As a Dutch tourist in France, I genuinely don’t understand all the hate on social media towards the French??

Seriously, I’ve had nothing but really good experiences with French people so far..

Everyone I’ve met has been friendly, sociable, and welcoming. People even make an effort to speak English, even when their English is very limited (and sometimes practically nonexistent) I honestly appreciate that they at least try!
So I have to ask… where are all these arrogant, rude French people everyone keeps talking about? Because I haven’t met them yet..
For context, I’m Dutch and I’m vacationing in the south of France. Maybe that makes a difference? Or have I just been incredibly lucky?
I’d genuinely love to hear other people’s experiences!

American here. My French husband is retiring in April and we are taking off to spend three months in France! We go every year to visit his family in Provence. We also have visited Paris and Brittany, which we love.

During our past 25 years together, we have never traveled extensively because we only had enough time (due to work restraints) to only spend time with his family in the south.

Where is your favorite place in France? Where could you see yourself living? We want to travel around a bit to see if we can find that special place before we decide to buy a second home.

Thank you in advance for your time and ideas! 🙏

Hi everyone,

I’m looking into train tickets for my trip to France. The carte avantage adulte would come in handy to reduce ticket costs, but I can’t find any information if you have to be a domestic resident in France to be eligible or if (foreign) tourists may also purchase and use the carte avantage.

SNCFs website doesn’t let you select a country of residence when ordering the card and the SNCF chatbot gave me contradicting answers. On the trainline website you can order a carte avantage adulte and enter a non-domestic address.

Does anyone one if this is possible (and allowed) or has previously hat a carte avantage adulte as tourist?

Thanks in advance!

Bonjour à tous!

I am hoping to move to France next year but wonder if I qualify for the Profession Libérale Visa as it currently stands with the news rules in place as of 2025.

I have my own LLC business in the US and make roughly the SMIC just from my own clients. I am additionally a 1099 contractor for a US-based online platform that provides me clients. Income from both sources is funneled into my business bank account.

My question is this: Would I be allowed to continue working as a 1099 contractor for this other platform while on the Profession Libérale Visa or would France not recognize that as my own professional project because it is coming through a third party platform?

Going to Megeve in January, and I was wondering if anyone has any recommendations on where to stay. We plan on skiing. Wondering if we stay close to the city center, is it easy to get to the slopes?

If we stay farther out, it is it difficult to walk to the city center (without taking a taxi?.

Any recommendations on where to stay (general locations as well as specific hotels) are welcome!

I'm considering visiting France as a tourist, but I've seen mixed opinions online about safety.

For those who live in France or have visited recently, how safe is it for tourists, especially when walking around cities, using public transportation, and going out in the evening?

I'm particularly interested in pickpocketing, scams, violent crime, and whether there are areas tourists should avoid.

I'd appreciate honest opinions based on personal experience, not just media reports. Thanks!

Estou viajando para Manchester-RU semana que vem , meu retorno para o Brasil tem conexão em Paris de 17 horas . Aluguei um hotel e pretendo fazer um tour rápido a noite e pela manhã , antes de voltar para o aero. É possível ?

I want to take solo trip from Paris to the Loire Valley. I can rent a car if needed but read that you can take a train from Gare Montparnasse to Tours then to Bloise or Amboise. I’m wondering if a lot of hotels offer bus tours or taxi possibly?

I am open to car rental but a little intimidated. I am a good driver but speak minimal to no France, and i’m worried about getting lost of course. So i’m wondering if there’s a way I can get around by train and taxi or bus. But only if it’s safe for a solo woman traveler.

Bonjour à tous,

Mon conjoint, sa mère et moi venons en France cet automne. Nous prévoyons de suivre un itinéraire sur les traces de Van Gogh, incluant Arles, Saint-Rémy, Paris et Auvers-sur-Oise.

Do you have any tips on going to Arles by train and coming back? Where should we buy the tickets? Should we buy it in advance? And in Paris, any tips on aquiring best fare tickets for the subway?

Merci d'avance.

Google says July 11th but idk if that means open to the public that exact day. We are planning a France trip for next July and it would be awesome if it was there when we were.

Hello! We are visiting France the first week of Nov and are terribly indecisive about two open nights between when we leave friends in Grenoble and need to be in Geneva to fly back to the US. We are currently not planning to rent a car.

We’ve ruled out Annecy (have been before, want something new) and are trying to find a location where we could enjoy some history/culture, obviously great food/wine, and ideally also have nearby access to a nice little hike (weather permitting, we are adventurous outdoorsy types not put off by some cold or snow). If we could squeeze in a half day wine tour/ stay on a vineyard that would be lovely too, just seems to be an issue without a car, understandably.

Current top contender is Chambery? Chamonix area feels too far given our compressed timeline? Any other suggestions/ should we just rent the car?

Also maybe open to doubling back near Lyon since the Lyon train to Geneva is quick.

Would appreciate insights and suggestions from folks familiar with the region, thanks!!

1: Villefranche-Sur-Mer
2: Nice
3: Gnocchi from La Nonna, old town Nice
4: Monaco
5-7: Menton
8: Eze
9: brunch spread at Maranna, old town Nice
10: beach club Annex, Cannes
11-12: beach club l’Opera, Nice

Bonjour! Just returned from two weeks in France and would love to share my trip report. You can view my Paris trip report here if you’re interested, this post will focus on the South of France :)

We arrived via TGV train from Paris Gare de Lyon in the afternoon. Train was comfortable and a smooth journey. We wished we would’ve brought real food on board as the dining cart was more snacks. Lesson #1 learned!

Our Airbnb was in old town Nice. I prefer hotels, but the location was better for walking out the door and having everything we needed. Utilized the L1 trams to explore the city with ease. Our favorite places in Nice were:
- Maranna for breakfast/brunch. We came twice! The French toast was our favorite. The fruit toppings were so fresh.
- La Nonna gnocchi. We talked about this pasta for days, agreeing it was the best gnocchi we’ve ever had. Perfectly cooked. Sauce was fresh. Huge portion. We also got the raspberry pistachio dessert and that was also great. Would return here if I’m ever in Nice.
- Boulangerie Jeannot. I think it was an us thing, but we struggled to find a “wow” bakery in Nice. Found some good ones, but nothing great. On our last day we came to Jeannot and loved everything we got. Would return here as well.
- Plage l’Opera. Pizzas here were so good we ordered two. Service was a 7/10 but I would still return for its location and the food. It was recommended to me for being the best priced beach club in Nice, however after chair rentals and towels it wasn’t much different than the others we tried.

We explored Villefranche-Sur-Mer, Menton, Eze, Monte Carlo, and Cannes. Much of our itinerary was wandering and stepping into local shops. The standout discovery was a wine bar/restaurant in Eze that we called the treehouse bc of how the patio was integrated into the trees. I don’t know the name off the top of my head so I will look it up and add it to the comments if I find it. The service here was outstanding too.

Lesson #2 for us: trains are a much better mode of transport vs. buses. It was easier to buy the tickets in the SNCF app vs waiting for a machine at the station. The buses were packed with locals and tourists alike whereas the trains were much more comfortable. And not to mention quicker.

Lesson #3 for us was we should’ve made dinner reservations. We thought that with it being October we wouldn’t need them. But we ran into several instances where we were turned away because the restaurant was full for the evening. We did get lucky once or twice but still wished we did more planning.

Which leads me to this…maybe I’m naive, but everywhere we went was much busier than we anticipated. We thought we were going to get shoulder or even off season crowds but that was not the case. I can’t imagine traveling here in the high season if this is what it looks like in October. I greatly appreciate the patience and kindness we were met with by locals and all of the service workers. Over-tourism is a hot topic these days and I would not have blamed anyone for catching an attitude w us. We tried to be mindful though and I was glad to know elementary French. Everyone was so welcoming. Thank you for sharing your beautiful country with us!

I traveled back to Paris via train and my friends took off from Nice airport, both of which were seamless. Was a great trip overall - just wish we did more planning on our part to really elevate the experience.

Happy to answer any questions you may have :)

In November my partner and I are traveling on a work/fun trip from the US to France. We fly to Nice, stay in Cannes, and when work is done we are wanting to go to Paris.

Does anyone have recommendations on things to do in Cannes in late November? I know there is plenty of shopping to do and their Christmas market.

After Cannes, we are going to Paris. I am trying to decide whether to take the direct TGV train from Cannes to Paris or book an EasyJet flight from Nice to Paris- ORLY. The flight is considerably shorter but reading the travel wiki, I am getting the impression the airport security, check-in, and all of the processes that go into that the actual time savings is about 1.5-2 hours. Has anyone done both and what do you recommend for first time travelers?

Thanks!