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==Law Enforcement==
<gallery style="float:right; width:200px; margin-left:25px;>
Image:Mrtweek mzenzes hitching in france.png|[[User:Mzenzes|Martin]] and [[User:MrTweek|Philipp]] hitching in France.
Image:Derek_hitching_at_péage.jpg|Derek hitching at a péage near [[Valence]].
Image:Cynthia_hitching.jpg|Cynthia hitchhiking out of [[Paris]].
Image:Tokyohitch.jpg|[[Lille]]-[[Tokyo]] direct ride, 5-min deal.
Image:Perpignan bridgeoveronramp.jpg|On ramp bridge near [[Perpignan]].
Image:Spot-sharing.jpg|Sharing knowledge on spots to hitch out of Paris during the [[project 888|888]] event.
Image:peage.jpg|A typical ''barrière de péage'' in France.
Image:Pat_e_Suh.jpg|Pat & Suh hitchhiking after a barrière de péage in France :).
</gallery>
There are three law National enforcement agencies to contend with in France. The Police Nationale, the Gendarmerie and the Douane.
* The '''Police Nationale''' are tasked with policing urban areas with more than 20,000 inhabitants, and the surrounding highway infrastructure. As such, you will probably rarely encounter them while thumbing.
* The '''Gendarmerie''' is a military agency tasked with policing all of the French Republic where the population is lower than 20,000. They are the enforcement agency you will have the most chance to encounter while on the road.
* The '''Douanes''' are the customs agency for the French Republic. They mostly patrol close to borders, looking for suspicious activity, but can operate anywhere. They are often active on highways and péages going south from [[Belgium]] and [[Luxembourg]], looking for people transporting large amounts of tobacco or looking for hitchhikers from the [[Netherlands]] who may be carrying cannabis, as well as near the border with [[Spain]]. It is said of them, that they care about goods, not persons, which is basically true, but they are allowed to check your ID and the contents of your luggage.
To make a long story short, in France, it is expected that any person can prove its identity when requested by an agent of these agencies. The easiest and most common way to do it is to show them an official ID ; however it can also be done by having someone else testify that you are indeed the person you say you are. Agents on patrol, especially Gendrames, can stop to ask you questions. Most of the time, they will ask you where are you headed, maybe a few other vague questions, remind you that hitchhiking is illegal on the highways (even if you are not on a highway at the moment), wish you a nice day and drive away. If they ask you for a proof of identity, the best thing would be to show them an official ID ; however if you cooperate somewhat they probably won't go even that far.
Furthermore, many cities have local police deparments called '''Police Municipale'''. They have less authority than national agencies, but can call other agencies to do the work they legally can't.
[[digi:France]]
no edit summary
|language = French (regional languages: Alsatian, Occitan, Breton, Corsican, Basque, Catalan, ...)
|capital = [[Paris]]
|pop = 6568,8 0 million
|currency = Euro (€)
|hitch = <rating country='fr' />
|BW = FR
}}
European '''France''' is a member state part of the [[European Union]] as well as the [[Schengen Agreement]]. It is usually a great country for hitchhiking. There are many friendly car and truck drivers. Drivers have to pay toll on motorways (except in [[Bretagne|Brittany]]and at some other places), and you can get a ride quite easily at some ''[[Péage|barrières de péage]]'' (toll stations). When hitchhiking on local roads, you might face some difficulties sometimes, though. One of the commonly known barriers for traveling in France (as in many foreign countries) is the language - you might wanna want to learn some basic phrases before you off on the road in France.
Like everywhere in Europe, walking on the motorways is illegal and thus it's also illegal just legal to hitchhike thereon service areas and at the beginning of on-ramps before the highway sign. If you are picked up Hitchhiking at the police you may be fined, however the Gendarmerie are likely to simply give you a lift péage next to the next toll stop. Use service areasbarrier is forbidden, peages but police and on-rampshighway staff mostly turn a blind eye if you stand there. Moreover some experience shows that French people will more often stop in a place where it is not normally allowed than in other countries. It may also be helpful to write '''S.V.P.''' on your sign with a destination name - it is short for ''s'il vous plaît'' (sih-voo-play) which means ''please'' in French.
On Sundays, only trucks with frozen goods are allowed to drive. Keep in mind though that trucks are not allowed to go more than 90 km/h and the driver must stop for a 45 min break every 4 1/2 hours, which can make the trip much longer.
The ''"Michelin 726 National"'' map of France is a good choice for a hitchhiker in this country. It shows all the major ''barrières de péage'' and [[rest area|service stations]]. You can get a free map in péage offices.
== Asking people ==If you want to ask for rides, you can say sentences like: "''AutoroutesExcusez-moi, je vais à [name of the city] en stop. Allez-vous dans cette direction ?''" and if you get a positive answer, just ask "''Pourrais-je venir avec vous ?''péages". It may be also good not to tell a city but the direction you want to go: "'' and Excusez-moi, je fais du stop vers le sud. Allez-vous dans cette direction ?''" == Autoroutes, péages and barrières de péage'' ==
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'''Péage''' ([http://cs1.imtranslator.net/SL/Free_Projects/169679760/cs_10132017_15_58_47_1.wav?param1=001024 audio]) is a French word for ''toll''. It is also commonly used as referring to [[toll station]]s.
In France, most of the motorways are toll roads (''autoroute'') which are the fastest way to hitch across the country. There are two types of toll stations on péages. First, there are big ones where all traffic has to stop to pay a fee (or to get a ticket) - these are ''barrières de péage'' and usually they are excellent spots to get a long-distance ride and make it really easy to hitchhike during the night. They are often located near big cities on the autoroute. Another type is a side barrier situated on all exits in the toll part of the motorway. On latter ones traffic is much smaller, therefore one can expect a longer waiting time, although sometimes congested toll stations of the first type can be difficult to hitch from due to heavy traffic.
To reach the ''barrière de péage'', you may need to walk along the motorway; with a help of a proper map check if the distance needed to be walked is not too long. It is illegal to walk on a side lane of the motorway (same is valid for some parts of national roads (''voie express'' or ''voie rapide'') in France); if police sees you, you will may be driven somewhere safe and may be fined for 11 to 40€. Péage toll stations are considered a part of the motorway, and legally you do not have the right to solicit rides there. You may be asked to wait in the parking area which is after each ''barrière de péage''. In practice, this is rarely enforced (maybe 5% of the time), most toll station employees simply want to make sure you're not endangering yourself or others.
Having a sign with your destination (or the next city) is recommended and will distinguish you as a serious hitchhiker, and not a vagrant. You will definitely need it if the road splits. The fastest way to travel on a péage is from one ''barrière de péage'' to another.
* You can thumb immediately after the ''barrière de péage''
* If you prefer a direct approach you can dash across the lanes one at a time until you're at a busy lane, stand next to the toll machine and talk to the drivers when they stop to pay (usually it is not allowed to hitch from the toll machines but it is often tolerated). Just say "''Bonjour, je vais à [name of the city]''".
* You can wait before the ''barrière de péage'', just where the drivers choose their lane - there is often enough of space for cars to pull over to stop for you.
While on a toll road, you can always try hitchhiking from one [[petrol station hitchhiking|petrol station]] to another, either asking drivers while they refill, or thumbing at the exit of the service area. The staff usually doesn't mind hitchhikers.
== Personal Experiences ==
''I started my first hitchhike tour in France and found out that most French people are very kind and in most cases they are happy to take you with them. But I think it's really helpful to speak even a little bit French so you can say want you want and where you want to go because most of French people don't like to speak english or maybee they are not able to. Espacally in the south of france it's also possible to travel short distances by train for free, because most of them are not controlled. In case of controlling you can say that you're out of money and in most cases they will not send you a bill because it is to complicated for them to find you in your home country. And even if you are in bad luck and they will find you the price is not even higher than the ticket for the train.''
Hitchhikernick - hitched several times through France over the years with the latest being January 2024 from Chamonix to Andorra whilst the farmers protests were happening. The protests slowed things down a bit, but still managed to get to Andorra in just over 2 days. Very rarely given any money or bought food. Average waiting time 1.5hrs. Mixture of highways and national roads.
== Main cities ==
- [[Paris]]
- [[Marseille]]
- [[Lyon]]
- [[Lille]]
- [[Toulouse]]
- [[Bordeaux]]
- [[Nice]]
- [[Nantes]]
- [[Strasbourg]]
- [[Rennes]]
- [[Grenoble]]
== Links ==
{{nomadwiki}}