Sometimes, you just need a travel pep talk, even if you’ve sorted out the details of where in France you plan to go, or how long you’re going to stay.
For many travelers, this is nervousness about the language barrier. “I studied French in high school,” many people will tell me—me too, girl!—continuing that they feel nervous about being able to speak fluently (or at all!) years or decades later. For others, it’s figuring out the Paris Metro, let alone the country’s serpentine network of high-speed TGV trains.
Thankfully, over the next few paragraphs, I’ll be giving you 20+ years of France travel advice in just a few minutes. Please stick with me until the end!
Why France Can Seem Intimidating
First among my France travel tips? Breathe! Although you’ll one day look back on this anxious period and wonder why you were ever stressed, it’s totally natural to feel tentative about your trip, especially if you’ve been wanting to a visit France since you were a kid (which was the case for me). Rather than a simple vacation, it can feel like the fulfillment of a lifelong destiny. The stakes can seem impossibly high.
There’s also certain perceptions of France itself, which vary in their accuracy and fairness. French people have a reputation for being snobby and for not speaking English; France itself (at least according to certain voices in the media) is often portrayed as a criminal-filled hellscapes that’s just a few more immigrants away from becoming one of the third-world countries it once colonized. And so another important part of getting your trip right is separating fact from fiction.
5 Key Things to Know About Traveling in France
The language barrier is exaggerated
Remember my anecdote in the intro, about speaking French in high school? Well, I committed to that identity (i.e. being a “French speaker”) hard during my first few trips, and often to my detriment. My insistence on speaking French, even when I wasn’t speaking clearly or accurately enough to be understood, backfired; I ended up needing to use English anyway. Thankfully—and this is especially true as the years go by—French people speak way better (and way more!) English than you’re probably expecting.
(So is the reliability of French trains)
Unfortunately, my next piece of advice for your trip to France will probably not land as good news. Now, maybe it’s because of all the time I spend in Japan—perhaps the Shinkansen has ruined all other trains in the world for me. But I simply don’t find the TGV (let alone many local trains) that reliable. I’ve had countless delays of over an hour, and have even had some trains canceled. Which is not to say you should be paranoid, or have crazy contingency plans. But you shouldn’t see French trains through rose-colored glasses, either.
France is bigger than it looks
France, I’ve often explained to my fellow Americans who are either incurious or ignorant about the world, is about the size of Texas. But that only tells part of the story; in terms of density (and not just population-wise, but culturally and culinarily) it’s more like somewhere in East Asia than anywhere in the US. As a result, while looking at a map might fool you into thinking you can “see everywhere” with just two weeks in France, this is simply not reality.
(And safer than it’s reputed to be)
One of the most common questions about traveling in France I get? Whether reports that people have seen on (insert right-leaning new media outlet here) are true. Has France really been overrun by “invaders,” and are the streets of Paris actually a war zone? Now, I won’t lie: There are sketchy places in Paris and throughout France; immigration has created problems, in no small part due to the fact that France just doesn’t assimilate people very well. But France is at least as safe as the US or most of the rest of Europe. If you aren’t afraid of traveling around your city or state, you shouldn’t have any fear about France.
You basically don’t need cash anymore
When I took my first trip to France in 2005, I was shocked at how few places took credit cards—or, if they did, would only accept credit cards that used a PIN. Even back in those days, you could pay for basically any purchase in the US without cash, so this took some adjustment. These days, I’m shocked by how much it’s changed. By all means, you should get a small number of euro out of an ATM, “just in case.” But in 99% of cases (and I’m not even exaggerating here) you can simply tap your card or phone to pay.
TIP: You might not need cash in France, but you do need to stay connected in order to use your mobile wallet. I encourage you to download a France eSIM before your next trip, so that you can be online the moment you land.
Take Your France Trip to the Next Level
Planning a trip to France is not (necessarily) rocket science. Certainly, if you have the right resources—namely, this website—and enough lead time before your flight to CDG, you can easily put an itinerary together yourself. It’s really a matter of deciding which places you want to visit (and in what order), how long to stay in each, what to do (and eat) while there and how to string it all together into an actual plan.
Wait—come to think of it, that’s kind of a lot of work. Thankfully, I have a solution to this problem: My custom France itinerary service. When you enlist my assistance, I’ll prepare a document that includes personalized daily recommendations for activities, meals and accommodation, plus detailed transportation advice throughout. All you need to do is book your flights, hotels and trains. (And show up, of course.)
Other FAQ About Traveling in France
Is it safe to travel to France right now?
France is a very safe country by global standard, with low levels of both violent and petty crime, high road safety standards and relatively few natural disasters. Sure, there are rough neighborhoods in large cities, but where in the world isn’t that the case? Tens of millions of tourists visit France every; all but a handful return to their own countries completely unharmed.
Is France friendly to American tourists?
Contrary to internet innuendo, French people are generally very friendly toward American tourists. This was even my experience when I first started visiting France in the mid-2000s, when George W. Bush was president. There are obviously exceptions to this rule—in mid-2026, some snooty young women in Saint-Malo took me to task for simply declaring that I was American. But overall, I’ve had absolutely no problems as an American in France.
Do people speak English in France?
A surprising number of people speak English in France, a trend that has increased over the years. I studied French for all of high school and college, but like many travelers, have sometimes struggled to put that into practice. It required eating some humble pie, but I’ve found that whenever I am not confident with my français, the vast majority of French people are perfectly capable of managing interactions en anglais.
The Bottom Line
I hope my France travel advice has been the travel pep-talk you needed. In a broad sense, you should keep in mind that as intimidate as you might feel by France, it’s the most-visited country in the world. Literally million of people take trips here every year; you can (and will!) too. However, it’s normal to have anxieties around certain aspects of your trip, be that taking trains between cities, or even just around Paris itself. With all this being said, there’s nothing wrong with reaching out for some extra help if you feel that it could benefit you. In particular, I offer a custom France itinerary service, which lets you sit back while I can take of all the details.
