Welcome to France
EuroCurrency in France
Today’s Weather
13
°C
03:40 PM
Thursday
Basic Country Profile
Location: Western Europe with Atlantic and Mediterranean coastlines.
Population: 64 million
Capital: Paris
Major language: French
Major religion: Christianity
Currency: Euro
Terrain: Varied
Climate: Continental and Mediterranean
Dial code: +33
Time zone: GMT+2
Emergency numbers:
112 – European emergency number
18 – Fire
17 – Police
15 – Ambulance
197 – Terrorism and hostage-taking
Disability Legislations and Policies
France ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in December 2009.
http://www.loc.gov
Disability affects 12 million French citizens. To improve the living conditions and resources available to persons with disability, the Government is rolling out a comprehensive, inter-ministerial policy which, from 2018, which lead to specific ministerial action plans being set up.
20 September 2017: first Inter-ministerial Committee for Disability (CIH) meeting of the five-year term, on the theme “Living with a disability on a daily basis”.
https://www.gouvernement.fr
Travel Related Information
While France presents evident challenges for visiteurshandicapés (visitors with disability), particularly those with mobility disabilities – cobblestones, cafe-lined streets that are a nightmare to navigate in a wheelchair (fauteuil roulant), a lack of kerb ramps, older public facilities and many budget hotels without lifts – don’t let that stop you from visiting. Efforts are being made to improve the situation and with a little careful planning, a hassle-free accessible stay is possible.
Paris’ tourist office runs the excellent ‘Tourisme & Handicap’ initiative whereby museums, cultural attractions, hotels and restaurants that provide access or special assistance or facilities for people with physical, mental, vision and hearing disabilities display a special logo at their entrances. For a list of qualifying places, go to www.parisinfo.com.
Paris metro, most of it built decades ago, is hopeless. Line 14 of the metro was built to be wheelchair-accessible, although in reality it remains extremely challenging for wheelchair users – unlike Paris buses which are 100% accessible.
Parisian taxi company Horizon, part of Taxis G7, has cars especially adapted to carry wheelchairs and drivers trained in helping passengers with disabilities.
Countrywide, many SNCF train carriages are accessible to people with disabilities. A traveller in a wheelchair can travel in both the TGV and in the 1st-class carriage with a 2nd-class ticket on mainline trains provided they make a reservation by phone or at a train station at least a few hours before departure. Details are available in the SNCF booklet Le Mémento du Voyageur Handicapé (Disability Traveller Summary) available at all train stations. www.lonelyplanet.com