France  Information

Full country name: French Republic

Area: 547,030 sq km

Population: 60.4 million

Capital City: Paris

People: 92% French, 3% North African, 2% German, 1% Breton, 2% other (including Provençal, Catalan & Basque)

Language: French, Catalan, Basque, Breton, Corsican

Religion: 86% Roman Catholic, 8% Muslim, 2% Protestant 1% Jewish, 3% unaffiliated

Government: republic

Head of State: President Jacques Chirac

Head of Government: Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin

GDP: US$1.6 trillion

GDP per capita: US$27,600

Annual Growth: 4%

Inflation: 2.1%

Major Industries: Oil refining, steel, cement, aluminium, agricultural products & foodstuffs (wheat, barley, maize, cheese), luxury goods, chemicals, motor manufacturing, energy products, tourism.

Major Trading Partners: EU (especially Germany, Italy, UK), USA

Member of EU: Yes

Visas: Nationals of the EU, the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Israel do not need visas to visit France as tourists for up to three months. Except for the citizens of a handful of other European countries, everyone else must have a visa. To apply, you'll need a passport (valid for a period of three months beyond your departure date from France), a ticket in and out of France, proof of money and possibly of accommodations, two passport-sized photos and the visa fee in cash. Tourist visas cannot be extended except in emergencies (eg medical problems). You might try calling the Préfecture de Police (tel 01 53 71 51 68; www.prefecture-police-paris.interieur.gouv.fr) for guidance. If you don't need a visa to visit France, you'll almost certainly qualify for another automatic three-month stay if you take the train to Geneva or Brussels and then re-enter France.

Time Zone: GMT/UTC +1 (Central European Time)

Dialling Code: 33

Electricity: 230V ,50Hz

Weights & measures: Metric
When to Go
Spring offers the best weather to visitors, with beach tourism picking up in May. Temperatures aren't too bad in autumn, although the short days mean limited sunlight and the cold starts to make itself felt towards the end of the season, even along the Côte d'Azur. Winter means playing in the snow in France's Alps and Pyrenees, though the Christmas school holidays send hordes of tadpoles in uniform scurrying for the slopes. Mid-July through to the end of August is when most city dwellers take their annual five weeks' vacation to the coasts and mountains, and the half-desolate cities tend to shut down a bit accordingly. The same happens during February and March.

Getting There & Away

Air France and scores of other airlines link Paris with every section of the globe. Other French cities with international air links (mainly to places within Europe) include Bordeaux, Lyon, Marseille, Nice, Strasbourg and Toulouse. In France, inexpensive flights offered by discount airlines and charter clearing houses can be booked through many regular travel agents.
If you are doing a lot of travel around Europe, look for discount bus and train passes, which can be combined with discount airfares.
Buses are slower and less comfortable than trains, but they are cheaper, especially for people under 26, over 60, teacher and students.
Rail services link France with every country in Europe; schedules are available from major train stations in France and abroad. You can book tickets and get information from Rail Europe (www.raileurope.com) up to two months ahead.
Tickets for ferry travel to/from the UK, Channel Islands and Ireland are available from most travel agencies in France. In some cases, return fares cost less than two one-way tickets.
Scores of national and international airlines link Paris with every part of the globe. Other French cities with direct international air links include Bordeaux, Lyon, Marseille, Nice, Strasbourg and Toulouse.
Paris is the country's main rail hub, with services to/from every part of Europe. The completion of the Channel Tunnel in 1994 has meant travel between England and France - on the silent, ultra-modern Eurostar rail service - is now quick and hassle-free.
Paris is the country's main bus hub, with services to/from every part of Europe. Buses are slower and less comfortable than trains, but they are cheaper, especially if you qualify for the 10% discount available to people under 26 or over 60 or hunt around for discount fares. The Chunnel has high-speed shuttle trains that whisk coaches from England to France.
By sea, the quickest passenger ferries and hovercrafts to England run between Calais and Dover, and Boulogne and Folkestone. There are numerous routes linking Brittany and Normandy with England; Saint Malo is linked by car ferry and hydrofoil with Weymouth, Poole and Portsmouth, while Roscoff has ferry links to Plymouth. Ferries also ply the waters between France and Ireland (Cherbourg-Cork), the Channel Islands, Sardinia (Marseille-Porto Torres), Italy (Corsica-Genoa) and North Africa (Marseille-Algiers, Marseille-Tunis, Sète-Tangier).

Getting Around
Air France (tel 0820 820 820; www.airfrance.com) controls the lion's share of France's domestic airline industry although British budget carrier easyJet has flights linking Paris with Marseille, Nice and Toulouse.
France is eminently easy to cycle around. On train timetables, a bicycle symbol indicates that bicycles are allowed on particular trains. The SNCF baggage service Sernam (tel 0825 84 58 45) will transport your bicycle (or any other luggage) door-to-door or station-to-station for a fee.
Buses are used quite extensively for short-distance travel within départements, especially in rural areas with relatively few train lines (eg, Brittany and Normandy) - but services are often slow and few and far between.
Having your own wheels brings freedom but it's expensive, and city parking and traffic are frequent headaches. Motorcyclists will find France great for touring: the websites www.viamichelin.com and www.autoroutes.fr both calculate how much you will pay in petrol and tolls for specified journeys. To hire a car in France you'll generally need to be over 21 years old and hold a valid driver's licence and an international credit card. Your credit card may cover CDW if you use it to pay for the car rental.
France's superb rail network reaches almost every part of the country. Many towns and villages not on the SNCF train and bus network are linked by intra-départmental bus lines. France's most important train lines radiate from Paris like the spokes of a wheel, making train travel between provincial towns situated on different 'spokes' rather slow. In some cases, you have to transit through Paris.
France's domestic airlines link most urban centres, and since the long-protected domestic airline industry has been opened up, discounts have made internal air travel an option even for budget travellers.
France has an excellent rail network, operated by the state-owned SCNF (Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer), which reaches almost every part of the country. Thanks to the high-speed TGV (train à grande vitesse), travel between some cities (eg, Paris and Lyon) is faster and easier by rail than by air.
Interregional bus services are limited, but buses are used extensively for short-distance travel within regions, especially in rural areas with relatively few train lines (eg, Brittany and Normandy). On longer trips, buses tend to be much slower but slightly cheaper than trains; on short runs, buses are generally slower and more expensive.
Another relaxing way of seeing France is to cruise its canals and navigable rivers by houseboat. These usually accommodate four to 12 passengers and can be rented for a weekend or several weeks.
Local transport includes the cheap and efficient Metro and RER underground networks in Paris (there are also metro lines in other cities).
Having your own vehicle can be expensive, and is sure to be inconvenient in city centres where parking and traffic are problematic. Be warned that most driving in France is done with the horn, or 'French Brake Pedal', as it is often called. As a rule of thumb, don't be timid or overly respectful once on the road as this technique will often confuse the natives. Renting a car is expensive if you walk into an office and hire a car on the spot, but prebooked and prepaid promotional rates are reasonable.
France is a superb country for motorcycle touring, with winding roads of good quality and lots of stunning scenery.
France is an eminently cyclable country, due largely to its extensive network of secondary and tertiary roads that are relatively lightly trafficked.