Pyrenees-Oriental FAQ

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Mas Camps is in the foothills of the Pyrenees, surrounded by vineyards and offers you the commanding scenery for which it was selected as a Roman camp over 2000 years ago. In this idyllic setting, we offer you an escape from the hustle and bustle of city life and yet we are only 20 minutes from the dynamic city of Perpignan with its convenient daily connections to London, Toulouse and Barcelona. Although in the country, we are within 30 minutes of the Spanish border, about 40 minutes from the beach resort of Canet Plage, under an hour and a half to the ski resorts and 2½ hours from Andorra making this an excellent base for exploring the region as you can see below.

We hope you enjoy your time here and to help you get the most out of it, we’ve selected a few short tours which you may wish to fit into your stay and we've gathered together a list of some of the local events and festivals to help you decide when would be the best time to come.

Air-Conditioning. This is available in more and more hotels as you move further south in France but even when it is installed in a hotel it's usually only switched on during the Summer months.

Buying a house. If you are intending a purchasing trip, ask us about our experiences. Prices are starting to rise but it's still possible to buy a reasonable village house here for 60,000€. If you're hoping to buy a house or live here, checkout our living in France pages. There are several estate agents in Estagel; First Immo is the only one on the internet. If you'd like an English estate agent, you could try Med and Mountain  who are about 30 minutes away. We bought our place through Beautiful South; Eve is French but speaks very good English. Although you can just turn up at their offices, we recommend that you make appointments before you come to make the most of your time. We also recommend that you prepare a short description of the type of house you want and what sort of area it would be in; we found that to be very useful (you can see it at www.mascamps.com/ideal.htm ).

Car Rental. If you want away in a hurry in a rented car either run from the plane, or use someone other than Avis, Europcar or Hertz (this isn't a slight on their speed of processing, just that they're very popular and have big queues when a flight lands). However, if you want the cheapest car rental that we could find in Perpignan (and we checked them all), click on the link below There are very few cars with automatic transmission in France so if you can't drive a manual (stick-shift), it's best to call the rental office (they all speak English) and tell them this. Air-conditioning isn't standard on smaller cars so do be careful to check that it's on the car you're renting if you want it.

Credit/Charge cards. Even if you have a PIN enabled card (ie a credit/debit card with a chip on it), it will usually not work in automated services in France, notably in train/metro stations and 24 hour petrol stations (the autoroutes are the only notable exception to this rule). Often you will need to show your passport in addition to your credit card in shops. If a machine says that it only accepts Carte Bleue without having a Visa/Mastercard sign as well then if it's a cash machine it will probably accept Visa/Mastercard but if it's some kind of purchasing machine then it probably requires a French card. This situation is slowly changing as the global chip standard is rolled out in France and sometimes a PIN is required for foreign cards. American Express and Diners Club aren't widely accepted.

Debit cards. It's best not to rely totally on a debit card (ie Maestro or Visa Electron) as they don't always work in shops for example, we've yet to come across an Australian Maestro card that works in shops. American Express, Maestro and Visa Electron don't work in the toll booths on the motorways.

Discover cards. As far as I can tell, these don't work at all in Europe.

Diesel/petrol. Diesel is the same as Gasole. It's definitely not the same thing as Sans Plomb (unleaded)! As noted above, unless you've got a French debit card, your credit/debit card definitely won't work in a 24 hour automated petrol station so bear in mind that almost all petrol stations in France shut on Sundays (except on the motorways).

Driving & road rules.

• If you have a valid European driving license, you don't need an International Driving Permit; if not, then you will require one.

• If you're used to driving on the left, it's not so difficult to drive on the right but it does take a couple of days to get into the way of it. In particular, be careful when you are turning left or leaving a car park as it's very easy to find yourself on the left lane in both situations.

• Roundabouts are very popular in France but unfortunately they were introduced after most of the drivers here learned to drive, net effect being that they have a tendency to go around the inside of the roundabout and turn directly off at their exit thereby cutting straight in front of you; because of this, you should be very careful on large roundabouts. Not all roundabouts give those on them priority (most do); if they have a sign "vous n'avez pas le priorité" then it's the people going on the roundabout who have priority (ie as applies everywhere else in the world); if they don't have this sign, it's the people coming onto the roundabout who have the priority.

• Right of way. In general, the main road has the right of way in France but this is not always the case so do take care, particularly in the country.

• Télépeage. These are special lanes on the motorways for which you need a Télépeage subscription. Unless you live in France, you can't get one.

DVDs. France is region 2 for DVDs; if you're from America/Canada you need region 1, Australia/New Zealand needs region 4; bear this in mind if you are buying any DVDs over here. Not all DVDs in France offer language selection so if you want one in English, check the labelling carefully.

Electricity

• 220V AC 50 Hz with a European style socket;

• PAL SECAM TV standard;

• DVD region 2;

• If you're from the UK, Australia or New Zealand, a simple adaptor is all you need for any appliance, if you're from America or Canada your 110V appliances will usually not work (the exception is, generally, laptop computers but check that the power supply says "automatic switching").

French. You can get by here without speaking French. However, if you do speak the language it will make things a good deal easier; if you speak French (even if it's just a little), don't make your first question "Parlez-vous Anglais?". This seriously annoys some French people. They don't mind if your French is rubbish so long as you give it a go. In fact, the worse you are, the more likely it is that they will try their english. If you're intending to become fluent, try out your local Alliance Française for conversation courses and the Open University to get your French grammar sorted out (the OU literature claims that a GCSE/O-level in French is the entry requirement for their L120 course but in reality A-level conversation is required). In practice you will find that most French in cities speak at least some English; this isn't always the case in the countryside.

How to get here. Briefly you can fly to Perpignan (15 minutes away), Carcassonne, Girona or Toulouse (about 90 minutes distant), Barcelona (2 hours), take the TGV to Perpignan, or, of course, drive here. Flights, car hire and insurance can be booked through Perpignan Flights and Car Hire.

Internet. We have a wireless network and internet PC available; both are free. Internet access is available in towns but not terribly widespread as the French don't use it a great deal.

Insurance. If you are European, you can get the European Health Card from your Department of Health. However, we recommend that you get proper travel insurance as the health card only covers you for basic medical treatment and doesn't cover things like your luggage and whatnot. The link below gives quite good rates.

Money. France uses the Euro; it's cheaper to get euros in France than convert it before you go. There's a cash machine about 100 yards to your right as you leave the airport building in Perpignan and there is at least one machine in the airports of Barcelona, Carcassonne, Girona and Toulouse. Almost all banks change about 1.5% to 2% charge with a minimum of £/$1.50 or £/$2 for each cash advance plus 2.25% to 2.75% charge to convert the currency, therefore it's better to withdraw €100 or more at a time. The exceptions are UK's Nationwide Building Society (no charges for currency conversion and on their debit card withdrawals are free) and Global Alliance banks (no withdrawal charges from BNP machines for customers of Bank of Nova Scotia, Bank of America, Barclays, Deutsche Bank and Westpac). There's no additional charge to use your credit/debit card in shops (they usually have a minimum credit card purchase of 10€). Cash machines generally accept Cirrus, Mastercard, Plus, Visa and Visa Electron. American Express is accepted in Societé Générale machines (these aren't very common). I've not noticed any machines accepting Diners Club.

Parking. We don't charge for parking during your stay. Most hotels in France do although it's rarely clear from their websites.

Phone. To call overseas from France, dial 00 CC then the number, excluding the leading zero. CC, the Country Code, is 1 for American & Canada, 44 for the UK and 61 for Australia. To call France from the UK, Europe, Australia or New Zealand dial 00 33 then the number, excluding the leading zero. To call France from America or Canada dial 011 33 then the number, excluding the leading zero. To call us from the UK, just dial 0844 484 7290 (local rate), from America or Canada, 1-800-571-6392 (tollfree) and from everywhere else, 00 33 468 29 10 77. Please remember that France is on CET time which is one hour ahead of the UK (ie if it's 1pm in the UK, it's 2pm here) and 6 hours ahead of the East Coast (ie 1pm in New York is 7pm here).

Sights. See our regional guide for a comprehensive list of things to see and do or our day-trip guide for our selection.

Shops. You'll get the usual variety of shops in most French towns that you can see in any town anywhere in the world. Obviously there are more of the French stores than others but you'll find that Carrefour and E.Leclerc are very similar to Tesco and Walmart. The opening hours are very different. Aside from food-stores like Carrefour and Leclerc, most shops open from about 8.30am to 12.00 and again from 2pm to 7pm; those that stay open through lunch will have a small "non-stop" sign. Restaurants may say that they open from 10am to 9pm but in reality, aside from fast-food outlets, they only serve food from 12.00 to 2pm and again from about 7pm to 8.30pm; they are very strict about these hours and outside them will only serve drinks.

Toilets. Most toilets are normal American/European style but quite a few of the public toilets are still of the squat variety. It is very common to see cars stopped in the country and the men "watering the plants"; it's not unknown to see the same in towns.

Travellers Cheques. Check with your bank re charges; the UK Post Office don't charge any commission (although they do charge, via the exchange rate they offer). Although it sounds crazy, banks here generally only cash travellers cheques if you have an account with them and to cash them you will need to look for a branch offering foreign exchange services (usually only available in towns/cities).

TV/Video PAL SECAM standard. Few TVs purchased outside France will work in colour (UK, Australian and New Zealand TVs will generally work in black and white). American/Canadian TVs use NTSC and will not work. Video tapes work as per the TVs eg they'll play in black and white on a UK TV and won't play on American/Canadian players.

Visas & permits. If you are a European citizen, you don't need a visa, residence permit (Carte de Séjour) or work permit. If you are American, Australia, Canadian or New Zealander you don't need a visa for stays up to 90 days (if you're planning on staying longer, see our Moving Abroad and Living in France pages) but would normally need a work permit if you want to work. If you are South African, you normally need a Schengen Visa and will need a letter from us to confirm your booking to get this.

Water. Apart from water taps with a sign saying "non-potable", all the water in France is drinkable.

France offers a range of attractions from cities to mountains and everything in between. The Pyrenees offers a wide selection of these choices as you can see elsewhere on this site. To read more about this area, the Rough Guide to the Pyrenees or their Languedoc & Roussillon guide are the best.

If you're travelling further afield in France, Lonely Planet France, is an excellent reference-book style guide. The Rough Guide France is less encyclopaedic and you may find it easier to use.

In terms of activity guides there is a wide choice: Lonely Planet Cycling France, Independent Walker's Guide to France and Walks and Climbs in the Pyrenees to name but a few. Watersports don't have a specialised guide but are on offer on the Mediterranean coast in the Summer.

For maps, you could go for the Michelin Tourist & Motoring Atlas but unless you're going well off the beaten track, you'll probably find that their Mini Atlas is much more practical (if you're flying, the larger version is far too big to bring anyway). In terms of online maps, Mappy seems to give the best coverage of France and it also gives reasonable driving directions.

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When should you come? That depends on what you would like to do here as the range of activities on offer make it an almost year-round holiday destination.

• January through to March is primarily the time for winter sports and most accommodation outside the ski resorts is closed over that period. It can get very cold in February.

• Late February is the start of the rambling and cycling season with some quite extended sunny periods although you should be prepared for sudden downpours if you are coming early in the year.

• From May through to September we get the typical Mediterranean weather. The grape harvest is in September.

• Although it does get cooler, it is often t-shirt weather right up until November. The best times for house hunting are September to December and March to June (excluding Easter) which neatly avoids the crowds and cold weather whilst getting low season accommodation prices.