Neoz’Arrivants

The France you arrive into — the regions, the year, and the ordinary week.

A street frontage with the tricolore over the door and people passing

Twenty-two regions became thirteen and nothing else changed

The 2016 reform merged regions on a map without merging what people call themselves. Grand Est is an administrative unit; Alsace is not.

Regions

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Thirteen regions since 2016, and nearly thirty-five thousand communes.

13régions in metropolitan France since 1 January 2016
22régions before the reform; the older names are still what people say
96départements, untouched by 2016 — the préfecture sits at this tier
c. 35,000communes, each with a mairie that keeps the register

The tiers do not line up with the names people use. Twenty-two regions became thirteen and nothing else changed.

Bilingual French and Breton street signs pointing toward local landmarks and offices in Quimper
Quimper carries Breton beneath French because the commune voted it and the département paid for it. No national law required either.Photo: Road signs bilingual Breton in Quimper · Wikimedia Commons

Words

Brittany writes Kemper under Quimper on purpose

Bilingual signage is decided commune by commune: there is no national law compelling it, and none that could easily stop it. France signed the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in 1999 and has never ratified it.

Quimper Kemper
“confluence” — two rivers meeting; administrative centre of Finistère
Morlaix Montroulez
port town in northern Finistère
Carhaix Karaez
inland market town, and a stronghold of Breton cultural life
Brest Brest
one of the cases where the two names converge
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Rail & Roads

Lyon to Bordeaux is harder than either to Paris

France’s first main lines were drawn in the 1840s as spokes from the capital, and the high-speed network repeated the pattern. Two cities 550 km apart have no direct TGV between them.

JourneyWhat the network offersTime
Paris → LyonDirect TGVUnder 2 hours
Paris → BordeauxDirect TGV since the Tours–Bordeaux extension opened in 2017Around 2 hours
Lyon → Bordeaux, via ParisChange stations across the city: Gare de Lyon to Gare Montparnasse5 hours or more
Lyon → Bordeaux, directNo high-speed service. Slow intercity via Clermont-Ferrand4–5 hours
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Travelers walk through a spacious train station concourse with departure boards and shops
Gare Montparnasse. Almost every long-distance service in western France ends at a Paris terminus like this one.Photo: Hall Gare Montparnasse - Paris XV (FR75) - 2022-07-07 - 4 · Wikimedia Commons
Start anywhere

Eight places, and what changes when you get there

QuimperRiquewihrLilleParisLyonMarseilleBordeauxToulouse
Eight places these pieces start from, north to south.
  1. QuimperFinistère, Bretagne The signs carry Kemper beneath Quimper. No national law compels it: the commune voted it and the département paid for it.
  2. RiquewihrHaut-Rhin, Grand Est The roof pitch and the half-timbering are the German half of the border’s history. Alsace changed hands four times between 1871 and 1945.
  3. LilleHauts-de-France Brick terraces built in rows by the pit, and a belfry at the end of the street that would look at home in Flanders.
  4. ParisÎle-de-France Every main line radiates from here. Trains from Lyon arrive at the Gare de Lyon; trains for Bordeaux leave from Montparnasse, across the river.
  5. LyonAuvergne-Rhône-Alpes The 2016 reform joined two regions with little historic connection and named the result after a volcano range and a river valley.
  6. MarseilleProvence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur The mistral funnels down the Rhône and routinely passes 80 km/h. Three days of it counts locally as an explanation.
  7. BordeauxNouvelle-Aquitaine Every commune has its market day and the same traders rotate between them. Miss it and you wait a week.
  8. ToulouseOccitanie Occitan survived a century of active discouragement in schools. France signed the European Charter in 1999 and has never ratified it.

Everyday

The market is a timetable, not a place

Each commune has its market day, and the same traders rotate between them. The covered halles were built as public works by the commune — Albi’s dates from 1905 — which is why a town of four thousand people can have an iron hall in the middle of it.

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A covered market hall with iron columns, stalls stacked with produce, adults shopping
Halles de Lourdes on its own market morning. On the other six days the hall is quiet.Photo: Halles de Lourdes, intérieur · Wikimedia Commons
The five sections
RegionsThe lines were redrawn in 2016 and nobody moved5 pieces EverydayBread twice a day, and a country that shuts in August3 pieces Rail & RoadsEvery line runs to Paris, including the ones that should not3 pieces WordsThe road signs are in two languages and one of them is older2 pieces The YearSeptember is the real new year3 pieces ArchiveEverything on the site, in one list16 pieces
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