A cultural travel guide to the world

Etiquette & taboos

Etiquette & taboos

Understanding local customs is where a journey begins. Find the topics that matter to you and feel at ease wherever you go.

France

3 rules found

Cultural sensitivitiesEveryday mannersCountry-wide guidance · 法国

France: Keep your voice down in public and never jump the queue

Do

  • Queue patiently and leave a little space in front of you
  • Speak quietly on public transport and in museums and libraries
  • Let passengers off first and don't block doors or aisles
  • Keep to the right on pavements and escalators
  • Offer your seat to older people, pregnant women and people with disabilities
  • Say Bonjour to staff when you enter a bakery or shop

Don’t

  • Don't cut in or push
  • Don't take calls or play music on speaker
  • At markets, don't pick produce yourself; let the vendor choose for you

Cutting in or being loud won't get you fined, but it is considered rude. Some guides note that queues at stations or markets can be looser; still wait your turn and don't push.

Verified Oct 19, 2026Source: We3Travel: 16 French etiquette tips for Paris

Cultural sensitivitiesEveryday mannersCountry-wide guidance · 法国

France: Say Bonjour when you enter a shop; friends greet with la bise

Do

  • Say Bonjour when you enter a shop and Au revoir when you leave
  • Friends and acquaintances greet with la bise, a light touch of cheeks
  • The number of kisses varies by region; follow the other person's lead or go with two
  • In formal business settings and first meetings, use a brief, firm handshake
  • Use vous with new acquaintances, elders and service staff; switch to tu only when invited

Don’t

  • Don't start asking a shop assistant questions without greeting them
  • Don't initiate la bise in business settings or at a first meeting
  • Don't hug strangers

Nobody will penalise you, but skipping the greeting in a shop is seen as rude, and getting la bise wrong shows you don't know local ways. Two kisses are usual in Paris and the north, three in parts of the south, and customs vary elsewhere.

Verified Oct 19, 2026Source: La Minute Française: Guide to la bise

Site-specific notes 18

Taken from the "don'ts" on each site page here. Open a site for its full etiquette and background.

Eiffel Tower

  • Never carve or scribble on the tower's ironwork
  • don't crowd around for photos at Métro entrances or sight entrances
  • beware the 'friendship bracelet' scam — if someone accosts you insistently, just walk away.

Louvre

  • Don't touch the works or lean on display cases
  • don't hog the best spot in the 'Mona Lisa' room for long
  • don't eat or drink inside.

Nice Carnival

  • Climbing over the parade barriers
  • throwing objects at the floats
  • walking through the float procession

Bordeaux

  • Pressing companions to drink more
  • entering winemaking areas without permission

Strasbourg

  • Making loud noise in the old town's residential streets at night

Cité de Carcassonne

  • Climbing over railings or parapets
  • photographing private courtyards and residents' windows

Loire Valley Castles

  • Touching the furniture and furnishings indoors
  • trampling flowerbeds or lawns
  • talking loudly inside the historic buildings
Show 6 more

Musée d'Orsay

  • No flash photography — strong light damages 19th-century paint layers
  • do not lean close to or touch the paintings — the galleries maintain a viewing distance and staff will remind you
  • do not eat, drink or occupy the benches for long sleeps in the galleries

Mont Saint-Michel

  • Never go down onto the flats alone: the incoming tide can move several times faster than walking pace, and the quicksand and fog have killed — a safety taboo locals stress again and again
  • do not feed the island's many gulls, which will dive to snatch food
  • do not use flash, talk loudly on the phone or eat and drink in the abbey cloisters and church

Arc de Triomphe & Avenue des Champs-Élysées

  • Never walk across the circular traffic of the square — the many radiating streams of traffic have no pedestrian crossings and it is extremely dangerous
  • do not climb the stone railings at the base of the arch or carve or scribble on the reliefs
  • do not sit or lie on the tomb steps, eat there or take loud selfies

Palace of Versailles

  • Do not touch the furniture, tapestries or gilded decoration in the galleries — silent infrared alarms run beyond the barriers
  • no flash photography inside the palace, and no eating, drinking or loud phone calls
  • do not climb the garden sculptures, picnic on closed lawns or pick flowers from the beds

Baguette

  • Don't walk in and order without a greeting
  • don't squeeze the loaves one by one to choose

Notre-Dame de Paris

  • Don't talk loudly or use flash during services
  • don't enter in revealing clothes
  • don't block the queue lanes in the square for long