Depending on where visitors travel in France will determine the challenges faced when driving. The indication is it can either be “the best of times or the worst.” The roadways extend to over 5000 miles for the entire country, covering the major cities and the tiny provincial towns.
During the peak driving hours of the day, the roadways can be packed with traffic, but many people in France have a preference for public transport, helping with some of the congestion. There’s also a great favor for motorcycles, scooters, and other bikes of those sorts. Many use these to maneuver their way through traffic, weaving in and out among the cars.
However, suppose you can withstand the challenges. In that case, the recommendation is to see the sites and attractions as a tourist by way of a vehicle, either your own or a bilutleie Frankrike (car rental – France), since the views are breathtaking. Let’s look at a few tips on driving in the country so you can make a better-educated decision.
Factors When Considering Renting A Car In France
Most international travelers fortunate enough to see another country want to enjoy the pleasure in a vehicle so they can take in the unique beauty that each has to offer. Unless you’re in a car driving independently, there’s so much you can overlook with public transportation or on a crowded tour among other visitors.
The freedom of a road trip allows you to travel at will – go where you like when you like, as long as you like. The only hindrance you have in France, especially Paris, is the immense traffic that packs in during peak hours. If you avoid those times (or those areas), you should be fine. Let’s look at some tidbits that might benefit your rental car road trip.
What to expect with the roadways in France:
Each main intercity roadway in French has a unique “alphanumeric symbol” There note to be four types of these roadways. You’ll find roads referenced by an “A,” which are “Autoroutes,” the most abundant and least complicated to maneuver. The multilane routes have center dividers, many rest stops, and also tolls.
The “routes nationales” are the next size down also with dividers and many lanes. The routes departementales referenced as “D,” communales – “C” or “V” will bring visitors into the rural areas.
The easiest way to navigate throughout the cities is using a GPS system with a paper map as your backup. The roads are primarily one-way, however. It’s essential to pay close attention, or you can very easily go way out of your way quickly or find yourself looping around in roundabouts with no sense of how to navigate out.
Try to become familiar with some of France’s laws.
Visitors from the United States staying less than 90 days can use their States license while traveling by rental car. Ninety days is the duration allowed in the “Schengen zone.” Citizens outside Europe are responsible for having an international permit or a national permit’s official French translation to accompany the national permit in order to gain acceptance.
While 18 years of age is the legal requirement for driving in France, you cannot rent a car unless you are 21 years of age, and in some cases, there may be a need to have at least a year of driving on your record.
If you get stopped for any reason while traveling, the necessity is that you be internationally insured before driving in the country and have ID proof of insurance status. Typically insurance is included in rental car costs with coverage as “third-party liability” (unlimited).
A third party who incurs injuries or damages will be covered, but the rental car driver is not, nor is the vehicle. Still, there might be an upsell that would, perhaps collision coverage or a deductible option, but these would likely be considerably expensive.
Paris
A strong recommendation when visiting France is to consider waiting to pick up your car rental until you’ve already taken a tour of Paris (if the city is on your itinerary.) Many of the “centre Ville” (central areas) are only for pedestrians, making it a better idea to cycle or walk and rent once ready to work your way to the countryside or smaller towns.
Paris is incredibly busy. The roads are narrow, exceptionally baffling, and again hectic, with a high likelihood of dings and scratches on a rental car for those unfamiliar with road rules or able to maneuver with the traffic. It’s also challenging and costly to access parking in large cities – especially Paris.
Learn to drive a stick or maybe reconsider renting a car to travel through France.
The standard for cars in France is a manual transmission. The suggestion is you can request an automatic, but this tends to be challenging to find available. If you do strike it lucky and get one, the price is generally extraordinarily costly. But when everything goes well with obtaining an automatic within your budget, it’s essential to look for the most compact car available.
The narrow town and city roads are not designed for large capacity vehicles, nor are most of the parking lots. If you believe you can take exceedingly winding roads in a massive car or these small town roads in an SUV without creating any damage to the automobile, the car rental agency will certainly not have a problem renting one of the pricey choices to you.
Final Thought
France is a destination dream for most people worldwide, the city of romance and love, or for the singleton hoping to experience the creative culture. Whatever the reason you intend to visit, research your destination to see if renting a car will be a wise choice for roads, parking lots, and activities that you have planned.
If you can make a road trip in this mesmerizing country, do so so that you don’t miss seeing the sites up close and personal.