France

Plates long white, blue strips both sides (left more visible; rare old plates: yellow rear)

Italy: Italian front plates are much shorter; language decides.

French: é à è ù â ê î ô û ë ï ç œ - the -ux suffix is French-only; street = rue

Belgium: Belgian plates: white w/ red text.

Luxembourg: Yellow plates → Luxembourg.

Monaco: Dense high-rise + wealth → Monaco.

Switzerland: Low-cam + blurred car → Switzerland.

Iconic bollard: round white, pointed top, reflector band all around (grey or red); variants: two indented bands (also green/yellow) or wedge-shaped w/ wide rectangular reflectors - both France-only

The two rarer designs are unique to France; the classic pointed bollard has a Scottish lookalike with a blunt top - pointed = France.

Ladder/waffle poles (step-indent concrete) + 'French poletops' (diamond, 3 wires)

Spain: Blue pole plates → France; Spanish signage → Spain.

Rural: wooden + thin octagonal metal poles; small blue rectangular plates ('stickers') on poles = unique to France; poletop w/ insulators on top (arrowhead look) = unique

Gen4 smallcam (low mount, big blur, front protrusion) - like most of Western Europe

Small yellow road-number signs ('D…') on top of directional/town signs = unique; directional signs white w/ offset black border, arrow-shaped; highways blue/green; italic font for POIs

Town entry + road signs: red border w/ thin white outline (Spain: thick border to the edge); white sub-signs w/ black text; flat rectangular signposts (elsewhere only PT/ES/AD) often very short; unorthodox sign colours common

Spain: Spain's red sign border reaches the edge; Spanish language.

Portugal: Portuguese language.

Andorra: Catalan + Pyrenees microstate.

Chevrons white on blue, 1-5 arrows (Spain: only 2 or 4); pedestrian sign: 5 stripes + disconnected head (or dashed-line variant)

Spain: 1, 3 or 5 arrows → France.

Km markers: white w/ yellow or red semicircle top (waystone or flat, parallel or perpendicular); highways: square w/ red top

Outer lines = long spaced dashes; 'Z-block' middle dashes (two offset blocks) = France-only; unusually long middle dashes (also UK); end-of-passing-zone arrows (also ES/PT/RO; UK's point left)

The offset-block middle line is unique - the rest of the line metas are shared (UK/ES/PT/RO).

United Kingdom: The 'Z-block' offset-dash pattern never appears in the UK - if you see it, it's France.

A-type guardrails without reflectors (Spain/Andorra/Belgium use yellow reflectors; rare thin B-type); roadside Austrian-flag-coloured flag markers found nowhere else

The red-white-red flag markers are unique; plain A-type guardrails are pan-European.

Stone houses, unpainted/grey/yellow pastel; simple gable roofs w/ orange tiles or black slate; wall-to-wall townhouses (very diverse regional styles!); blue serif house numbers (Italy almost never blue)

Peugeot/Renault/Citroën ≈ half of all cars

13 regions / 96 departments (on the map!); area codes: 01 Île-de-France, 02-05 clockwise from NW; secondary 2X north → anticlockwise (9X = far NW + far SE); postal codes: first 2 digits = department number (mostly alphabetical - same code in the right plate strip)

Department logos on bus stops, km markers, signbacks (Occitanie = red-yellow Occitan cross; Pyrénées-Orientales = Senyera stripes - Provence similar but vertical)

Red/burgundy-tinted roads → between Paris and Dijon (+Normandy) - historical Burgundy

Coloured sign infra: dark green posts/backs → Brittany, Paris area, south; Eure-et-Loir = green logo sticker + superscript D-road decimals (D134.10); grey-green back + darker post → Côtes-d'Armor/E-Ille-et-Vilaine, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Alps; Pas-de-Calais = dark green post + lighter green back (+triangle logo); brown post+back → Seine-et-Marne; Haute-Garonne = burgundy attachments + yellow posts; Marne = combined thick town entry/exit blocks

Topography: tallest mountains SE + Spanish border; north/west flat-rolling, south hillier; NW (Normandy) = hedge-lined UK-like roads; stone pines → south coast (to Nantes); flat maritime-pine forests → Gironde/Landes; vineyards → Bordeaux, south coast, Champagne, Loire, Alsace, Corsica; sunflowers → SW (Toulouse); wind turbines → north

Architecture regions: black shingle roofs → NW of the Loire (+Belgian border, south-centre, Pyrenees - good Alps-vs-Pyrenees tell); Brittany = black roofs + edge chimneys + slate walls + stone-framed windows; rounded south-tiles; dark-red Flemish brick → Belgian border; bright orange brick → Toulouse; cream/orange stone w/ brick details → Paris-area towns; Riviera = Monaco-like palms & balconies (+harbour boat trekkers); Basque = white houses w/ coloured timber (Spanish Basque = unpainted); Alpine wood houses; Alsace = German timber framing + fish-scale roofs

Minority languages: Breton (Celtic, k/w/ñ, street = straed; Plou- towns → NW Brittany); Alsatian (gasse/strasse); Occitan (carrièra Toulouse / carriero Avignon); Basque (K X Z, street = karrika, thin font) → W-Pyrénées-Atlantiques; Corsican (Italian-like, -u endings); Catalan (carrer, ç) → Pyrénées-Orientales - French always dominates!

Toponym suffix map + rivers: -sur-[river] (shortened ˢ/), -sur-mer/-plage = coast only

Overseas (count as France): Réunion, Saint-Pierre & Miquelon, Martinique - each has its own page here

Street-sign city metas: Paris/Lyon/Marseille = the only cities w/ arrondissements (on the map!); Paris = green & Prussian-blue arch design (imitated in Bucharest!); Lyon = 4 corner bolts + notched inner border; Marseille = Greek-cross emblem + top-interrupted border; Bordeaux = 'Arrᵗ' tables (despite no arrondissements) + bordeaux-red posts in the outskirts; Montpellier = blue 'M' top-left; Lille = red slanted fleur-de-lis (unique)

Paris: mansard roofs (steep black shingle + dormers) on wide boulevards; Corsica: stone-mortar cuboid barriers (rounded-top ones ≠ Corsica); Belle-Île-en-Mer: Brittany houses w/ colourful facades, only oversaturated Gen2; lavender fields → SE; salt farms → Atlantic coast (Guérande, Île de Ré...)

Riviera: azure-blue painted signposts (Cagnes-sur-mer = powder blue); thin B-type guardrails on some northern highways (Le Mans/Tours/Paris/Reims/Metz axes); Gen3 antenna flags (colourful, France-unique) - distribution learnable