Useful Phone Numbers in France
Emergencies Phone Numbers in France:
Hopefully your trip to France will be safe and without problems. Should however an emergency arise it is useful to know how to contact the respective assistance services.
You can always call the number 112, which works in all member states of the EU and from all phones, fixed, mobile and cabines telephoniques (pay telephones), even if you don't have any money. We don't know how consistent the service is, there have been complaints about long waits and poor responses.
It might be better to call the individual emergency services direct, the numbers are:
Fire Fighters/Pompiers: 18, in the countryside the fire service is run by volunteers, who normally have members with some medical experience. In addition to fires you will often see them dealing with road accidents.
Ambulance/SAMU: 15, they are normally pretty quick and efficient.
Police/Gendarmerie: 17, the larger towns and cities are served by the police secours, the countryside by the gendarmes.
Maritime rescue/Sauveteurs en Mer: 1616, the volunteer lifesaving association, which provides rescue at sea and training of lifeguards and sea safety campaigns.
International Phone Operators for France:
International operator: for US/Canada 00 33 11; for all other countries: 00 33 followed by the country code.
International directory assistance: for US/Canada 00 33 12 11; for all other countries tel 00 33 12 followed by the country code.
French operator: 12 for directory assistance, 13 to signal a fault.
Traffic, Time, Weather Phone Numbers in France:
Time: 3699
Traffic and road conditions: Paris and Ile de France: 01 48 99 33 33; rest of France: 08 36 68 20 00.
Weather: 08 36 68 02 + the number of the département (Alpes de Haute Provence: 04, Alpes Maritimes: 06, Bouches du Rhône: 13, Drôme: 26, Gard: 30, Hautes Alpes: 05, Var: 83, Vaucluse: 84)
