Useful apps for France: transport, maps, translation

Set the apps up at home, on Wi-Fi, before you leave. French apps often ask for a phone number or an email confirmation, and doing that at a station with a weak signal is the slow way. Add a payment card to SNCF Connect and to the ride-hailing app you plan to use, then test one small purchase.

For trains, SNCF Connect is the official app for TGV, Intercités and most regional TER lines. It shows live platform and delay information and stores your ticket offline, which matters in tunnels and on rural lines. Book two to four weeks ahead for the best TGV prices; last-minute fares on popular routes rise sharply.

In Paris, Bonjour RATP handles metro, RER, bus and tram, including disruption alerts and route planning. Île-de-France Mobilités is the region's ticketing app if you want to buy passes on your phone. Outside Paris, each city runs its own network: TCL in Lyon, RTM in Marseille, Tisséo in Toulouse, and so on. Google Maps or Citymapper covers most of them well enough for a short stay.

For driving, Bison Futé publishes the official traffic forecast, with red and black days around the July and August changeover weekends and public holidays. Météo-France gives the official forecast plus vigilance alerts for storms, heatwaves, snow and flooding. Both are free and in French; the colour codes are easy to read without the text.

Translation is the one gap. Google Translate and Apple Translate both handle French offline if you download the language pack first. DeepL gives better phrasing for written French. For restaurant menus, the phone camera mode is usually faster than typing.

Ride-hailing: Uber and Bolt operate in Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Nice, Toulouse and other large cities, with longer waits and higher prices late at night and during strikes. In smaller towns and rural areas there may be no cars at all, so save a local taxi number. G7 is the main Paris taxi app.

Download offline maps for the region you are visiting, plus the French language pack for translation. Both work with no signal, which is exactly when you need them.

Keep a screenshot of your train ticket and your accommodation address in French. Showing a driver or a station agent the address avoids pronunciation problems.

If you drive, check Bison Futé the night before a long transfer. A black Saturday on the A7 or A9 can add hours, and the app's advice is to leave before 6am or after 8pm.

Your bank may block a French payment the first time. Open your card app, enable travel notifications and keep the app installed for the whole trip — see france atm and credit cards for the wider picture.

Mobile data: EU and EEA SIMs roam at home prices under EU rules, and travel eSIMs work on unlocked phones. Monaco sits on a separate network that some EU deals exclude. See france esim for the details.

English is widely spoken in hotels, stations and city restaurants, less so in small towns. A translation app covers the gap; see france english spoken.