Destination Guides & Maps - France

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Capital City: Paris. (Population 10 million)

Currency: The Euro.

Language: French, alongside regional languages in Brittany (Breton), Alsace (Alsatian), the western Pyrenees (Basque) and the eastern Pyrenees (Catalan).

Area: 180,000 sq miles (551,100 sq km)

Population: 58 million

Visa: No visas are necessary for EU nationals staying a maximum of three months.

Geography: France, 'L'hexagone', is bordered by Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Italy, Spain and the independent principality of Monaco.

The largest country in Europe after Russia and the Ukraine, its natural boundaries are the English Channel, the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, the Pyrenees and Alps and the Rhine.

France's major rivers are the Seine, the Loire, the Rhône, the Garonne and the Rhine, and the country has 1,939 miles (3,120km) of coastline, ranging from cliffs and promontories in the north-west to pebble and sand beaches in the south.

The east and south are especially mountainous. The principal ranges are the French Alps (home to Europe's highest peak, Mont Blanc), the Jura range, along the Swiss frontier, the Pyrenees - a natural border with Spain - and the elder statesman of French mountain ranges, the Massif Central in the middle of the country, famous for its chain of extinct volcanoes, the Puy de Dôme.

France also includes the island of Corsica, situated off the Italian coast, plus eight overseas départements and territories, including French Guiana, Guadeloupe and Martinique in the West Indies, the islands of Mayotte, Miquelou and St Pierre, and Michelou and French Polynesia.

Religion: 63 per cent of French people consider themselves Roman Catholic, 30 per cent say they have no religion.

Time: Central European Time, GMT + 1 hour. GMT + 2 hours from the last Sunday in March to the last Sunday in October.

France uses the 24-hour clock, using a small 'h' to separate the hours from the minutes (eg 15h30 = 3.30pm).

Electricity: Voltage: 220V at 50Hz. Old-fashioned wall sockets are often rated at 600 watts, and take two round prongs. Newer sockets have a protruding earth prong. UK visitors will not need a transformer, but an adaptor is necessary.

Emergencies: Dial toll-free from any phone, 24 hours a day: 17 for Police, 18 for the fire brigade, 115 for the Multilingual Europe-wide emergency line and 15 for medical and ambulance services. An English-speaking duty officer is usually available.

Also useful for both urgent and non-urgent assistance is SOS Help (tel: 01 47 23 80 80). This Paris-based hotline, staffed from 3-11pm daily by English-speaking volunteers, can offer practical information on a wide range of health services, and referrals through sister organisations SOS Médecins and SOS Dentistes.

Telephone: To call France from the UK dial 0033 (international code plus France country code) then area code (eg for Paris = 1) and an eight figure number.

The once-eccentric French phone system is now one of the most efficient in the world, and public kiosks are plentiful.

You are most likely to come across phonecard (télécarte) kiosks. Available in 50 or 120 units, télécartes can be bought from post offices, railway stations, supermarkets and tobacconists (tabacs). Look for a blue sticker saying 'télécarte en vente ici'.

International télécartes are also available for calling abroad, offering more favourable rates - in some cases up to 60 per cent off standard French tariffs.

Telephone booths are available at many post offices: ask at the counter to use the phone and go back after the call to settle the bill.

Cafés, shops and restaurants may also have booths but you are likely to be surcharged. For mobile phonecalls, France uses GSM 900/1800, which is compatible with the rest of Europe.

Post: Post offices are marked with a yellow or brown sign saying 'La Poste' or 'Les PTT' and open from 8am or 8.30am to 5pm or 6pm in the cities on weekdays, and Saturdays from 8am until noon.

In provincial areas opening hours are often later, around 9am, with a two-hour break for lunch and closing times of around 4.30pm.

The main post office in Paris (52 Rue du Louvre, 75001 Paris) is open 24 hours for all postal services, excluding banking and money exchange.

Stamps are available at post office counters and from yellow-coloured guichets automatiques in larger post offices, tobacconists (tabacs) and sometimes at gift shops selling postcards.

Business hours: The normal opening hours for shops are Tuesday to Saturday from 9am (or 10am) to 7pm. Midday closing is traditionally a two-hour break for lunch, taken sometime between noon and 3pm, although many shops and supermarkets in larger towns and cities now open continuously.

Sunday opening is uncommon in France, although outdoor markets will be in full swing, and some supermarkets may open in the morning. With local exceptions, the majority of shops are also shut on Mondays, so it pays to think and shop ahead on a Saturday.

July and August are the traditional times for shop owners and employees to take their annual holidays and many businesses are closed for this period.

Watch out for the practice adopted by many businesses, known as faire le pont ('make a bridge'), which means that if a public holiday falls on a Tuesday or Thursday, they extend the break by taking the nearest Friday or Monday off work, too.

Most museums are closed on either Monday or Tuesday, and hours change with the seasons. A couple of the largest ones, such as the Louvre, have late opening nights during the week.

Most museums close around noon for lunch, many have periods of seasonal closure during the winter and the majority are closed on national holidays.

Banks generally open from 8am or 9am, close between 11.30 and 1, and open again until around 5pm, Monday to Friday, or Tuesday to Saturday, but opening times may vary.

French pharmacies are identified by a neon green cross, lit when open. They co-ordinate their days and hours of closure so there is always somewhere to buy medication, and details of the nearest pharmacy on night or weekend duty will be posted on any pharmacy door.

Internet and e-mail: Any large town or city should have at least one cybercafe, but surfing is still not as cheap as you might expect.

Larger post offices may also be equipped with a Cyberposte, a card-operated public-use internet terminal. A list of post offices with this facility can be found on www.cyberposte.com.

Tipping: Taxi drivers should be tipped about 10-15 per cent of the amount marked on the meter. Hotel porters should be given around ¿1 for each item of baggage they carry to your room on arrival, and it is common to leave about ¿1.50 per day for the chambermaid.

In restaurants and cafés service is generally included in the bill. If not, leave an extra 10-15 per cent of the total amount. On group or guided visits to museums and monuments, ¿1 per person is a reasonable tip for your guide.

BBC World Service: BBC World Service broadcasts on different frequencies throughout the day. A mixture of BBC World Service and BBC for Europe can be found on 648kHz AM.

France Inter is the main national radio station (1892m long wave) and broadcasts English-language news twice a day in summer (usually 9am and 4pm).

In some areas BBC Radio 4 can be received on longwave (198 kHz).

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