Accommodation in France: homestay
It’s the secret (or not-so-secret) dream of every savvy traveller to truly live like a local in France.
There are so many ways to make this dream a reality, whether it’s with house-sitting, home-exchange or help-exchange! But if you’d like your own local guide to come with your accommodation, great French conversation practice and the chance to forge real connections with French natives… Then a homestay could be for you!
Of course, nothing is ever straightforward when it comes to finding accommodation for your next French dream trip on the web, so up next in our ultimate savvy traveller’s guide is a how-to for getting through the process and having the best trip yet.
What
For a true French experience rather than just an accommodation option, it is worth looking into doing a homestay with a French family.
Homestays can range anywhere from a few days to a few months and are really a brilliant way to improve your French through utter immersion.
Pros
Homestay is a wonderful experience and through the extensive profiles you have to create in order to correspond with host families, you will generally find yourself quite well matched to the hosts, making life-long friends.
What the experts say
According to Homestay Finder, prices per month for a program in France range from 700 USD to 3 000 USD. Respectable not-for-profit company Green Heart Travel offer a program for just under 1 500 USD, inclusive of three meals a day as well as medical insurance and accommodation. Prices per day are different again, coming in at about 20 to 100 USD per night including some prepared meals and sometimes a pick-up service according to Homestay Booking.
Where to look
There a number of websites that connect guests with host families or language schools that organise host families for you if you are enrolled in any courses. Try BedyCasa, Homestay Finder, Green Heart Travel and Homestay Booking.
Have you ever tried homestay as an accommodation option in France? What was your experience? Share your stories and comments below!
About the Contributor
Judy MacMahon
I am from Melbourne and have been travelling in France and due to leave at the end of April. I have been using mostly homestays and also one company called Aliore (http://www.aliore.org/) for staying with a family in Montpellier to teach English. I found that I liked the homestay booked through bedycasa and homestay booking.com, Airbnb has most variety (You can consider homestays for all countries not just France) because I chose how long I wanted to stay based on my interests and needs while the language teaching program required at least one month which was too much in a small city like Montpellier. It was a good experience, but I do not need more than two weeks maximum in Montpellier.
I am also going to stay with a family in Mechelen, Belgium which was booked through Airbnb. Things I look for in homestays are: Wifi, meals especially breakfast, washing, pick up, kitchen access just to name a few.
I would love to stay with families in different countries when I travel as it is much better then hotels or hostels.