A
guide
to
France
About-France.com - online travel guide and thematic guide to France, its people, and the French way of life.
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As well as a being an
online travel
guide, About-France.com
is website filled with hundreds of pages of relevant and useful
information about France. The practical travel information pages on
Paris and the regions of France are
just part of a much wider exploration of modern France.
Other pages of this website cover a wide range of topics of interest to students and anyone wanting to understand French life, culture and traditions, but also the nation's institutions and the French language.
Other pages of this website cover a wide range of topics of interest to students and anyone wanting to understand French life, culture and traditions, but also the nation's institutions and the French language.
| ►► Site guide |
| Full site index |
| Pages optimised for mobile devices |
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About-France.com Find information by keyword |
| France in
Brief |
| ►► France - a thematic guide: |
| Guide
to the regions of France Beyond
Paris, a guide to the French regions and their tourist attractions.
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| Guide
to Paris Make
the most of your trip to Paris; Information on attractions, Paris
hotels, transport, and lots more.
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| Driving in
France
Tips
and useful information on driving in and through France - motorways,
tolls, where to stay....
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| Tourism in
France
The
main tourist
attractions
and places to visit in France - historic
monuments, art
galleries,
seasides, and more
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| Planning
a trip to
France
Information
on things to do before starting your trip to France.
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| Travel
round France without a
car
Other
means of transport and travel in France - train, plane, canal
and even on foot.
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| Accommodation in France |
| Maps of France
Cities,
towns, departments, regions, climate, wine areas and other themes.
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| The
French way of life
A mine of information
about
life and living in France, including
working in France, living in France, food and eating, education,
shopping.
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| A-Z
dictionary of France Encyclopedic
dictionary of modern France - key figures, institutions, acronyms,
culture, icons, etc.
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| ►► Other key pages : |
| Five
day weather forecast for France
What
weather to expect in different regions of France
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| Regional map of France |
| Doctors
and emergencies |
| Skiing in France |
| School holiday calendars 2013, 2014 |
| Essential French for visitors |
| 2013 Holiday planner |
| French wine guide |
| ►► Other main travel pages |
| Routes
south from Calais
Routes
and maps for driving south avoiding the heavy traffic round Paris.
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| French rail travel |
| Ferries & Channel tunnel to France |
| Flights to France |
| Keeping safe in France |
| ►►Going further.... |
| French
institutions
A guide to the main institutions of France - politics, administration,
justice, education, health system, etc.
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| The French language |
| Studying & learning French in France |
| Travel resources directory |
| Online French grammar |
An
introduction to France - 2013
France - more than just the world's leading tourist destination► About France - the countryAs a starting point for essential facts about France as a country, jump to France in brief. Or for key data on France, visit Facts & Figures.► France as a tourist destination Mont Saint Michel, Normandy France has something for everyone, which is one of the reasons why it remains the world's number one tourist destination. It has magnificent holiday opportunities for everything from a short weekend city break, in places such as Paris, Nice or Bordeaux, to a relaxed family holiday in a gite in the countryside, a week or two's relaxation by the seaside, or an energetic break hiking, climbing, kayaking or cycling in France's great outdoors. Cultural tourism in FranceFrench museums and art galleries - which contrary to popular belief are not all located in Paris - offer a magnificent collection of works of art and artefacts; and for those for whom a holiday is an opportunity to discover Europe's historic heritage, France's great cathedrals, medieval castles, and thousands of other ancient monuments are a treasure trove waiting to be discovered. For themed breaks, the châteaux of the Loire (in the Centre region of France) are an obvious choice; among the many other historic sites, consider discovering the Roman remains of Provence , the medieval bastide towns of the southwest, or the castles and caves of the Dordogne. There are even some scenic steam railways for people who enjoy a trip down memory lane. Check out the regional guides for information on sights, monuments and tourist attractions in each area.The French seaside:In July and August, France's Mediterranean beaches tend to be pretty packed; this is particularly the case in the famous resorts of Provence and the French Riviera. By contrast, the long sandy beaches of the Languedoc offer much more legroom. Away from the resorts, Brittany offers plenty of good beaches, with the added fun of tides and good waves; and France's Atlantic coast, south of the Loire, has plenty of long sandy beaches, in the regions of Poitou-Charentes and Aquitaine. South of Bordeaux, there are mile upon mile of fine beaches. For more information see guide to the French coast.France off the beaten track:If you want the life, culture and bustle of the big city, go to Paris. But France is a lot more than Paris. There are plenty of places in deepest rural France that are still very much off the beaten track; and for camping holidays, gite holidays, or for those who are content to put up in small rural inns, several regions in France offer wonderful holiday opportunities away from it all. Five French departments (counties) that are particularly worth checking out are the Aveyron (Midi Pyrenees region), the Haute Loire (Auvergne), the Corrèze (Limousin), the Jura (Franche Comté) and the Vosges (Lorraine): all these departments include sparsely populated areas, attractive scenery, and plenty of leisure opportunities - or just some great places to sit back with a glass of wine, relax, and enjoy the peace and quiet.Driving in FranceFrance has an extensive network of motorways, and many of them offer relatively relaxed driving conditions, except at peak periods. Off the motorways, driving on France's backroads can be a way to discover motoring as it used to be, a pleasurable experience and a way to discover the country. For more information click for our guide - driving tips and advice. and our checklist of things not to forget before you leave.French culture and institutionsFinally, for those who are looking for deeper information about France, this website contains pages explaining the main French institutions and the functioning of French life, including the education system and French universities , plus pages on the French way of politics, the French economy and the press. There is also a clearly written guide to the main points of French grammar. |
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News from France...
France in recession
Figures released by the French statistical office INSEE on May 15th show that France is now officially in recession. The French economy contracted by 0.2% in the last quarter of 2012, and again by 0.2% in the first quarter of 2013.The news has been greeted with glum resignation in France, and comes at a very bad time for president François Hollande, whose ratings have slumped to a historic low. Hollande was elected on a promise to turn round the French economy and cut unemployment by the end of 2013, but the prospect of either happening is receding by the month. In order for the French economy to create jobs, economists estimate that a growth rate of +1.2% is needed. At present, that target seems to have vanished over the horizon.
President Hollande is currently beset by problems, the latest issue being tensions in the Finance ministry between the social democratic finance minister Pierre Moscovici, and the hard-left "Minister for productive regeneration" Arnaud Montebourg, who are pulling in opposite directions - an internal ministerial conflict that has been much commented in the French media. A ministerial shake-up seems essential, but with Hollande having acquired a reputation as a ditherer, trying to please everyone and ending up pleasing noone, pundits are not expecting any big changes in the immediate future.
The European Union – while allowing France, pragmatically, a bit more time to get its economy in shape – has called for stronger reforms, including stronger measures on retirement pensions and institutional reform. Hollande has enacted a number of measures aimed in theory at reviving the economy, but many of these have involved increasing taxes and red tape . It is hard to see how this can help stimulate economic growth, at a time when French business and households - who face relatively high taxation and an increasingly complex bureaucracy - are calling for less taxes and less red tape. As an example, French business and taxpayers now have to pay up to FOUR different types of income tax (not including any local taxes), all with different names; IR, CSG, CRDS and another one too. As a French radio commentator laconically remarked "In France, we don't do things by half measures...." The great shake up and the great bureaucratic simplification, which France desperately needs, show no sign of materialising.
As a nation, France is currently going through one of its bouts of pessimism, and record numberrs of people are leaving the country or thinking of doing so. Magazines report record numbers of young entrepreneurial Frenchmen and women fleeing in search of more opportunities and a more inspiring environment in other countries, notably Canada, Switzerland, the USA and the UK. Few people in France currently see their country as a land of opportunity, and as long as this continues, the future will not look good. The official French analysis suggests that France will return to growth later this year; but in recent months, official growth predictions have tended to be over-optimistic.
French President's ratings plummet
April 2013.
When
French voters elected a new president in 2012, they did so with great
hopes; Hollande promised to solve the country's economic troubles,
reduce deficits and above all reduce the country's endemic
unemployment. Almost a year later, economic problems seem as great as
ever, the deficits are still stubbonly high, and unemployment has
reached new heights. And President Hollande's popularity ratings have
fallen faster than that of any other newly elected French president.And as if the economic news was not bad enough, Hollande has alienated the left wing of his own party, by taking measures to liberalise some of France's arcane labour laws, and failing to intervene to prevent planned factory closures and relocations, as French industry loses out against competition from abroad. At the same time, he has further angered the conservative opposition, by lowering the retirement age for some categories of workers - while others are having to work longer - and failing to deliver the improvements that he pormised voters before the election.
In addition, after promising an to have an irreproachably clean government, Hollande has now had to sack his former Minister for the Budget, Jerome Cahuzac, who, after many months of denial, finally admitted to possessing secret undeclared bank accounts in Switzerland and Singapore, with more than half a million Euros deposited in them, out of sight of the French tax authorities. Hollande's latest reaction is to suggest obliging all French government ministers to publicly declare a list of all their financial and non-financial capital assets, an idea that has met with serious disapproval not just from the conservative opposition, but even from some senior ministers in his own government.
Unfortunately in France, there is now a very serious crisis of confidence between ordinary French people and their politicians. To remedy the situation, many major changes have been proposed, such as limiting the number of elected positions that politicians can hold at the same time, or the number of times they can stand for reelection. According to a recent opinion poll, 93% of French people are in favour of limiting the number of elected functions (parliamentarian, mayor, regional councillor, county councillor, etc) that a politician can hold down at the same time; but given that a majority of French elected representatives have a vested interested in keeping the status-quo, change in this matter, as in many other matters in France, is very hard to engineer. Yet paradoxically, if Hollande's popularity falls much further, he may become just the person to actually push through some needed reforms such as this one. A president who sees he has no chance of reelection at the end of his first term, is more likely to push for unpopular reforms than one who will do anything not to displease his own party, and the voters in general.
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2013
Mission statement:
About-France.com is a fully independent website committed to providing accurate, objective and clear information about France as a holiday destination, and France in general – the country, its institutions, its systems, and French life.
About-France.com is a fully independent website committed to providing accurate, objective and clear information about France as a holiday destination, and France in general – the country, its institutions, its systems, and French life.