International Student Accommodation in Grenoble
City Guide
The City
The heart of the French Alps. A mountain at the end of every street.
Grenoble is a fantastic place to spend a year abroad. A fantastic location in terms of its centrality for Lyon, ski resorts, the South and also being 3 hours away from Paris by TGV. Grenoble is a relatively small city with beautiful views, surrounded by the Chartreuse, Vercors and Belledonne mountains. These mountains form the backdrop of your year abroad.
Grenoble has a fantastic city centre full of small cobbled streets packed with high street shops, smaller boutiques and many cafes, restaurants and bars.
Out and About
The city centre begins at Arret du tram Victor Hugo and goes along to Arret du tram Notre Dame Musee. Victor Hugo is a fantastic square in both summer and winter. Summer sees all the beautiful flowers in bloom; winter sees numerous stalls and of course the famous Christmas Markets. People use Place Victor Hugo to get away for the afternoon or to enjoy the sun during their lunch breaks. Surrounded by cafes and shopws alike; it is a place for both the young and the old. The Palais de la Biere is highly recommended. As the name suggests it has many beers from around the world. It also does fantastic cocktails and if your lucky you might catch the nightly ‘Happy Hour’ buy one get one free! You will also be able to get a reasonably priced meal of good quality. In summer you can sit outside in the square and watch the world go by. You will also find Zara, Camaieu, Hugo Boss, Sephora, amongst other high street shops around the edge of the square.
Place Grenette is a real hive of activity. A plethora of cafes and restaurants awaits you in this central square. On the corner is Galaries Lafayette, a fantastic department store for all ages selling some nice designer clothes and bags too, if you are looking for something fancy. Place Grenette also leads towards Place aux herbes if you follow Grande Rue, where on a Sunday you will find a fantastic market selling as the name suggests, many fantastically fresh herbs. This is a must if you are a keen cook. Around Place aux herbes you will also find some excellent bars and cafes: London Pub, with the underground sign, is a favourite for international people, you will easily find a friend here!
Overlooking the town is La Bastille. Feeling fit, you can take the 30-45 minute brisk walk up the steps on either side of La Bastille. If you don’t feel like hiking up, don’t worry, you can take the thrilling cable car ride from Quai Stephane Jay which is just behind Le Jardin de Ville. The comically named Les Boules, as they look like balls taking people up to La Bastille. It takes less than 5 minutes and goes over the Isere river, which is a little scary if you’re afraid of heights, but the view is worth the short lived fear of heights. On a clear day you can see all the way to Mont Blanc! You have an excellent bird’s eye view of Grenoble, and seeing how big the city really is, with the surrounding mountains all too eminent. You may also wish to carry on walking as La Bastille is on a mountain itself and upon reaching over 1000m you feel like you really are at one with nature and there are some superb views to be had, although not for the faint hearted. Make sure you are physically capable of climbing to that height before causing yourself danger. Above all don’t forget your camera! La Bastille is not to be missed.
Transport
Grenoble has an excellent public transport system, run by TAG: Transport en commun de l’Agglomeration Grenobloise. There are three tramlines which are easily accessible all over the town. Two tramlines run through the SNCF train station, making crossing town after a long journey very easy. Trams run very frequently during the day but not so much at night. They also stop running between midnight and 1am depending on the line. If you do miss the last tram however, there are very respectable taxi company available.
Tram tickets are not too expensive so dont forget to buy a ticket. The transport police are very strict: if you are caught on one of the regular spot checks without a valid ticket, you will be charged around 40€ on the spot. I would suggest buying a pass for the year if you are sure you will use the tram every day as you will appreciate after your first week, you do get your money’s worth. You also have to validate your ticket each time you get on the tram: this is used to help predict the future usage and assists the improvement of the network.
Buses are also a great method of transport, you can travel within Grenoble and beyond. Tickets are also discounted if you are a student, so do use your student card. To find out more specific information, the Gare Routiere, Bus Station, is just by the SNCF train station so you can get your bus times there.
You can catch trains from Grenoble SNCF all over the region and you can also get the TGV to Paris which takes less than three hours. I would recommend buying a Carte 12-25 if you fit into this age range as it will get you a discount of up to 50%. If you don’t want to pay the 50€ for this and you are in this age range, make sure you tell the cashier your age as you will also receive a small discount on the tickets.
University
Lectures in France are mainly dictated and only the rare few will pose questions and incite debate. It is expected that students will sit and listen, taking notes as a dictation for the 50minute lecture periods. It is common practice to have lectures that are two-three or even four hours long. There will be 50minutes of teaching followed by a ten-minute break. Tutors will arrive at a lecture within a minute of it starting and leave within the minute of it ending. There is a real distance between students and staff in France.
It is recommended to go skiing with the university ski club. It is cheap and you receive high quality ski lessons for free! Local Decathlon stores provide a good service of ski equipment hire, or you can also hire equipment from the resorts itself or indeed other ski shops in town.
Food and Drink
Grenoble has a fantastic eclectic mix of restaurants and cafes from around the world.
Little Italy- can be found on the other side of the Isere river from the town centre on Quartier Saint Laurent. The whole street is full of fantastic Italian restaurants, all reasonably priced. You won’t be surprised to find that most evenings the restaurants are well occupied by hungry clients!
There are also many Creperies which sell both savoury and sweet French pancakes which are delicious and reasonably priced also. Recommendations include the creperie near Place Grenette or the one which faces Notre Dame musee.
Pain Quotidien- located near Place aux Herbes, has a fantastic atmosphere and makes great salads of all varieties. Reasonable prices and a fantastic atmosphere. Arrive early to avoid disappointment as they are often very busy!
Annual Festivals
Beaujolais Wine festival- the arrival of the new Beaujolais wine in November is a highlight where everyone spends the evening with friends sampling the new Beaujolais wine.
Marches de Noel- or ’The Christmas markets’; is very popular where you can sample regional specialties such as Tartiflette and Raclette and join in the festivities. Just remember to get there early to make sure you sample everything.
The boring stuff
When you first arrive in Grenoble there are a number of things that we suggest you get out the way.
Housing Benefit; As a student in France you will be eligible for housing benefit. It is a monthly payment offered by the state to help students to afford their rent. In order to receive this benefit you must apply for it at the Caisses d’Allocations Familiales or CAF as it is better known. You can apply for housing benefit either on-line or at the CAF itself.
We do recommend that you try to complete the necessary paperwork on the internet as the waiting time at the CAF is notoriously long. If you have any problems filling out the forms don’t hesitate to ask us for a hand!
Gas and Electricity; When you move into a private apartment in Grenoble you must call GEG (Gaz et electricite de Grenoble) to register yourself as the new occupier so that they can send you your bills. Keep an eye on the bill though as you should only pay for what you use! You can pay by cash at La Poste, you can send a cheque or you can pay by Direct Debit. In France to complete a direct debit you must have a RIB from your bank. This is a slip of paper with all your bank details on.
Bank Account; When you arrive we recommend that you open a bank account asap. Having a French bank account will allow you to pay bills and manage your money more easily. There are a number of Banks to choose from all offering slightly different packages. We can however recommend La Banque Postale. This is a subsidiary of the post office ’La Poste’. The advantage of having a bank account with ’La Poste’ is that you will be able to access your money and carry out transactions from practically anywhere in France, unlike other banks who often require that you return to the holding branch to carry out any transfers or transactions.
Another useful tip is to use an English Nationwide current account, as withdrawals and the use of cards in shops is free. Usually the exchange rate is pretty good as well, i.e. More euros for the pound!!!!
Transferring Money; Thanks to our english banking service you are able to pay your rent into an English bank account so you will not be charged a transfer fee or be stung by exchange rates. In order to fully benefit from this fact we suggest that you use travelers cheques to transfer money between accounts. Travelers cheques are secure and there is no charge for cashing them. It is an ideal way to move money between your English and French account without losing money.
Guide written by Charlotte Jayne Coupland, exchange student Grenoble, 2006/2007.
There are currently no reviews for this city!
