Grenoble

Currency budget France

Euros, and cards everywhere, including the tram machines and the cable car. Nothing here needs cash you would have to change for.

ATMs & cards

Bank machines throughout the centre and at the station. Use a bank’s own machine and refuse the offer to convert into your own currency.

French bank machines generally charge nothing of their own; decline the conversion whatever the screen suggests.

Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.

Safety all of France

A city with a reputation for street crime that the centre mostly does not show a visitor. Watch bags and phones on the trams and around the station, especially late, and lock a bicycle with two locks. The real risk is the mountains: people walk up from the Bastille into terrain that turns serious, and weather moves in fast.

Our own assessment, not a sourced index.

Entry & visa France visa rules

Health & emergencies all of France

Required to enter

No vaccinations are required for entry from Europe or North America.

Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.

Food tip

Gratin dauphinois is from here, made without cheese, which is the argument locals will have with you. Walnuts from the Isère valley have their own appellation and go into a cake, and Chartreuse is still made by the monks of the massif across the river. The student quarter keeps the prices honest.

Nightlife

A student city of sixty thousand students, so the evenings are cheap, loud and mostly in bars rather than clubs, clustered in the old centre and across the river.

• the place Notre-Dame and the lanes off it — terraces in summer and the bar crawl at any time of year
• the rue Saint-Laurent — across the river under the Bastille, small bars and a few late ones
• the place Grenette — where people meet before going on

Closing: Most bars by 01:00 or 02:00; the few clubs later.

Getting around

• Tram — five lines across a flat city, and the quickest way from the station to anywhere
• On foot — the old centre from the station to the river is twenty minutes, all on the level
• Cable car — the Bastille bubbles, from the quai Stéphane-Jay up to the fort in a few minutes
• Bicycle — Métrovélo hires by the day or the month, and the city is flat and full of cycle lanes
• Bus — Transisère coaches up to the ski resorts of Chamrousse, the Vercors and the Oisans in winter
• Airport: Lyon Saint-Exupéry (LYS), about an hour by the direct coach

eSIM

A data eSIM for France, installed before you fly and working the moment you land:Works hereWorks hereRevolutIn the app

Must-see

Nearby day trips

Say a few words

French

• HelloBonjourbon-ZHOOR
• PleaseS'il vous plaîtseel voo PLEH
• Thank youMercimer-SEE
• Yes / NoOui / Nonwee / non

Open with bonjour before anything else. Launching straight into a question without it reads as rude, and explains a lot of reputed French coldness.

Religion

Catholic, and strictly secular

Laïcité is a constitutional principle: religion is kept out of public institutions, and conspicuous religious symbols are banned in state schools. Cover shoulders in cathedrals.

Do's and don'ts

Do

• Say bonjour before anything else, every single time you enter a shop
• Keep your voice down in restaurants and on public transport
• Keep both hands visible on the table while eating, wrists on the edge
• Dress a notch smarter than you would at home — it changes how you are treated

Don't

• Do not ask for a doggy bag or substitutions; the dish arrives as the kitchen intends
• Do not start with English without at least attempting bonjour, parlez-vous anglais
• Do not tip more than rounding up — service is included by law
• Do not eat while walking; it reads as slightly uncivilised