Good to know

Weather
Holidays
Strikes & demonstrations
Hotels
Trade fairs and exhibitions
Cultural events in Paris
Restaurants / food
Allergies
Holidays / seasons
Important addresses and telephone numbers
Airport transfers

 

Weather

meteo.france3.fr
This is a very useful Web site, where you can check on the weather forecast for today (aujourd'hui), tomorrow (demain), the day after tomorrow (après-demain) and in three days time (prévision à 3 jours). If you click above the weather map on "matin", you will see the morning weather forecast, click "après-midi" for the afternoon forecast.

On the left, click on "grandes villes" and choose a city to see a three day forecast for the major French city of your choice.

"Météo des Neiges" shows the weather and snow conditions at ski resorts in France.

Holidays

NATIONAL HOLIDAYS IN FRANCE 2010
05.04. "Lundi de Pâques" (Easter Monday). Only Easter Sunday and Easter Monday are holidays, Good Friday is a normal work day.
01.05. "Fête du Travail" (May First)
08.05. "Victoire de 1945" (Victory Day commemorating the end of World War II)
13.05. "Ascension" (Ascension Day)
24.05. "Lundi de Pentecôte" (Pentecosi)
14.07. "Fête Nationale" (French National Day)
15.08. "Assomption" (Feast of the Assumption)
01.11. "Toussaint" (All Saints' Day)
11.11. "Armistice de 1918" (Armistice Day commemorating the end of World War I)
25.12. "Noël" (Christmas Day). December 24 and December 26 are not national holidays in France.

NATIONAL HOLIDAYS IN FRANCE 2011
01.01. "Jour de l'An" (New Year's Day)
25.04. "Lundi de Pâques" (Easter Monday). Only Easter Sunday and Easter Monday are holidays, Good Friday is a normal work day.
01.05. "Fête du Travail" (May First)
08.05. "Victoire de 1945" (Victory Day commemorating the end of World War II)
02.06. "Ascension" (Ascension Day)
13.06. "Lundi de Pentecôte" (Pentecosi)
14.07. "Fête Nationale" (French National Day)
15.08. "Assomption" (Feast of the Assumption)
01.11. "Toussaint" (All Saints' Day)
11.11. "Armistice de 1918" (Armistice Day commemorating the end of World War I)
25.12. "Noël" (Christmas Day). December 24 and December 26 are not national holidays in France.

Strikes & demonstrations

France is the only European country where workers enjoy the right to go on strike as often as they like, and it has become almost a national pastime. Information on ongoing and upcoming strikes is available at www.greves.org, with useful links especially for checking out strikes that effect train and airport traffic. The traffic in entire cities becomes complete chaos when public transport worker's unions go on strike disabling the metro, buses and tramways. Spontaneous "mini strikes" are common; for example, only one out of the 14 metro lines in Paris may be on strike since each metro line operates independently.

LAVENTELI provides information on important strikes and public protests under the Good to Know-heading.

Hotels

HOTEL CLASSIFICATIONS

In France hotels are ranked from one to four stars. The classification is:
One Star: "Plain but Fairly Comfortable Hotel"
Two Stars: "Good Average Hotel"
Three Stars: "Very Comfortable Hotel"
Four Stars: "Top Class Hotel"
In addition, certain (usually historical) luxury hotels have the right to use the unofficial ****L-classification:"Luxury Palace Hotel".

The hotel classification does not necessarily reflect the hotel's quality. There are 22 different criteria for classification, including room size, sound insulation, bathroom equipment level, electronics, the number of lifts, etc. The number of stars does not include, for example, the amount or quality of hotel service, geographical location, general cleanliness, staff friendliness, etc. The same standard criteria have been used to classify all of France's hotels. The room prices often do not follow the logical 1 to 5 star system used elsewhere in the world, and hotel room prices fluctuate greatly depending on seasonal demand.

* : Room prices from 50-60 euros BB
** : Room prices from 70-80 euros BB
*** : Room prices from 90-150 euros BB
**** : Room prices from 160-300 euros BB
**** L: Room prices from 400-1000 euros BB

Trade fairs and exhibitions

www.salons-online.com or www.biztradeshows.com/france

In France, the dates of exhibitions and trade fairs may be changed at the last moment. All of the most important French trade fairs are on www.salons-online.com . The Web pages are in French, but try the following to find the trade fair you want:

Click "Recherche d'un Salon par sécteur": use this search function to find all trade fairs classified by business sector (e.g. fashion).
Click "Recherche d'un salon par ville" + click the first letter of the city you are interested in: you will then see all the fairs held in that particular city.

Look beneath the heading "Autres Modes de Recherche d'un Salon" and click on: " Recherche salon par date". This feature allows you to find all the upcoming trade fairs in the next 12 months listed by month.
An English-language Web site with information on French trade fairs is: www.biztradeshows.com/france (on the left, trade fairs classified by date, city, or business sector). Unfortunately, this Web site is not updated as well as the French site www.salons-online.com.

Paris is one of the world's most important cities to participate in trade fairs and exhibitions. The biggest trade fairs may have a staggering 1.5 million visitors. The most important Parisian trade fairs are:

PRÊT-A-PORTER ("PAP") (fashion):biannual, beginning of February and September
AGRICULTURE ("SIA") (agriculture): beginning of March
MONDIAL DU TOURISME (tourism): Mid-March
FOIRE DE PARIS (general fair): April-May
EUROSATORY (safety/defense): June, every other year
AERONAUTIQUE (aeronautics industry): June
MONDIAL DE L'AUTOMOBILE (automobile industry): early October, every other year
SIAL (food): end of October
BATIMAT (building and construction): early November

Cultural events in Paris

Information on museum exhibitions, concerts, sports events, fairs, etc. is conveniently available on the Web site www.parisinfo.com

Click on the bottom of the page to choose the English version of the site, and then click on "what's on". On the left of the page you will find a classification of events and on the bottom of the page search criteria, where you may type, for instance, the date of your arrival in Paris. If you leave the spaces for "type" and "district" empty, you will be shown a full listing of all events. Events are listed up to three months in advance. Click on "ok" to see a list of all events, click on each particular event you are interested in for further details.

Restaurants / food

RESTAURANT OPENING HOURS
In general, lunch and dinner times are strictly adhered to in France. Lunch is served between noon and 2:30 pm and dinner at around 8 pm to 10:30 pm. Some restaurants may be willing to be a bit more flexible, but most restaurants will refuse to provide service outside the strict meal time. Some so-called "tourist restaurants" have non-stop service ("service continu") and a few well-known restaurants are even open 24 hours a day. Very many French restaurants are closed on Sunday evenings and Mondays.

CARTE / MENU / FORMULE
The restaurant "Carte" means the menu. The "Menu" is a narrower selection, usually consisting of a three-course set price meal, e.g. a lunch menu from which a starter, main course and dessert may be chosen. A "Formule" is an even narrower menu, with a set price meal where either two dishes (starter and main course or main course and dessert) or a three course meal may be chosen. It is worth checking whether drinks (water, wine) are included in the price of a set menu/formule. When it comes to group reservations (starting from 10 to 12 people), restaurants almost always insist on a set menu for the whole group = the same starter, main course, dessert and drinks ("formule boisson") for everyone. Restaurants usually refuse to mix dishes from different menus, e.g. the request "We would like the starter and dessert from this set menu, but could we have the main course from the other set menu?" will not be greeted with smiles and acceptance. The chef of a French restaurant is the Emperor of his establishment and the menus are carefully planned out by him, woe be the mere mortal who dares to even suggest mixing different menu dishes!

DRESS CODE
More informal dinner and lunch restaurants in France like to see their customers in Smart Casual attire. In practice, this means that a pair of good-looking trousers or good jeans is combined with a jacket or smart pullover. For ladies, a skirt or trousers with a blouse or jacket is also a good combination, or alternatively a fashionable dress. A little black dress is all right, as long as it isn't too dressy for the occasion. Shoes should be stylish and well-polished. For dinner, especially in a better restaurant, it is worth dressing up. Men should have a suit or trousers and jacket with a shirt and tie, stylish shoes. Women should have a smart suit, a skirt and jacket, a little black dress or a dress with a lower hemline. Absolutely forbidden is "holiday wear", i.e. casual jeans, T-shirts, trainers, flip-flops, shorts, etc. For example, this dress code is a requirement on the Bateaux Parisiens dinner cruises.

Allergies

In France, food allergies are uncommon. Most restaurants are incapable of serving a meal for a diner with special requirements, so if a traveller were really to go into anaphylactic shock by the mere presence of a certain ingredient in his meal, it will make dining out extremely difficult. Of the most common food allergies, fish and seafood allergies and nut allergies are slightly recognised in France, but even then the restaurant will take no responsibility for a customer's allergic reaction. If the restaurant agrees to prepare a special meal for the allergy sufferer, they will often charge extra for it.

Vegetarians and vegans are an almost unknown concept in France. If you only avoid meat, that is not a problem, there is almost always fish on the menu. True vegetarians will encounter problems in finding a decent meal, since the French will see a dish based on vegetables or mushrooms as vegetarian - even if beef stock or bacon cubes were used to prepare it.

Holidays / seasons

Almost everyone in France has their summer holidays in August, when all of France shuts down! Many restaurants, shops, offices and organisations are closed for the whole month of August, except for those areas where August is the hottest tourist season (for example Nice and the French Riviera, where every single hotel is fully booked!). Hotels are operating beneath capacity in August and some hotels even shut down their reservation desk for the entire month. In the French hierarchical view of the workplace, there isn't a backup system in place to compensate for a vacationing employee. Therefore, if the person responsible for reservations is on holiday, nobody else will be able to provide you with information concerning "her reservations", and you will have to wait until the lady in question has returned from her holidays. This phenomenon slows down the answer time from several hotels and other tourist services.

The autumn, winter and spring school holidays in France are divided by geographical areas. These holidays last a good two weeks, including the autumn break in October-November, the winter holiday in February and the spring break in April. During the February winter break for French schools it is almost impossible to find group accommodation at ski resorts and several hotels only accept a seven-day Saturday-to-Saturday reservation.

Important addresses and telephone numbers

POLICE : 17
FIRE DEPARTMENT : 18
AMBULANCE : Phone: 15

SOS DOCTOR
87, boulevard de Port Royal
75013 Paris
Phone: +33 (0)1 47 07 77 77

SOS DENTIST
87, boulevard de Port Royal
75013 Paris
Phone: +33 (0)1 43 36 36 00

PHARMACIES THAT ARE OPEN 24 HOURS A DAY

84, avenue des Champs-Elysées
75008 Paris
Phone: +33 (0)1 45 79 53 19 or +33 (0)1 45 62 02 41

6, place Clichy
75009 Paris
Phone: +33 (0)1 48 74 65 18

6, place Félix Eboué
75012 Paris
Phone: +33 (0)1 43 43 19 03

LOST AND FOUND
Préfecture de Police - Service des Objets Trouvés
36, rue des Morillons
75015 Paris
Tel: +33 (0)8 21 00 25 25
Métro : Convention

PARIS CONVENTION AND VISITORS BUREAU
25, rue des Pyramides
75001 Paris
RER : Auber (line A)
Metro : Pyramides (lines 7, 14)
Open:
From 01 November to 31 May (closed on 1 May)
From Monday to Saturday: 10am-7pm
Sundays and holidays: 11am-7pm
From 01 June to 31 October
Everyday: from 9am to 7pm

Airport transfers

For groups, we recommend to always book a guide for trips between the centre of Paris and the airports. The same applies to Nice. This is because in Paris the bus driver is not allowed to leave his bus at any time to pick up his group; instead he must wait at the parking area meant for buses. Therefore, a guide is essential to help the group find their transportation! In Roissy CDG the bus parking is situated between terminal buildings 2A&C and 2B&D at level 0 (one floor level below the arrivals hall) behind the taxi parking area. Laventeli is not responsible if the group is unable to find their bus or the bus company needs to charge extra for additional waiting time at the parking area.

The floor plans for Roissy CDG and Orly airports are available at the following English language Web site under the heading "terminal maps": www.aeroportsdeparis.fr/Adp/en-GB/Passagers/Arrivees/PlansGuidesPratiques