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.
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.
Broad ride-booking coverage in Paris and many French cities, with an upfront app estimate and recorded trip details.
Useful second ride-booking app for comparing the live fare, pickup time and vehicle supply in supported French cities.
Licensed Paris taxi booking app with immediate and advance reservations, useful for airports and scheduled pickups.
Best general map for French addresses, walking, driving and business discovery, with downloadable offline areas.
Official French topographic and outdoor map app with trails, destination information, GPX tools and supported offline layers.
Official Paris-region journey planner, disruption service and ticket app for Metro, RER, trains, buses and trams.
Practical optional French translation tool with downloadable offline text and camera support for signs and menus.
Direct French rail app for TGV, INTERCITÉS, OUIGO and many TER tickets, live journeys and after-sales service.
Optional marketplace for intercity carpooling and comparison of selected bus and rail offers in France.
Optional French restaurant discovery and reservation app with live tables and conditions-based offers at participating venues.
Official French forecasts, radar, short-term rain information and dangerous-weather Vigilance notifications.
Reliable mobile internet at better prices than most travel eSIMs, with polished iOS and Android apps and support for making and receiving phone calls.
One of the biggest travel eSIM brands, with a very large destination catalog.
Known for unlimited-data plans in many destinations, at a higher price per gigabyte.
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.
Best overall network quality and nationwide coverage, and the only carrier with a purpose-built tourist product, the Holiday Europe pack.
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.
The one operator whose own stores will reliably sell you a tourist prepaid SIM.
Cheap, but sold through in-store self-service machines with a French-only interface.
The essential apps for France are Uber, Uber Eats, Google Maps, Île-de-France Mobilités, SNCF Connect.
We've curated 13 apps across 10 categories for traveling in France, including 5 essential apps.
Uber is the top-rated ride hailing app in France. Broad ride-booking coverage in Paris and many French cities, with an upfront app estimate and recorded trip details.
Local taxi apps, lek cash and offline maps matter more than global brands
Public transport first, with city and Alpine tools that prevent expensive mistakes
Carry BAM, use local transport apps, and stay on established routes
National rail, regional transit and simple card backups for Belgium
Licensed taxi apps, city-specific transit tools and euro cash backups
Use SBB first, keep a card and francs handy, and prepare offline maps for the mountains
