International removals to France

1. France is the largest country in the EU, and known as ‘the hexagon’ – with an area of 551,000 sq km it’s almost a fifth of the EU’s total area, and due to its six-sided shape France is sometimes referred to as l’hexagone. About a quarter is covered by forest; only Sweden and Finland have more.

2. France was the first country in the world to ban supermarkets from throwing away or destroying unsold food – since February 2016, shops must donate wastage to food banks or charities.

3. About one million French people living near the border with Italy speak Italian – although French is the official language and the first language of 88% of the population, there are various indigenous regional dialects and languages, such as Alsacian, Basque, Breton, Catalan, Occitan and Flemish. On a larger scale, French is the second most spoken mother tongue in Europe, after German and before English, and is predicted to become number one by 2025 due to the country’s high birth rate.

4. French wines can reach astronomical prices – in 2014, Sotheby’s sold a 114-bottle lot of DCR Romanee-Conti wines in Hong Kong for more than EUR 1.45m to an anonymous Asia-based buyer, a world record for a single wine lot. That works out to about EUR 1,619 per standard glass.

5. French gastronomy was awarded UNESCO World Heritage Status in 2010 – when it was added to the list of ‘intangible cultural heritage of humanity’. Experts described the importance of French gastronomy as ‘a social custom aimed at celebrating the most important moments in the lives of individuals and groups’, as well as ’emphasising togetherness’ for its function of bringing friends and family closer together and strengthening social ties.

6. France produces nearly a billion tons of cheese a year in around 1,200 different varieties – in France it’s an ancient art: goats cheese dates back to at least 500AD, the blue-veined Roquefort was mentioned in records of an ancient monastery in Conques as early as 1070, and hard farm cheeses like Emmental started to appear in the 13th century. A French proverb claims ‘un fromage par jour de l’année’ – there is a different cheese for every day of the year.

7. It is against the law to carry live snails on a high-speed train in France without their own tickets – in fact, any domesticated animal under 5kg must be a paying passenger in France. In 2008, a Frenchman was fined when he was caught carrying snails on a TGV, although the fine was later waived.

If you are interested in moving to France, get an online removal quote, and read more about our European Removals.