Moving to France

International moving to France

France's geography means transit distances vary enormously depending on whether your destination is a northern city close to the border or somewhere further south, which is one of the reasons we ask about the exact destination address early in the process.

Beyond Paris, we regularly move households into rural and semi-rural regions — Provence, the Dordogne, and Brittany among them — often for lifestyle relocations rather than work. These moves tend to prioritise a specific delivery date over cost, since they usually mark a deliberate, planned change of pace rather than a job-driven relocation with more flexibility.

Corporate relocations into France are concentrated around a handful of hubs — Paris for most head-office and finance roles, and Toulouse specifically for aerospace and technology positions. These moves are generally scheduled against a fixed start date and coordinated through an employer's HR or mobility team rather than the relocating employee directly.

How the moving process works

Every international move we plan follows the same core stages, adapted to your route and volume. See our full explanation of how it works for detail on each stage — assessment, planning, packing, collection, international transport, and delivery.

Moving options

Paris-bound groupage runs frequently given the volume of moves on that route; more remote regions can still use groupage but with a longer collection window. Dedicated transport suits fixed dates or larger volumes. Rural relocations to regions like the Dordogne or Provence often benefit from dedicated transport specifically because groupage schedules to less-travelled areas are harder to predict precisely.

Read more about the difference between groupage / shared load and dedicated transport.

Packing services

We pack household goods for secure road transport, including furniture disassembly where useful for narrow doorways or stairwells common in older French apartment buildings. For rural properties, we also plan for driveways and access roads that a full-size delivery vehicle may not be able to use directly, arranging a smaller shuttle vehicle where needed.

See our full packing service for what is included.

Storage

If your French property is not yet available, we can store your belongings until it is. This is common for lifestyle relocations where a property purchase or renovation is still being finalised at the time of the move.

Read more about our storage service.

Transit considerations

Central Paris and other historic city centres often restrict large vehicle access to certain hours or require a permit; we plan around this rather than discovering it on delivery day. Rural properties present a different challenge — narrow country lanes and long private driveways — which we confirm during planning rather than assuming a standard delivery vehicle will manage without issue.

Cost factors

For France, distance within the country, volume, transport type and access at both ends are the main factors. A move to a well-connected northern city and a move to a rural southern property can carry quite different cost profiles even over a similar distance, largely because of how access and delivery time differ. Corporate relocations may also include packing and setup services beyond a standard household move, which is worth mentioning when requesting a quote. See our costs page for the full breakdown.

See our full guide to international moving costs.