What is solo travel? France, Switzerland, Italy (21)

(16) France

France is home to many world-class attractions such as the Palace of Versailles, the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre Museum, and Notre Dame Cathedral, which are famous for their romantic atmosphere. There are also famous cafes and restaurants, as well as various shopping malls, making it a popular destination for travelers.

It is a city where you can enjoy French food and wine and enjoy culture, art, and healing, so it is a representative place where you can experience it yourself. However, Paris is expensive, messy, racist, and insecure, so you should plan your trip.

France is a historical cultural country compared to its small area, and it is a traditional tourist country because it has a relatively large number of cultural assets. This is evidenced by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) statistics in 2023, which recorded about 100 million visits. 

Most people often think of Paris when traveling to France, but while France has the highest number of tourists in the world, the number of tourists in Paris is not so large, and they prefer areas outside Paris, which means that there are many attractive cities outside Paris.

It’s not a country where you can speak English well, but if it’s a place that sells to overseas tourists, they usually respond well in good English. Overall, English is a good country, so you don’t have to be intimidated in advance.

By air, you can enter the country through international airports such as Charles de Gaulle, Orly, and Beauvais, enter from the UK with Eurostar, or take TGV and Thalys from neighboring countries, although the number is small, but you can also take ferries from neighboring countries.

France has long been famous for its delicious food, and this reputation is so famous that it is registered as a UNESCO Intangible Heritage, and you can enjoy the excellent taste of any type of bread you choose.

However, most of the places in Paris that appear on blogs are posted believing that the places you have been to are restaurants, so I recommend that you get information from locals living in France, even if it is directly or indirectly.

However, in terms of price, it is not a good tourist destination, as it is more expensive than neighboring Spain or Germany. If it’s a backpack, you must save even a penny, so in franchises like Frankfurt, Leader Price, and Max & Spencer

Buying convenience foods is a good way to survive, and there are a variety of menus such as salads and microwave convenience foods such as boiled eggs, pasta, and chicken at the market for 3~6€, so you can choose according to your taste and have a meal.

The security in France is not as good as you might think, and it is famous as a thief’s paradise because of the many thefts and robberies in the past, and it can be said that it is almost a two-tower with Italy, especially in the south of Marseille, which is notorious for poor security due to gang violence and drugs.

Fortunately, since 2019, the government has increased the number of French national police and gendarmerie and put special efforts into public security, so in large cities such as Paris, Lyon, and Nice, security has stabilized considerably to the extent that there are often no major problems even if you go around at night depending on the area.

Since there has been a history of terrorism in this regard, the police and gendarmes are checking belongings and verifying identities in all major facilities in Paris, so please do not act recklessly and refuse anything that seems to be illegal in the first place.

If you are in a situation that is difficult or dangerous for you to solve, you must report it to the police, and the emergency number of the French police is 112, which is the same for both the gendarmerie and the police. In any case, it is better to refrain from wandering around the streets or looking for slums late at night. 

However, if you catch a pickpocket and beat him or call the police, it will only make the situation bigger, so solve it by giving him appropriate attention. Also, as a country with open sexual concepts, there are quite a few pick-up men, but you must be careful because you have a lot of sex fantasies about Asian women because of strange, preconceived notions.

Typical means of transportation include TGV, Paris Metro, RER, Transirian, Tram and Bus, but taxis are very expensive and expensive, so Parisians should know that they usually use Uber rather than taxis.

However, Uber requires you to use an app that can only be used in French, and most Uber drivers often do not speak a word of English, so it will be difficult for tourists to use it. Trains like TGV and RER are called ‘OUI. SNCF’ is very convenient.

Also, it is recommended not to drink water carelessly, but to buy bottled water before drinking it. The reason for this is the lime content, and just as the culture of drinking tea has developed in China and the United States, various alcoholic beverages such as wine, beer, and whiskey have developed in Europe, and water must be drunk purified.

In addition, France is one of the countries in Europe where English is generally not good at speaking. Therefore, there are many French people who find it difficult to speak English, but they are not bad in nature, so if you talk to them politely and speak in French, they will kindly teach you.

French pronounces r/r close to”, so when talking to locals in English, some French people have a reluctance to speak English, such as pronouncing ‘zero’ as ‘jeho’ and ‘roissy bus’ as ‘Fuwasi bus’ in French.