Would you like to finally get to know our neighbouring country better? Would you like to volunteer in a meaningful project in the summer and maybe practice your French a little at the same time? You can combine all of this with a workcamp in France.
The international workcamp movement was co-founded in France in 1920 and traditionally this is where the largest selection of projects can be found. We have been placing volunteers in workcamps with our partner organizations for over 50 years.
What kind of projects are there?
Many workcamps in France work on renovation and construction projects or in environmental protection projects. But there are also different social projects every year, as well as culture, music and film festivals that look forward to your support!
Would you like to know what a workcamp in France can look like? Read this report from our volunteer Luisa, who renovated an old mill with her workcamp in Gradignan.
Patrick spent two weeks with an international group in the middle of the Pyrenees.
Our volunteer Lotta describes for you why the summer in a workcamp in France was a very special experience for her.
Travelling tips for France
The journey to France from Germany is not far and not complicated. All you need to enter the country is your identity card. There are direct train connections to Paris from Saarbrücken, Kaiserslautern, Mannheim, Frankfurt, Munich, Karlsruhe and Stuttgart. You can also travel very easily by train within France. The rail network in France is star-shaped, i.e. you can reach all major cities from Paris by train. The TGV express train is comparable to the German ICE; a trip from Paris to Marseille, the oldest French city on the Mediterranean Sea, for example, only takes three hours.
You can also get from Germany to France easily by long-distance bus. If you book your trip to the workcamp with Flixbus, contact us before booking - we can provide many volunteers with discount vouchers! Find more tips on how to make your trip to the workcamp as sustainable as possible here.
The 10 most important words in French
- Hello - Salut
- My name is.. - Je m'appelle...
- I'm from.... - Je viens de...
- Where is...? - Où est...?
- Yes - Oui
- No - Non
- Excuse me - Pardon
- Do you speak English? - Parlez-vous / Parles-tu anglais?
- I don't speak French. - Je ne parle pas français.
- Thank you - Merci
The workcamps in France are often bilingual, i.e. both English and French are official project languages. Basic knowledge of French is therefore helpful for participation, but is usually not a requirement. There are also some all-French-speaking camps on offer; this is noted in the respective project descriptions.
Find your camp in France now
Here you can search for workcamps in France which currently still have vacancies for volunteers from Germany: