French travel vocabulary: 237 words
Words for getting around when you travel — airport, transport, hotel and directions (English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese). This page lists 40 of them with their French translations, then lets you practise the full set in either direction with spaced repetition.
English to French: the first 40 words
| English | French | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| airport | aéroport | A place where aircraft take off and land and passengers board them. |
| hotel | hôtel | A building where travellers pay to sleep in a room for a night or more. |
| ticket | billet | A small printed slip proving you have paid to travel or to enter an event. |
| luggage | bagage | The bags and cases you take with you when travelling. |
| passport | passeport | An official booklet proving your nationality, needed to cross into other countries. |
| train | train | A line of carriages pulled along rails from one city to another. |
| map | carte | A flat drawing showing roads, towns and land as seen from above. |
| help | aide | Assistance given to someone who needs it. |
| flight | vol | A journey through the air on a scheduled aircraft. |
| airplane | avion | A winged machine with engines that carries people through the air. |
| boarding pass | carte d'embarquement | The document given at check-in that lets you get on your plane. |
| gate | porte d'embarquement | Airport departure point, not a fence or entrance. |
| suitcase | valise | A stiff rectangular travel bag with a handle, for carrying clothes. |
| backpack | sac à dos | A bag with two shoulder straps that you carry on your back. |
| arrival | arrivée | The moment of reaching the place you were travelling to. |
| departure | départ | The moment of setting off away from a place. |
| delay | retard | A period of extra waiting when something happens later than planned. |
| customs | douane | Border inspection of goods, not habits or traditions. |
| border | frontière | The line where one country ends and the next begins. |
| visa | visa | Official permission in your travel document to enter a foreign country. |
| bus | bus | A large road vehicle carrying many passengers along a fixed route. |
| taxi | taxi | A car with a driver you pay to take you where you want to go. |
| car | voiture | A small four-wheeled motor vehicle for a few people. |
| subway | métro | Underground rapid transit system, not a sandwich. |
| station | gare | The building where trains stop so travellers can get on and off. |
| platform | quai | Raised area where trains stop; not a political position. |
| timetable | horaire | A list showing the times at which trains or buses run. |
| seat | siège | The particular place assigned to you to sit in a vehicle or theatre. |
| window | fenêtre | A glass opening in a wall that lets in light and lets you see out. |
| reservation | réservation | An arrangement made in advance so a table, seat, or hotel space is held for you. |
| room | chambre | A separate walled space inside a building, such as the one you sleep in at a hotel. |
| key | clé | A small shaped metal object used to lock or unlock a door. |
| bed | lit | The piece of furniture you lie on to sleep. |
| bathroom | salle de bain | The part of a home with a sink, toilet, and shower. |
| towel | serviette | A piece of absorbent cloth used to dry your body or hands. |
| breakfast | petit-déjeuner | The first meal of the day, eaten in the morning. |
| elevator | ascenseur | A moving compartment that carries people between floors of a building. |
| floor | étage | Level of a building, not the ground surface. |
| reception | réception | The front desk area of a hotel where guests are greeted and checked in. |
| map app | application de cartes | A phone program that shows where you are and gives directions. |
197 more words in the full “Travel Essentials” library, each aligned across seven languages and scheduled for you by spaced repetition. Add it to your account and start drilling English to French in one click.
What to watch out for in French
- 57 of these 237 words are near-identical in English and French (24%) —
hôtel,train,visa. Those are free; the value of drilling is in the rest. - Accents count. Answers are graded accent-sensitively, so you need
àâçéèêîïô— LinguaSwap shows a one-tap keypad for them while you type. - 237 words carry a usage note in the full library, for the cases where a direct translation would mislead you.
Practise French travel vocabulary
Words come back just before you would forget them, and every language direction is tracked separately.