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{{infobox Country|country = France|map = <map lat='47' lng='1.5' zoom='5' view='0'height='320' country='France'/>|language = French (regional languages: Alsatian, Occitan, Breton, Corsican, Basque, Catalan, ...)|capital = [[Paris]]|pop = 68,0 million|currency = Euro (€)|hitch = <rating country='fr' />|BW = FR}}European '''France''' is part of the [[European Union]] as well as the [[Schengen Agreement]]. It is usually a great country for hikinghitchhiking. There are many friendly car and truck drivers. The highways cost money, Drivers have to pay toll on motorways (except in [[Bretagne|Brittany]] and at some "Péage"s other places), and you can get a hike ride quite easilyat some ''[[Péage|barrières de péage]]'' (toll stations). At When hitchhiking on local roads, you might face some Péages all difficulties sometimes, though. One of the traffic has to stop and pay commonly known barriers for traveling in France (as in many foreign countries) is the language - these are excellent spots you might want to get a long ride furtherlearn some basic phrases before you off on the road in France.

You can get free maps Like everywhere in Europe, walking on the Peage offices motorways is illegal and thus it's just legal to hitchhike on service areas and at the beginning of on- these also indicate where ramps before the highway sign. Hitchhiking at the péage next to the barrier is forbidden, but police and highway staff mostly turn a blind eye if you can find the "all-stand there. Moreover some experience shows that French people will more often stop-Peage"in a place where it is not normally allowed than in other countries.

Some Peages On Sundays, only trucks with frozen goods are allowed to drive. Keep in mind though that trucks are really good, some or not so good. If you've been waiting for a while with an indication of where allowed to go, drop it more than 90 km/h and try with your thumb only. And alsothe driver must stop for a 45 min break every 4 1/2 hours, you which can try to get a ride to the next good spot in make the wrong directiontrip much longer.

==License plates==French number plates start with the number of the The ''arrondissement"Michelin 726 National"'' the car map of France is registered a good choice for a hitchhiker inthis country. For example, Parisian cars start with It shows all the number 75major ''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:See "''Excusez-moi, je vais à [http://name of the city] enstop.wikipediaAllez-vous dans cette direction ?''" and if you get a positive answer, just ask "''Pourrais-je venir avec vous ?''".org/wiki/French_vehicle_registration_plates French vehicle registration plates]It may be also good not to tell a city but the direction you want to go: "''Excusez-moi, je fais du stop vers le sud. Allez-vous dans cette direction ?''"

==CitiesAutoroutes, péages and barrières de péage ==* __TOC__'''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 [[Paristoll station]], the capitcal, hiking out of here is really difficults.

* [[Lyon]]* [[Marseilles]]* [[Rennes]]* [[Strassbourg]]* 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.

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.  Hitchhiking options are: * 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.  Some ''barrière de péage'' are really good, some are not. If you've been waiting for a while using a destination sign, drop it and try thumbing. 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 ==''In my experience it's pretty much impossible to go hungry in France. While hitching I almost ALWAYS get 10 or 5 euros thrown my way, and once even 60 euro! The key is to imply you have no money (helps the guilt if you actually don't have any like I did). Ask where you can use the internet or a phone, but WITHOUT PAYING, and 90% of the time they'll tell you "I'll drop you off at the station/road/town with 10 euros, alright?" It's not really possible without having a good standard of communication though, so either hope they know English or learn some French! I also wouldn't recommend doing "it" if you have no money or already had access to the internet or a phone, solely because of guilt. Even though I was genuine in my requests I didn't feel happy taking their money, but food is food!'' - Aaronishappy  ''France is great because it has roundabouts, which makes for slow traffic on the smaller roads. Of course, the big highways are off-limits in many cases, but that's alright. Beautiful countryside, good people. For me I enjoyed eating lots of cheese and lots of baguettes, as cliche as that may sound.'' - [[User:Chael777|Chael]]  ''Don't be afraid to approach people at service stations just because your French is weak (or, like me, non-existent). After a quick 'bonjour', or 'vous allez ou?', people were happy to help. Many people didn't speak English, with some I got by in Spanish, and with 3 or 4 we had no language in common at all. Nevertheless, people were still kind and willing to help.'' - [[User:Justunein|Justunein]]  ''My Hitch in France went marvellously! Check this, I was walking along the street in Nimes, minding my own business, and a woman pulled up in a car and asked me if I wanted to hitch to Marseille! She asked me!! When we got there, she showed me around and I slept on her sofa (whenever I tell French men about this they invariably respond 'Did you ''fork'' her?'). The next day, I got 5 hitches from Marseille to Limans, and for 3 of them all I had to do was hold up a cardboard sign and the first car that came picked me up. I was going to write that it's like taking the bus, ''but you have to wait for busses!'' As a bonus, the people who I hitched with were really nice, so much so that one of them lied and said that my French wasn't so bad! Oh yeah, and the bit about French bakeries is incomplete. They have pastries round the back too!!''  ''I can also said France is very good country for hitchhiking, people are very friendly. Even that they do not speak a lot of English, they will try to help you. One driver also take me in one restaurant near high way even that I did not want that he spend money to by me something to eat. It was nice to cross from Spain to Germany in two days with hitchhiking.''  ''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 ==  * [http://www.asf.fr/shared/pdf/CarteReseau.pdf Le Réseau ASF], a PDF file that shows all ''barrières de péage'' on major routes in Southern France.* [http://www.vinci-autoroutes.com/system/files/pdf/2012/12/carte_reseau_vinci_autoroutes.pdf Service Stations Network], a pdf file that shows all service station on major routes in southern France. == Nomadwiki & Trashwiki == {{nomadwiki}}   {{Cities France}}{{Regions France}}{{Template:Europe/countries}} {{IsIn|Western Europe}}__NOTOC__  [[Category:France| ]][[Category:Western Europe]] [[de:Frankreich]][[es:Francia]][[fr:France]][[pl:Francja]]