First time trip to France? We share these France travel tips, so you know everything you need to know before you go to this beautiful country.
Planning the perfect France trip is not an easy task. Planning any trip is not an easy task for that matter! However, there are certain steps you can take to make sure you cover all the main points of arranging your future travels. Here are five easy yet essential steps to take while drafting out the trip of your dreams.
Why visit France?
France has a lot to offer visitors; from the iconic city of Paris to the quiet, beautiful countryside, there is something for everyone. If you are looking for a romantic trip, head to Provence or the French Riviera whilst families can explore the city of Montpellier and the castles, caves and adventure parks in Dordogne. History lovers should head to Normandy whilst Disney lovers can’t miss out the Disneyland Paris Parks just on the outskirts of Paris.
Things NOT to do in Paris
How to plan a trip to France
Researching the destination
Doing your homework before heading to explore a destination is crucial to make sure you make the most out of the time there. Whether it’s reading about the culture, the sights, the history, or the people, any piece of information allows you to get better acquainted with the country. It enables you to delve deeper and enjoy the ultimate experience instead of mindlessly touring some beautiful sights.
France is no exception. Reading about its rich history, cultural heritage, lively art scene, and, of course, the widely celebrated world of French cuisine provides insight into the things you get to experience firsthand on your trip to France. It might also provide useful information about the best or worst areas to stay, clever travel tips and tricks, the must-dos and don’ts for your Europe trip, and much more.
Researching the destination also showcases all the spectacular sites you should visit. One has to be presented with all or at least the most popular or attention-worthy things to see in order to plan the itinerary that best suits their needs. When it comes to France, there is so much more to see than the iconic Eiffel Tower or the beautiful promenade in Nice, so make sure to read more about the destination and add the perfect stops to the France journey of your dreams.
What to see?
Once the research is done, it is time to determine what appears on the final travel plan and what is cut out of it. Oftentimes, the journey is not long enough to cover all the points of interest, which makes evaluating the sights and activities beforehand – a crucial step.
Choosing the musts depending on the level of interest sounds like the most sensible option, but even then, there are times when you just can’t make them all. Some other important elements to take into consideration in this case are the location, the time it takes to visit or take part in it, and the price. One might not be the determining factor but weighting them all ought to help make the decision.
Booking accommodation in France
When it comes to the accommodation, the two previous steps are closely related to it, which makes it worth having them in mind during the process of choosing. As mentioned before, doing research beforehand can help you determine and avoid the areas that are not safe or vice versa – find the perfect home-away-from-home for your next getaway. Moreover, once the sights and activities of interest have been determined, you can look for accommodation that is strategically located to easily access them all.
Finding the right housing is a very important step as this is the place of your well-deserved rest. Therefore, you might want to think long and hard about the amenities you want to have, the type of lodging you prefer, the price range you want it to be, and, of course, the aforementioned location, which is of utmost importance while traveling.
Assessing the availability
Another important yet often overlooked step of planning a trip is assessing the availability. Whether it’s museums or the best restaurant in town that you want to pay a visit to, make sure to check whether they are open and running. It is also important because some places might have open access during some days of the month or tickets at discount rates during the others. In addition to that, some points of interest might be closed due to some planned work or other reasons, which would also be handy to know beforehand. It can save you an unnecessary trip or rearrange your itinerary, adjusting the dates, times, or sequence of events.
For instance, some museums in France, including but not limited to the Pompidou Centre and Musée d’Orsay offer free entry on the first Sunday of the month. Some museums, such as the renowned Louvre, provide free access to people under the age of 26, and some of them are free no matter the day, no matter the age.
Another thing to consider while assessing the availability is the best time for certain activities. Maybe you want to admire the views from the Eiffel Tower in broad daylight, but you would rather enjoy the view of the imposing tower itself when it’s shimmering with lights in the evening? Would you rather embark on a serene evening tour on the River Seine or take one earlier to make it in time for your dinner plans? Everything is worth thinking about beforehand when it comes to travel planning.
Booking the tours and the tickets
If you want to make the most of your time while traveling, don’t miss the chance to use the wonders of the modern age and make your bookings online beforehand. Not only does that allow you to save precious time, which you don’t have to spend standing in never-ending queues, it also often provides discount rates and other offers that can only be found online. Luckily, most of the main attractions in France boast well-developed online booking systems, which ensure easy and fast purchasing of all the necessary tickets and reservations.
Every avid traveler eventually comes up with their own system for planning the perfect trips; however, taking these five easy steps assures you have the main things taken care of, whether you are traveling to France or any other marvelous place in the world.
Helpful Resources
Travel essentials:
- We LOVE this camera for our travel photography.
- For a cheap, easy and compact camera, we use this to vlog and take photographs.
- We use this travel drone (but make sure to check drone laws in your chosen destination first).
- This is our favourite travel Insurance because it covers so many activities and travel situations that could arise on longer trips but also offers year coverage.
What to pack
- No matter where we travel to, I always take these trusty hand sanitizer’s and a mini first aid kit.
- We love these toiletry bags (especially great for smaller bathrooms) and choose a laptop bag like this as our hand luggage.
- We keep our devices charged on long travel days with these lightweight battery packs and bring these worldwide travel adaptors on all our trips.
- I still struggle not to overpack so stick to using an expandable suitcase like these, over backpack and always take my trusty luggage scales to avoid being charged at the airport.
1 Comment
[…] In this Bordeaux itinerary we won’t be exploring the beautiful vineyards but instead concentrating on a city break. But don’t worry, there will be wine involved because believe it or not Bordeaux has its own wine museum. Bordeaux is an international tourist destination for its architectural and cultural heritage with more than 350 historic monuments, making it, after Paris, the city with the most listed or registered monuments in France. So you will certainly not be short of things to do on this Bordeaux itinerary. If this is your first time visiting France you might want to check out this guide on France Travel Tips. […]