counting shooting stars until the early hours. Not a very practical proposition in Britain, that's why we spend our summers with our VW camper in France
When holidaying for three or four weeks at a time, what to eat becomes an important issue and over the last ten years initially with two young children and latterly on our own we have learnt a few things and our experiences may be of benefit to other members. To loosely plan for meals for about 30 days takes a bit of thought and initial preparation. You may like to eat out in restaurants but this could be costly over the time of the holiday. Anyway I don’t enjoy eating in restaurants, I don’t feel relaxed and most people in them smoke cigarettes.
For a start, for a couple of months before the holiday, my wife will buy a few extra tins each week with her normal shopping and save them in a box ready to take. Whilst we would not normally eat tinned stuff, for a holiday they can be very convenient e. g. carrots, peas, fruit, salmon, tuna, potatoes etc. As tins are used up they leave storage space to hold bottles of wine for the return trip!
Although the van fridge has only a small freezer compartment it is surprising how many pieces of steak it can hold if rolled up tightly. The fridge can be stocked up with food and on the shorter sea crossing Dover to Calais (or the tunnel of course) when the gas is turned off the fridge will not have time to defrost.
Breakfast is easy, you can take plenty of cereal and on most camp sites you can buy croissants each morning from the camp shop, a visiting bread van or from a nearby shop. We usually buy a baguette to eat later with our lunch although these do not keep more than a few hours. Cereals that you buy in Britain are now sold in many French supermarkets.
We normally only have a snack at lunchtime. For French people it is the main meal of the day and they go to town on it but for us, at the hottest time of the day, a snack is sufficient. We would have something with our baguette, cheese, jam, ham or something like tinned salmon and perhaps a pain-o-chocolat or chausson pomme bought freshly made from a Patisserie to go with it.
The evening meal is the main meal of our day and we enjoy a few glasses of wine to go with it. We always drink red wine as not only have we developed a taste for it but it is difficult to keep white wine chilled. We take a five or ten litre container with us and look out for shops which advertise Vin en Vrac which means that they sell wine loose. You take your container into one of these shops and there will usually be a range of large tanks full of different wines. No need to choose the most expensive variety just ask to taste (Je degust Silvousplia) one of the local names or Van de Pays. A first taste will not always give a good impression and it may taste a little bitter but do not worry, as long as you can drink it in the shop then it will be OK. Pay 6-8 Francs per litre, there is no need to pay extra to get 12%+, 11-11.5% will be adequate. This wine is very young and has to be to be drunk soon and should be warm. Keep an empty wine bottle for your table and fill it from your container, this way you will know how much you drink for it goes down so smoothly that you could unwittingly overdo it! Don’t make any attempt to chill the wine but allow it to maintain the same temperature as the air in this way you will enjoy it. Don’t be put off by the price of this wine, we have entertained many a wine buff at our van who has been impressed with it and surprised when told of it’s origin!
To make things easy we like to barbecue. We used to have a small home made collapsible barbecue which used charcoal and was very good. However many camp sites in France forbid the use of these barbecues because they might be in forest areas or constitute a general fire risk. Consequently we bought a gas barbecue and these appear to be acceptable on all sites although it is always best check at the reception first. We have found the gas barbecue with lava rocks to be most convenient to use, There are no lighting problems or hot ashes to get rid of, you just switch on when you need it and off when finished. The food cooked is much the same as that from a charcoal grill as fat from the food will drip on the hot lava rock and burn off to give the taste. It is my job to operate the barbecue so it makes easier for my wife as we share the cooking.
Our basic evening meal would be meat or fish, potatoes and vegetables, a sweet and coffee.
Buying Meat
For meat, after we have used up our own supplies, we will buy meat from a supermarket, butchers or market. French lamb chops are really good, in the supermarket you can point to these across the counter and indicate how many you want. In the butchers shop it is more interesting as you will have to ask in French. French butchers like to talk to everyone and pass the time of day so you don’t have to be in a hurry. In some shops the butcher will cut and wrap your order and you will pay for it at a separate counter. Lamb is agnau (arnoo) so you ask for so many cote du agnau, the cost will be similar to that in Britain.
Beef is buef and there are a few different cuts so if you say is is for a barbecue the butcher will point out the choices. Say how many pieces you want and give an indication of how much weight. A half kilogramme (demi kilo), about 1lb. would be enough for two people and cost about £5.
For children you can buy beefburgers with the familiar brand names as in Britain. These are usually more expensive than at home but are better quality and do not drip fat all over the barbecue.
Chipolata sausages are quite tasty although fatty and can be bought by weight in the butchers or pre-packed in the supermarket.
We have noticed that the German supermarket chain Aldi have opened up in France and these are very cheap if you like the brands they sell.
We sometimes buy a ready cooked chicken, the roasting machines are very popular in France. One of these will last us for a couple of meals or a half (Demi pouli) for one meal.
You can also buy food in the many local markets. The hygene may sometimes be suspect so take care, we have never suffered any ill effects!
Fish.
We have bought fish from fishmongers in the local indoor market. We have not been too sure what the fish was but picked out some that looked good and asked for enough for two. We have even been given a free taste of smoked salmon!.
Fruit and Vegatables.
Buy vegetables from the markets etc the same way as you do at home. We find that melons are very tasty and one will last us for two meals. Sweet corn is very good on the barbeque but is not in season in France until later. Sometimes you can find it on the larger markets and if you can it is worth buying.
Cooking.
We rarely bother with starters so straight into the main meal. As I mentioned earlier we use our gas barbecue almost every day to cook our meat or fish. The gas is lighted and the barbecue allowed to heat up for about five minutes during which time a glass of ‘chef’s wine’ is poured and sampled. If you have some swwet corn, one cob cut in two serve two people, start thise off first as they take about fifteen minutes turning them frequently. Corn starts as a pale cream colour and as it cooks it changes to a dark yellow. To cook our beef steak we pepper it well and lay it on the grill over the hot rocks. I note the time, usually using the clock on my bicycle computer, that it takes for the blood to ooze to the surface of the steak. Then the steak is turned over and cooked for the same time again. This produces a medium done steak and we find it too our liking. Lamb chops can be cooked similarly but using plenty of Herbs of Provence rather than pepper.
For fish we have used a fish basket or just laid them on the grill. They cook very quickly and the time varies with the type of fish. Whole fish (less head and tails) are easier to handle than filleted and five minutes a side is a good starting guide.
Whilst the meat is cooking my wife will prepare the veg and salad. Salad will be fresh but the veg would be from a tin and heated on the gas cooker.
When the barbecue has done it’s stuff it is just switched off and when cool can be put away.
Potatoes can be peeled and boiled but we are on holiday so a tin of new potatoes heated up and served with a knob of butter is quite adequate. The majority of camp sites sell chips so whilst the barbecue is going we take a bowl to the caf頰lace and buy a portion of chips (some tricky timing involved here). We have found that often you are given more than enough for two if you buy only one portion. The chips vary between sites from the frozen variety to properly cut and cooked potatoes. For a change my wife will sometimes take tinned or fresh potatoes, slice them up and fry them in oil. These make a good and cheaper alternative to bought chips.
Mash made from dehydrated potatoes served with butter, a few slices of corned beef and baked beans I find a delicious quick meal but my wife will only eat it under sufferance!
For sweets we often have melon as mentioned above, tinned fruit or cake with tinned cream. Sometimes if our freezer compartment will take it, we buy a carton of ice cream from the supermarket to have with our sweet.
All this makes for the minimum of washing up. We put all our plates in the washup bowl, add a squirt of washup liquid and off to the camp dish washing sinks. We never struggle with the washing bowl in our van.
Our evenings are usually rounded off relaxing under the stars with a glass of wine, can’t wait now until we go again!
Your trip to France is certain to be one of the most memorable and treasured vacations you've ever undertaken, but - like any trip to a foreign land - it always helps to be well prepared for the adventure. Here we've provided a wealth of addresses, resources, and links to explore - which will help you plan your itineraries and assure a smooth trip.
Banking & Money Questions
Currency Converter
Use this handy form, provided courtesy of xe.com, to instantly translate your choice of denominations between any two national currencies.
Euro Monetary Standard (in French only)
Although French workers started receiving their paychecks in Euros as early as July 1, 2001, the introduction of Euro coins and bills began in earnest on January 1, 2002. According to the French government, payments in Francs ceased altogether at midnight on February 17, 2002.
How Much Money Should I Bring?
Thomas Cook has prepared a handy chart which suggests average daily expenses for key cities throughout the world, based on 3-star and 4-star accommodations, including meals, sightseeing, and incidentals. (Requires Acrobat Reader plug-in, free from Adobe)
Mastercard ATM Locator
Need quick cash? With more than 820,000 locations worldwide, you're never far from a MasterCard® / Maestro® / Cirrus® ATM.
Prepaid or Stored Value Travel Cards
For 24-hour secure access to cash, one option to consider is AAA Global Currency, a prepaid Visa card valid at any of 556,000 ATMs and 600,000 merchants worldwide. Available at participating AAA offices.
Visa ATM Locator
Our search located 99 ATMs in Paris honoring Visa® and Plus® cards. The locator permits international searches by region, country, city, street address, or postal code.
Words to the Wise
About.com's Europe for Visitors guide offers tips on using European automated tellers. Includes information on exchange rates, transaction fees, acceptable PINs (personal identification numbers), and back-up strategies to keep you liquid throughout your trip.