France
Official transit, direct rail booking and safer city arrivals
France uses the euro and ordinary contactless Visa and Mastercard cover most visitor spending, but keep a physical card, a separate backup and modest cash for card minimums, outages and small vendors.
The essentials
What to know before you go to France
Urban transport is local rather than national. In Paris, use Île-de-France Mobilités or a Navigo Easy card, and do not assume a foreign bank card works like a normal tap-in transit ticket. The airport needs its own ticket, and some phone-ticket combinations have restrictions. Book French trains directly with SNCF Connect and read the operator and fare rules, especially for OUIGO and regional TER services.
At Paris airports, use the signed official taxi rank or the pickup point shown by Uber or Bolt, and ignore anyone soliciting rides inside the terminal. Check strikes and service disruption before every important journey. Drivers must confirm local Crit'Air rules and barrier-free motorway toll payment. Use official attraction ticket sites, save confirmations offline and remember that a museum pass may still require a timed reservation.
FR-Alert needs no app. Save 112 and the other French emergency numbers, follow Météo-France warnings and keep essential booking, insurance and card-blocking details available offline.
Ride Hailing
UberEssential
Broad ride-booking coverage in Paris and many French cities, with an upfront app estimate and recorded trip details.
Bolt
Useful second ride-booking app for comparing the live fare, pickup time and vehicle supply in supported French cities.
G7 Taxi
Licensed Paris taxi booking app with immediate and advance reservations, useful for airports and scheduled pickups.
Food Delivery
Navigation
Google MapsEssential
Best general map for French addresses, walking, driving and business discovery, with downloadable offline areas.
Cartes IGN
Official French topographic and outdoor map app with trails, destination information, GPX tools and supported offline layers.
Transit
Île-de-France MobilitésEssential
Official Paris-region journey planner, disruption service and ticket app for Metro, RER, trains, buses and trams.
Language
Google Translate
Practical optional French translation tool with downloadable offline text and camera support for signs and menus.
Intercity Transport
SNCF ConnectEssential
Direct French rail app for TGV, INTERCITÉS, OUIGO and many TER tickets, live journeys and after-sales service.
BlaBlaCar
Optional marketplace for intercity carpooling and comparison of selected bus and rail offers in France.
Restaurants
TheFork
Optional French restaurant discovery and reservation app with live tables and conditions-based offers at participating venues.
Utilities
Météo-France
Official French forecasts, radar, short-term rain information and dangerous-weather Vigilance notifications.
Also covered
Internet in France
Mobile internet eSIM Best option when traveling
Guac
RecommendedReliable mobile internet at better prices than most travel eSIMs, with polished iOS and Android apps and support for making and receiving phone calls.
Airalo
One of the biggest travel eSIM brands, with a very large destination catalog.
Holafly
Known for unlimited-data plans in many destinations, at a higher price per gigabyte.
Buying a local SIM card ID registration required
- ID is legally required to activate a French prepaid line, so have your passport with you. In practice the pre-packaged tourist SIMs like Orange Holiday Europe are sold as retail products with little to no paperwork, so the friction depends on what and where you buy.
- Orange Holiday Europe is the standard tourist buy, with tiers running from around EUR 20 for a smaller data pack up to around EUR 40 for 20 to 30 GB with unlimited EU calls and texts; exact allowances shift often, so check the current tiers before buying. Budget alternatives are Orange's Mobicarte Mini at around EUR 10 for 10 GB and SFR La Carte at around EUR 10 for 10 GB over 30 days.
- France is unusual: Orange and SFR stores often do not sell prepaid tourist SIMs and will send you to a kiosk or convenience store instead. Bouygues Telecom stores do sell them, Free Mobile uses self-service machines, and Relay shops, tabacs and supermarkets all stock SIMs. At the airports (CDG, Orly, Nice, Lyon, Marseille) you buy from convenience stores and resellers rather than operator shops, with queues and limited help.
- Airport purchases usually cost more than in the city, and the experience is poor: resellers rather than operator shops, queues and limited service. Better to buy in town or order ahead.
- All four networks support eSIM activation via their apps or a QR code. Pre-ordering an Orange Holiday eSIM or using a travel eSIM neatly avoids the main France-specific problem, which is finding a counter that will actually sell you a tourist SIM.
Do not assume an Orange or SFR store will sell you a tourist SIM; go to Bouygues, a Relay kiosk or a tabac instead. SFR is being broken up, with customers due to be switched to Orange, Bouygues and Free during 2027, so SFR products have a short shelf life. On the plus side, Orange Holiday Europe includes EU-wide data, making it a solid single purchase for a multi-country European trip.
Local carriers
Orange
Best overall network quality and nationwide coverage, and the only carrier with a purpose-built tourist product, the Holiday Europe pack.
SFR
Coverage on par with Orange, but the company is being broken up and its customers migrated to rivals, so treat anything SFR as short-lived.
Bouygues Telecom
The one operator whose own stores will reliably sell you a tourist prepaid SIM.
Free Mobile
Cheap, but sold through in-store self-service machines with a French-only interface.
Frequently asked questions
What are the must-have apps for traveling in France?
The essential apps for France are Uber, Uber Eats, Google Maps, Île-de-France Mobilités, SNCF Connect.
How many travel apps does France have?
We've curated 13 apps across 9 categories for traveling in France, including 5 essential apps.
What is the best ride hailing app in France?
Uber. Broad ride-booking coverage in Paris and many French cities, with an upfront app estimate and recorded trip details.
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