Choosing a holiday in France

France holiday pages:

Page 1 Preparing for a holiday to France

This page: Choosing a holiday

Driving in France

Page 2 : Choosing a holiday

Pick a topic	Package holidays to France	Self catering gite holidays	Camping holidays
	Autumn/ Fall holidays	Winter holidays	Formalities
Where to go	When to go	How to get there	Weather

The Best value Paris pass

The Paris City pass is the cheapest of the full Paris visitor passes - up to 24% cheaper than other passes for adults, and up to 50% cheaper for children. Prices start at just 19,90 Euros for a two day pass for children and 99.90 Euros for a two day adult pass
Check it out now

Package holidays to France.

(For Covid-19 restrictions, refer back to this page) Many tour operators run package holidays to France, including coach trips to France or rail trips. Check out your tour operators or agencies .    Eurostar offer combined train and hotel trips to Paris.  Popular destinations in France for coach holidays include Normandy, Paris and the Loire Valley.  And then of course there always package trips to Disneyland Paris .
  If you prefer to organise your own holiday and book your own hotel, often a cheaper option, check out the About-France.com French hotel guide.

Gite holidays - self-catering in France

France has a very large selection of gites or holiday cottages for hire.  There are a lot of different sites offering gites for hire, and the biggest of these is Gites de France, which many people think is an official organisation. It is not, it is just the biggest and the oldest. Gites de France has a full range of gites, from the luxurious to the rather basic. Another website offering gites is Gitelink France; the advantage here is that most of the gites, which vary from mid-range to top of the range,  are run by English-speaking owners, many of whom live nearby. Many also advertise prices in sterling, even sometimes in dollars.

Camping holidays

France has Europe's greatest choice of campsites. For further details on French campsites, check out our Camping in France page. For a selected choice of small friendly campsites away from the crowds, try Rural Camping France.

Winter holidays

Three parts of France are popular for holidays in the winter months. Paris, of course, is a tourist destination all year round, and for people interested in museums, culture, shopping, and just enjoying Paris, winter is as good as any other time of year; and the museums and the Eiffel Tower are less busy than in summer.
     Then there is the French riviera. From February onwards, spring is usually in the air along the Mediterranean coast, particularly in the St. Tropez - Cannes - Nice area, famous for its mimosa and early flowers.
      Finally, there are the French skiing areas.  The Alps and the ski resorts in other French massifs are busier in winter than in summer.

Short break holidays

France is easily accessible from the UK and other parts of europe for short break holidays or even day trips. Click here to compare the day-trip options from the UK

Where to go:

France offers an incredible variety of regions and an amazing range of  places to see and things to do. To help you plan your holiday, About-France.com has a full range of clear informed pages about France. To get started on your holiday plans, click the following links to discover......

• A tourist map of France France's main and most interesting tourist sites
• All the different regions of France
• Main tourist attractions and monuments in France
• Paris pages, with Paris tourist attractions and hotel guide
• A big interactive map of France 
• Other maps of France
• Away from it all - off the beaten track in Rural France
• Offbeat France - some places you never imagined existed in France
• Return to part 1.... Before travelling to France .....

How to get there:

Most intercontinental flights to France land at Paris; but there are some flights direct to Nice, Lyon and a couple more French airports. Geneva is also a handy airport for France, as it lies right on the French-Swiss border. There are airports all over France with direct flights to and from the UK.  For  ferries to France from the UK, check out the About France.com  Cross-Channel ferries  pages.

What's the weather like?

In summer, the average temperature in France is a degree or two warmer than in Britain or Belgium or Holland. But France does not often have a homogenous climate. The climate in Normandy is not the same as the climate in Provence or in Alsace. For more details, check out the About-France.com guide to the weather and climate in France.

Formalities for travel to France

European Union citizens need a valid national identity card or passport; citizens of other countries need a valid passport and, in some cases, a visa. Cars need to be insured for driving in France For full details, see part 1 -  Planning your holiday to France

Going further

Visit the website of the French national tourist office

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