First Time Cycling in France: 5 Tips From a Local Guide

First Time Cycling in France: 5 Tips From a Local Guide

If you are planning your first cycling trip in France, there are a handful of things worth knowing before you clip in. None of them are complicated, but each one will make your ride smoother, cheaper, or safer. I have been cycling and guiding in France since 2008 — here are the five tips I give every first-timer.

1. Always Carry ID, a Credit Card, and Medical Insurance

This is not a legal requirement, but it is the first thing I tell anyone riding in France for the first time.

If you have an accident, the three things the French authorities and emergency services will want to see are: photo ID, a credit card, and proof of medical insurance. Keep them in a small waterproof pouch in your jersey pocket or saddlebag and forget about them until you need them.

If you are visiting from the UK, bring your GHIC card. If you are visiting from outside Europe, make sure your travel insurance specifically covers cycling.

2. The Boulangerie Is Your Best Friend

Forget the fancy café terraces. The boulangerie is where experienced cyclists in France actually stop.

Most boulangeries now serve coffee and tea, and you can pick up pastries, croissants, sandwiches, and quiches for a fraction of what a café would charge. Many also stock cold drinks — Coke, sparkling water, juice — at supermarket prices rather than tourist prices.

A lot of village boulangeries also have a small terrace or a couple of benches outside where you can sit and eat what you have just bought. It is the cheapest, fastest, and most authentic mid-ride stop you will find in France.

3. You Do Not Need to Buy Bottled Water

French tap water is safe to drink almost everywhere. Use the taps in cafés, public toilets, cemeteries, and the public water pumps you will find in most villages and town squares.

If a tap is unmarked, or if it says “eau potable,” it is safe to drink. If it says “eau non potable,” do not touch it — that water is not for drinking and a stomach bug is the fastest way to ruin a cycling holiday.

Filling your bottles from the tap saves money and cuts out a plastic bottle every time. Worth doing.

4. Understand “Priorité à Droite”

This is the rule that catches most visiting cyclists out, and it is worth understanding before you start riding.

In built-up areas, unless signage tells you otherwise, the vehicle joining the road from your right has priority. That means a driver pulling out of a side street on your right has the legal right of way — and many local drivers will not even look before pulling out, because they assume you know the rule.

If you fail to stop and there is a collision, you are the one at fault.

The rule does not apply on most main roads outside towns, where priority is marked with signage, but inside villages and towns, assume “priorité à droite” is in effect unless you can see otherwise. Slow down at junctions and stay alert.

5. Follow the Small Green Cycling Route Signs

France has an excellent and growing network of waymarked cycling routes — local, regional, and national. They are signposted with small green signs you will spot at junctions and roundabouts.

It is worth following them rather than blindly trusting your GPS. The routes are designed to take you through quieter villages, alongside rivers, and along old railway lines that have been converted into cycle paths. They are sometimes a little longer than the direct route, but they are almost always more pleasant — and they show you the real France rather than the main road version of it.

Bonus Tip: Say Bonjour

Say “bonjour” to everyone. Walkers, other cyclists, drivers waiting at junctions, the woman behind the counter at the boulangerie. A quick nod, a flick of the wrist, a “bonjour” called over your shoulder — it is the small social glue that holds rural France together.

You will usually get a “bonjour” back. Even when you do not, you have done the right thing.

The exception is city centres. Riding into Caen or Paris and shouting “bonjour” at every pedestrian is not the move. But on a country road, in a village, at a roundabout — always.

Watch the Video in Full

The full video walks through each of these tips on the road, with the boulangerie stops, the water pumps, and the green signs in context. Worth a watch before your first trip.

Planning Your First Cycling Trip in France?

I run custom supported cycling holidays throughout France, with bike rental available. Based in Normandy with twelve years previously in Bourg d’Oisans at the foot of Alpe d’Huez, I have been guiding cyclists in France since 2008. If it is your first time and you would rather not piece it all together yourself, a supported tour takes the planning, the route-finding, and the logistics off your plate.