Passport
Passport valid 6 months after the date of the return (+ return or continuation ticket) for French citizens. For other nationalities, please contact your consulate or embassy.
If you are travelling with your children, you should know that minors, regardless of their age, must now also have an individual passport. However, if the child, under 15 years of age, is registered on your passport issued before June 12, 2006, this registration is valid until the end of the passport’s validity.
A minor travelling alone does not need the authorization to leave the territory if he or she has an individual passport.
If your trip involves transiting through the United States:
To enter without a visa, any French traveller (this also applies to children regardless of age) travelling by air or sea to the United States (or transiting through the United States) for a tourist trip not exceeding 90 days, must be in possession of an individual electronic passport (horizontal reading and electronic chip symbol) or a valid individual machine-readable passport issued no later than October 25, 2005. A minor travelling alone does not need the authorization to leave the territory as long as he/she has an individual passport.
All French travellers going by air or sea to the United States (or transiting through the United States) for a tourist trip must be in possession of an ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorization) electronic authorization before boarding. The ESTA form must be printed, marked “authorization granted” and presented at check-in. This document, which is simply a boarding authorization, does not guarantee admission to the United States. Once granted, this authorization is valid for one or more entries for two years (or until the expiration of the applicant’s passport).
Online forms are available at: https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/ (the application must be made at least 72 hours before departure). There is a fee for ESTA authorization: US$14 (September 2010 rate), payable by credit card at the time of application.
Emergency and temporary passports:
For travel to or transit through the United States under the Visa Waiver Program, emergency and temporary passports are valid only in electronic format (e-passports). An e-passport has an embedded chip containing a digitized photo, identity data and other information about the holder; its cover bears a gold symbol. Currently, French temporary passports are not electronic.
Visa
No visa is required for French nationals (stay less than 3 months). For other nationalities, please contact the consulate or embassy.
Mandatory vaccinations
No vaccinations are required upon arrival.
Recommended vaccinations
Diphtheria, tetanus, poliomyelitis, hepatitis A and B, and whooping cough (whose reappearance among adults, even in France, justifies vaccination for all travel).
Time difference
GMT -5h. When it is 12:00 am in France, it is 6:00 am in Nassau. As in France, there is a time change between winter and summer.
Money
1 euro = 1.17 Bahamian dollars (same rate as the dollar).It is better not to come back with too many Bahamian dollars when leaving the archipelago because there are few exchange offices to take them back to France. Unless, of course, your stay calls for another one!
Electricity
In general 120 Volts. The plugs are different from the French ones so an adapter and a transformer are therefore necessary.
Telephone
To call the Bahamas from France, dial 00 + 1 + 242 + area code + the 7-digit number of the correspondent.
To call France from the Bahamas, dial 00 + 33 + your correspondent’s 9-digit number (i.e. without the initial 0).
Currency
The local currency is BSD
Wildlife
The Bahamas archipelago is home to nearly 1370 species of plants, 121 of which are endogenous (not found anywhere else in the world). Among them, one to take note of is the “guaiac”, the national tree of the Bahamas, a resinous tree very useful for shipbuilding because of its resistance.
As for the fauna, the beauty of the wildlife is not exclusively under the sea level because the Bahamas is home to over 90 species of butterflies as well as a great variety of birds. The reptiles are not left out with nearly 50 different species. On the underwater side, the array is obviously very colourful, with flamboyant parrotfish, curious morays and other usual tenants of the coral reefs. You can also meet dolphins or different species of sharks, an activity that is very successful in some islands of the archipelago.
Tourist office
France
Paris
Bahamas Tourist Office
113 rue du Cherche Midi – 75006
Tel: 01 45 26 62 62
fax: 01 48 74 06 05
http://www.bahamas.fr/
