Driving in France with a foreign licence
The D-roads are the point: Provence's plane-tree tunnels, the Route des Grandes Alpes, Normandy's bocage lanes. France runs on driver paperwork more than most of Europe — péage, vignettes, and gendarmerie checks included.
Do you need one for France?
EU licences drive freely. Non-EU licences are expected to be accompanied by an international permit or official French translation — France is one of the EU countries that says this explicitly, and gendarmerie checkpoints during summer migrations actually look.
French administration reads French: accident constats, insurance files, préfecture correspondence. The 12-language booklet's French page is the one that gets photocopied into files here — it converts your licence into something French bureaucracy processes without a shrug.
At the rental desk
Desks at CDG/Orly and the TGV stations are standard; French excess insurance upselling is milder than Spain's. Manuals dominate the cheap classes. The crit'air sticker for city low-emission zones comes with the car; the péage télébadge often doesn't — card lanes work fine.
If you're stopped
Summer Saturday checkpoints on the A6/A7 (the great southward migration) check documents and alcohol. Non-EU licence + translation + rental papers = thirty seconds. In accidents, the constat amiable form is king — fill it calmly, the French side will.
France questions, straight answers
Priority to the right — is that real?
On unmarked junctions in towns and on some roundabouts (Place de l'Étoile, famously), yes. Yellow-diamond signs mean you have priority; their absence in built-up areas means the car from the right might take it. It's the French rule visitors actually crash on.
Péage costs — how bad?
Paris–Nice ≈ €80 in tolls. The A-roads are fast and dull; the parallel N/D roads are why you brought a car. Mix them: autoroute for distance, D-roads for days.
What must be in the car legally?
Hi-vis vests reachable from seats and a warning triangle — rentals include them (check the boot). The breathalyser requirement lost its fine years ago; vests still carry one.
Alpine passes with a city car?
Galibier and friends are paved and bus-driven — the compact will climb. Check pass-opening dates (June–October for the high ones) and brake with gears descending; the smell of cooked pads is the Alps' tourist perfume.
