Just Landed in France? Your First 7 Days

Mobile coverage is excellent nationwide and 5G is widespread across cities and along motorways and rail lines. Prepaid SIMs are sold without a French bank account at boutiques and tabacs; monthly contracts (forfaits) are cheaper per gigabyte but usually need a RIB and sometimes proof of address. Home broadband (fibre) is fast and cheap by international standards but installation appointments can take a week or two.

Typical cost: EUR 10-20/month for a generous SIM-only forfait with 100GB+ data; Free Mobile's headline plan is around EUR 20/month with effectively unlimited data, while budget offers from Sosh, RED by SFR, and B&You start near EUR 10. Home fibre runs roughly EUR 25-40/month.

France is firmly card-based for most purchases, with contactless standard everywhere, but small independent shops, open-air markets, tabacs, and rural spots still lean on cash or impose card minimums. You will need a French IBAN to receive salary, pay rent, and set up the direct debits (prelevements) that run utilities, insurance, and mobile plans. Building your banking history early smooths every later step.

Opening an account: Traditional banks (BNP Paribas, Societe Generale, Credit Agricole, La Banque Postale, LCL) require an in-branch appointment plus a proof of address, and typically issue a debit card by post within a week or two. App-only options such as Boursorama, Revolut, N26, and Wise open in minutes and give an instant IBAN, which is popular with newcomers, though some landlords, employers, and administrations still prefer a traditional French IBAN starting FR76.

Cash: Cash is still handy for boulangeries, open-air markets, tabacs, small bars, and card minimums of five to ten euros. Carry small notes and coins, as many merchants dislike breaking a fifty for a coffee, and some vending and parking machines are coin-only.

Tipping: Service is included by law (service compris), so tipping is genuinely optional and never calculated as a percentage. Rounding up or leaving one to two euros for good cafe or restaurant service is appreciated but never expected, and there is no social pressure to tip taxis or bars.

France has no general municipal address-registration system like Germany's Anmeldung; there is no town hall you must visit simply to register where you live. Instead, your legal obligation is immigration-based: validate your VLS-TS visa online, or hold and renew the correct residence permit (titre de sejour) through your prefecture. Your address still matters practically, because you must prove it constantly for banks, health cover, and permits, but there is no central address registry to sign for most residents.

Where: Online via the ANEF portal (administration-etrangers-en-france.interieur.gouv.fr); residence-permit applications, renewals, and appointments are handled by your local prefecture or, in some areas, sous-prefecture.

Big cities have dense, reliable public transport, and France's SNCF/TGV rail network connects them fast, with Paris to Lyon in two hours and Paris to Bordeaux in just over two. In Paris, load a Navigo pass onto your phone or a card; regional cities use their own smartcards such as Lyon's TCL, Marseille's RTM, or Toulouse's Tisseo. Cycling is well provisioned with schemes like Velib in Paris and Velo'v in Lyon.

From the airport: From Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG), the RER B train reaches central Paris in about 35 minutes for roughly EUR 11.80, and a licensed taxi charges a regulated flat fare of EUR 56 to the Right Bank or EUR 65 to the Left Bank. From Paris Orly, the Orlyval plus RER B or the Tram T7 connect to the city, and taxi flat fares are EUR 41 (Left Bank) and EUR 44 (Right Bank). Ignore unlicensed drivers touting inside terminals and use the official taxi rank or Uber.

Renting is competitive, especially in Paris, Lyon, and Bordeaux, and landlords demand a thick dossier: proof of income at ideally three times the rent, payslips, tax notices, and often a French guarantor or the free state-backed Visale guarantee. Furnished (meuble) lets are common, come with shorter one-year leases, and are far easier for newcomers than unfurnished (vide) three-year leases.

Typical rent: A one-bedroom in central Paris runs roughly EUR 1,100-1,700/month; expect EUR 600-950 in cities like Lyon, Toulouse, Nantes, or Bordeaux, and less in smaller towns. Agency fees (frais d'agence) are capped by law and paid once at signing.

Deposit norm: The deposit (depot de garantie) is capped at one month's rent for unfurnished lets and two months for furnished lets, paid on top of the first month plus any agency fee. It must be returned within one to two months of move-out, minus documented deductions.

France has excellent, largely public healthcare funded through Assurance Maladie, consistently rated among the best systems in the world. As a legal resident living here stably you can register for coverage under PUMa (Protection universelle maladie), which reimburses most of the cost of doctors, hospitals, and prescriptions. Care is high quality and comparatively affordable, and pharmacists handle a great deal of minor care directly.

How to access it: Apply for a social security number and Carte Vitale through Assurance Maladie (ameli.fr) once you have residency and a stable address; it commonly takes several months, so keep every receipt and feuille de soins to claim reimbursements retroactively once your file is active. Declare a medecin traitant (registered GP) to unlock full reimbursement rates and proper referrals to specialists.

Insurance: The state covers around 70% of most standard costs, so residents take out a complementary private mutuelle to cover the remaining share, dental, and optical; employers are legally required to offer and part-fund one. Carry travel or private cover for the gap before your Carte Vitale arrives, as you will pay upfront in the meantime.

• Always open with 'Bonjour' (or 'Bonsoir' in the evening) before asking anything in a shop, office, or when approaching staff; skipping it reads as genuinely rude.
• Use the formal 'vous' with strangers, officials, shopkeepers, and older people until you are explicitly invited to switch to the informal 'tu'.
• Greet with a light handshake in professional settings; 'la bise' (cheek kisses) is reserved for friends and family and the number and side varies by region.
• Lunch and dinner run to set hours, and many restaurants stop serving between roughly 14:00 and 19:00, so plan meals around the kitchen's schedule.
• Keep your voice down on public transport and in restaurants; loudness and over-familiarity with strangers are read as brash.
• Say 'Merci, au revoir' when leaving a shop, even a supermarket, and wait to be seated in restaurants rather than grabbing a table.
• Dress a little more neatly than you might at home; casual is fine but scruffy or beachwear in the city marks you out.

• Many shops, banks, and administrations close on Sundays and take a long lunch break, so cram errands into weekday mornings or Saturday.
• August is the national holiday month when small businesses, doctors, bakeries, and offices shut for two to four weeks; stock up and expect slow admin.
• French bureaucracy is unforgiving about missing, expired, or untranslated documents, so over-prepare and bring more copies than asked.
• Strikes (greves) can hit trains, metros, and public services at short notice, so check SNCF Connect or Bonjour RATP before travelling.
• Pharmacies, not supermarkets, sell most medicines including paracetamol, and they close at night except the rota pharmacie de garde.