France receives more tourists than any country in the world and is the classic address for a Schengen trip from here. There is a direct flight from Baku to Paris. The Louvre and the Eiffel Tower are the classic start. The sea of the Côte d’Azur, the lavender of Provence and skiing in the Alps are the country’s other face. The problem is choosing: the country is large, and whoever gets stuck in Paris goes home without seeing half of France. In this article I have gathered Paris, the regions and the TGV trains. The food, the season and the ways to protect a budget in an expensive country are here too.
France in brief
| Capital | Paris |
| Language | French; English works in tourism, but starting with «bonjour» matters |
| Currency | Euro; cards everywhere, cash in small bakeries |
| Visa | Schengen «C» visa, the france-visas application and the Capago centre |
| Best time | April–June and September–October; July–August for the Côte d’Azur |
| Flights | Baku–Paris direct, AZAL, 5.5 hours |
| Daily budget | 150–200 euros in Paris, 100–140 in the regions |
Paris: districts and museums
Paris is divided into twenty districts, «arrondissements», and the number tells you where you are staying. Districts one to four are the centre, with the Louvre and the Marais. The fifth and sixth are the Latin Quarter and Saint-Germain. The Eiffel Tower stands in the seventh and the Champs-Élysées in the eighth. The eighteenth is Montmartre. When choosing a hotel, look at that number first and the price second.
Three days is the minimum. Buy your Louvre ticket online in advance or you will lose an hour in the queue. The Musée d’Orsay is inside an old railway station and many people like it better than the Louvre. Notre-Dame is open again after the restoration. Eiffel Tower tickets go on sale two months ahead, and the latecomers climb the stairs. Montmartre and Sacré-Cœur are for the evening, a boat trip on the Seine for sunset. The Palace of Versailles is a day trip, 40 minutes from the city on the RER; it is closed on Mondays, and plenty of people go without knowing. Disneyland Paris is 45 minutes on the RER for families with children. For a cheap lunch, the Bastille and Oberkampf quarters; for halal restaurants, Barbès and Belleville.
France beyond Paris: the coast, Provence, the Alps
The Côte d’Azur, with Nice, Cannes, Antibes and Monaco, is the summer classic. It is five and a half hours from Paris by TGV and an hour and a half by air. Nice’s Promenade des Anglais and old town, the village of Èze and Monaco’s casino together make a week’s programme.
Provence is a driving route. The Valensole lavender fields are out from late June to mid-July, with Avignon and Aix-en-Provence beside them. You have to get the lavender timing right; a week late and the fields have already been cut.
Lyon is the gastronomic capital, Bordeaux means wine and architecture, and Strasbourg has Europe’s oldest Christmas market in December. Along the Loire, the châteaux of Chambord and Chenonceau are a day trip from Paris. Mont-Saint-Michel, the abbey on a rock, is the most photographed place in Normandy and becomes an island at high tide. In the Alps, Chamonix and Val Thorens mean skiing from December to April and Mont Blanc walks in summer. The spa towns of Vichy, Évian and Aix-les-Bains are known for mineral water and spa treatment.
Getting around France: metro, TGV and Ouigo
The Paris metro reaches every point of the city on sixteen lines. A ticket is 2.5 euros and the weekly Navigo card 32, and it covers the airport train too; the RER B takes forty-five minutes from the airport to the centre.
TGV high-speed trains run from Paris to Lyon in two hours, Marseille in three and Bordeaux in two. Tickets open three months ahead in the SNCF Connect app: booked early they are 25–40 euros, booked late more than a hundred. That is where most money is lost in France. Ouigo is the cheap TGV brand, where tickets can be found for 10–20 euros with baggage counted separately. To see three companies’ prices on one screen, use services that combine the search. FlixBus and BlaBlaCar are the cheaper alternatives.
A car is needed for Provence, the Loire and Normandy, while in Paris it becomes a burden. The motorways are tolled: Paris to Nice costs 80 euros in tolls alone. Uber works in Paris, and taxis are expensive.
French food: the boulangerie, the bistro and halal
In the morning you buy a croissant and a baguette from the boulangerie. At midday a bistro has a «formule» menu at 15–20 euros for two courses, while in the evening in a restaurant you pay 35–60.
Know one rule in advance. In France a restaurant serves lunch from twelve to two and dinner from half past seven; anyone hungry in between finds only a sandwich in a café.
As for the dishes, the classic option is beef cooked Burgundy style. On the coast they serve bouillabaisse fish soup, Lyon is famous for its sausages and quiche, and the country has more than four hundred cheeses, plus crêpes and macarons. Tap water is free — say «une carafe d’eau» and they bring it — and service is included in the bill.
Halal food in Paris is wider than you would expect: Europe’s largest Muslim community is here. There are hundreds of halal restaurants in Barbès, Belleville and the 13th district, and it is easy in Marseille and Lyon too. Halal kebab places are the cheapest lunch, 8–10 euros.
Read next: France visa: the whole process from the france-visas application to the Capago appointment
Season and weather
April–June and September–October are the best months for Paris and the regions, at 15–25 degrees, and the queues get shorter.
July and August are the Côte d’Azur season, the temperature reaches thirty degrees and hotels are at their most expensive. Parisians, meanwhile, leave the city, and in August many small restaurants close.
Winter in Paris is 5–8 degrees and wet, but the museums are empty and December’s Christmas lights transform the city. In the Alps the ski season runs from December to April. Big events double prices, so check the dates in advance. Regional and event information is on the France.fr portal.
Budget and tickets
In Paris a three-star hotel is 130–200 euros and outside the centre 90–130. In Nice the price in summer is 150–250 euros, and in Lyon and Bordeaux 90–140. Staying on a metro line makes the city considerably cheaper, so choose the hotel by the line.
Museums are expensive. The Louvre is 22 euros, the Orsay 16, the top of the Eiffel Tower 29 and Versailles 21, while a two-day Paris Museum Pass is 62. Excluding the flight, a week-long trip fits into 1300–1800 euros per person.
AZAL flies direct from Baku to Paris, and tickets to Paris should be bought early for Novruz and the summer holidays. Flying to Nice via Istanbul sometimes comes out cheaper than a Paris–Nice TGV ticket. For anyone touring Paris, the Côte d’Azur and Provence on one route, France tour packages settle the TGV booking, the hotel and the museum tickets together.
Frequently asked questions about France
How many days does France need?
Paris four days, five with Versailles. The Côte d’Azur or Provence another four or five, and ten days is the ideal plan for a first trip.
How safe is Paris?
The main risk is pickpocketing. On the metro and around the Eiffel Tower and Montmartre keep your phone and wallet in a front pocket; the «petition signers» and the «found ring» are scams, so do not stop. Do not walk at night in the outer north-eastern districts.
Is it hard without French?
No, but starting with «bonjour», «merci» and «s’il vous plaît» changes the reception completely. If you want an answer in English, greet them in French first.
In closing
With a direct flight, the TGV and the right season, France is Europe’s richest trip, and whoever gets out of Paris sees the country’s real flavour. The visa process is explained on the France page, and to build the Paris and regional route together, fill in the application form.
Note: the prices here are as of the publication date and can change with the season.
