We’re thinking about our summer holiday and are thinking about 10 days or so in France in self catering accomodation.

We haven’t settled on a location, could be anywhere from the Loire valley to the Ardeche or the Alps.

We’ll end up doing walks, low level (i.e. flat!) cycling on traffic-free paths, spending some time by a river/stream for some swimming and playing (lots of happy memories as a kid of playing and using fishing nets in mountain streams with my family). UK holidays usually involve a steam train or similar, plus visiting the odd NT type place or generally exploring local towns etc

Can anyone comment on how dog friendly France is? How does it compare with the UK? Will they say no entry if we take the dog to certain things. I’ve done some googling and what I’ve found isn’t clear or isn’t recent

We took our labrador to France for a week for the first time last August. I found France to be incredibly dog friendly. More so than UK in terms of accommodation. There were so many other people with dogs too and it was a nice way to get chatting to people. We were in the Dordogne camping for 3 nights, b and b, then a hotel in sarlat and then in the Lot region in an auberge. All the restaurants we tried were happy with dog inside and out. She came with us canoeing, hiking and visiting some caves.

Our only gripe was the cost of the vets to administer the wormer so if you can research ahead of time and find somewhere cheaper it might be worthwhile.

The accomodation will normally specify if dogs/pets are banned. It’s hard to enforce as when you rent a place in France there’s the notion of “jouir de plein droit du bien” which means owners can’t inmpose unreasonable conditions. Having a well-trained, clean quiet dog is not unreasonble.

You can’t take a dog into most supermarkets or food shops for hygiene reasons but as noted above a well-trained friendly dog is often tolerated in bars and even restaurants.

On trains there’s a 6kg rule. Less than 6kg it sits on your lap in a bag or basket. More than 6kg it needs a muzzle and a ticket. Anyone objects to the behaviour of your dog you get off. On long distance busses you’ll need a bag for a small dog or a cage for a big one. Local busses aren’t an issue for most dogs (but carry a muzzle to be certain to get on).

Have a lead even if your dog always walks to heel. Dogs must be on a lead in public places, even parks – there will usually be a sign. Dogs are usually banned on beaches with life guards even on a lead.

You don’t say what your dog is, France is friendly to most dogs but any of the races that intimidate people will get you a lousy reception. Some races needed to be permanently muzzled.

Thanks guys. I’ve been looking on AirBnB and have been searching for pet friendly places

It’s a 34kg black lab. Very friendly and well trained, good with strangers etc, but he is big (not fat, just big). We don’t have a muzzle for him, might need to get one

We’ll be driving down and rarely use public transport. The train thing is for recreational purposes, usually a trip on the train for my son as he loves them, steamies FTW. We can manage without going on one though

Caves and hiking is good, we like those. Not sure on the canoeing, he’s a good swimmer but he’s not sat in a canoe before. Could be amusing…!

We wouldn’t take him in a supermarket but he’s well used to going to pubs etc so it’s sounding pretty good, thank you.

Thanks for the tip re researching vets, I read that fees vary between €40 and €60, were your prices in that range?

Always found France to be very dog-friendly and the few times we’ve taken ours (a pretty cute little border so she gets away with a lot), we’ve not found having her with us to be restrictive. Generally bars and restaurants are pretty relaxed but you’ll have to make a call sometimes. I personally found France very small-cute-dog friendly. There were very few places we couldn’t take her apart from the usual – supermarkets, etc.

As Ed says, there are restricted breeds which either have to be muzzled and on a lead at all times or in some cases are prohibited from entry at all.

Obviously, you’ll have read up on pet passports etc. Make sure all vaccinations are done months in advance of your trip and plan somewhere to stop on the way back in France to have the dog wormed, and make sure you know the opening hours of the vet you’ll be using. The time limit for this is generally between 48hrs and a week before return and the vet will stamp and sign the dog’s passport. Most french vets will be pretty familiar with the process and always make sure to check the DEFRA website for current guidelines.

Travelling with a dog on eurotunnel is a breeze, but allow yourself plenty of spare time at arrival as you may have to check the dog in separately – also you’ll have to stop on the way back to have the passport checked.

DO NOT try and drive through without checking the dog in on the way back.It would be a very expensive risk.

“Black lab”, I can’t see you having trouble, they’re soft without being too daft. Take some dark glasses and a white stick and a black lab can go anywhere with you. 😉

Ha ours was black lab too. She’d not been canoeing apart from we did a test run in the UK before we went as we booked a 3 day canoe trip so thought we better try her out. She got used to it pretty quickly and didn’t capsize us although she is only 20kg.

Think vet was about 50 euro. We had her off lead apart from in towns/near traffic and had no issues.

took our springer for a trip around France in October. She loved it and was spoilt rotten by the french.

We set off with only the first nights hotel booked in Orleans, then we went down to a friends family farm for a few days before moving on, booking online each morning depending on where we felt like staying!

Granted we went in October so we could do that but we had no problem. Restaurants were very accommodating, insisting we brought the dog in rather than sit outside on the cold (for them, not for us!) evenings, they would bring water, fuss over her and French eating next to us would sneak her veg they were not fond of.

Beaches were a problem as dogs are widely banned but we found out too late (at the vets when getting the wormer) that the bans are only in place during the summer but they don’t advertise that like we do in the UK. i think the key thing is consideration for others, just like anywhere else.

She was welcome on the canoe we rented and absolutely loved the rivers there. Also took her out on the inflatable sup we took with got us lots of waves from the locals.

Just be aware that if you go site seeing at Chateaus then they will most likely not allow dogs, especially if they have livestock, birds of prey etc. We waited for October so it would be much cooler for her if we needed to leave her in the car.

The motorway break areas are much better for dogs than the UK ones. I prefer to stop at the basic picnic area ones and take a picnic from the supermarket (pack a hamper, it will come in handy)

This is really helpful, thanks a lot

oh vet bill for us was 40 euros. OH is a vet and thought that was about right.

I would recommend taking the coast road up to Calais instead of the motorway as the views are fantastic and villages lovely but you will then end up in the big Euro”something” shopping centre. The entrance to the chunnel is tucked away behind Lidl with no sign posting and the animal check section is right there as you enter so easy to find.

It may look obvious here but this is how you get to the pet reception when not coming in on the motorway

It looks just like just the entrance to the lidl car car park.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/dir/50.9359493,1.8115115/50.9371593,1.8124484/@50.9364372,1.8099132,17z/data=!4m2!4m1!3e0

not a eurotunnel road sign in sight!

streetmap of junction

Thanks andyl, really helpful. How long did it take you to get through all the appropriate checking procedure?

Hmmm, I don’t remember it being difficult to find the pet reception but it was a few years ago that we took her so things may have changed.

andyl has more recent experience, but it didn’t take long for us, maybe leave yourself an extra 1/2-1 hour over when you’d plan to arrive sans dog.

only 2 other people there so not long waiting and then a couple of minutes to check all was okay and be on our way.

You take the dog in with you and they hand you the scanner to scan the microchip and check all the documentation.

In the summer I would get there with plenty of time. We did so ended up being bumped up to the earlier train which was handy.

DD – did you head in from the motorway (A16?)? The problem we had is we didn’t use the main entrance. The only signposted entrance was off the road that passess under the motorway entrance but that just takes you to a petrol station and back out as they have shut it off. Despite it saying “entrance for reservation holders” (or something to that effect).

I’d allow half an hour extra (we went through in August and it was about that long – I’d imagine they adjust staffing based on the number of pets booked).

There’s a small ‘dog exercise’ area next to the pet centre car park which is useful.

Generally: We’re used to letting our dog just roam around off the lead in parks and woodland (he’s a Viszla and likes a good run round) and keeping him on the lead was a bit of an issue at times. We did find soem woods with a couple of quite official footpaths through at the second place we stayed at and just walked round there. Beaches between towns seem ok for dogs too (we were staying near Calais so there’s miles of quiet sandy beaches).

DD – did you head in from the motorway (A16?)? The problem we had is we didn’t use the main entrance. The only signposted entrance was off the road that passess under the motorway entrance but that just takes you to a petrol station and back out as they have shut it off. Despite it saying “entrance for reservation holders” (or something to that effect).

It was a while ago andy, we didn’t take her this Summer as we’d forgotten to get her rabies vaccination renewed and only realised inside the 21 day limit. So for the OP, I’d follow your advice for now…access, signage etc may well have changed from when we went.

Regularly take out two to France.

For self catering accommodation, I’d recommend looking at Gites de France. Used them loads and never had an issue.

Site is in English and about 50% now accept online payments. When you book, they email you the contract for signature. If you then just pay the deposit, you don’t need to return the signed contract as they accept payment in lieu of signature

On the website one of their search options is “pets for free”, the other is “enclosed gardens”, which is good if you’ve got escape artists like out two.

French vets bill is usually ~€35 for the two. You can try to keep the costs down a bit by avoiding weekend appointments. The other way is to find a proper farm vet, rather than a small animal practice. Where we’ve been able to do this, the bills been <€10, but you do need to double check the paperwork.

Had a great stay in Chamonix in the van with wife, bike & springer. dog friendly pretty much everywhere.

Only time I had a concern was when walking higher altitude the sheepdogs can be very aggressive & territorial as there basically left up there to watch the flocks & pretty much trained wolves!

I live in France but travel back to UK 6 or 7 times a year via Eurotunnel.

As others have said France really is very dog-friendly. They are allowed in most restaurants and hotels. Some hotels will charge a small fee but many “independents” do not.

Eurotunnel is really good for dog travellers. Just make sure you have all the paperwork to hand and allow 30mins extra before check in.

Dogs can go on French trains but you will have to buy a ticket for him. They should also be muzzled but I have never seen this enforced though I do carry a small nylon one with me just in case.

Dogs should be restrained in the car. You can use the full harnesses that are available or you can get a short lead that has a seat belt clip on one end. They are about 3€ from supermarkets. Again, I’ve never been asked for one but have one in the car just in case I get stopped.

Finally, be careful if you are walking around farmland. Farmers, very understandably, really do take a dim view of dogs off leads that “worry” their stock. Also be aware the the Chasse is in full swing at the moment which can mean packs of 20+ dogs chasing through farms and along the chemins.

If you have any other specific questions just ask and I will try to help if I can.

Oh, one other thing. The French are very proud and protective of their memorials and statues that are in most villages and town centres. Locals will not be pleased if you allow your dog to cock his leg on or around the site.

“FRENCH NATIONAL PARKS DO NOT ALLOW DOGS
There are six national parks in France (Cévennes, Écrins, Mercantour, Port-Cros, Pyrénées and Vanoise): all, apart from Cévennes (which allows dogs on leads), have a ban on dogs. However, there are many other mountain regions that are open to dogs, provided that they are kept under control. It would be best to do your research before you visit.”

I’d also echo Bianchi-Boys warning about watching out for the Chasse, with or without dogs. French hunters have a terrible record of shooting dead each other and innocent bystanders (avg of 21/year).

We wandered into one a few years ago whilst walking in the Alps; no warning notices posted on the local roads/trails and the first thing we knew about it was the gunfire (rifles not shotguns). It’s really not a good place to be.