van rental for 12 in France

Call Autoeurope in Portland,ME for help. I would think it would be preferable to rent several smaller cars as a large van could not manuever well inthe smaller towns.

Does a driver need a special license to operate a van with more than 8 seats?

As an aside, I priced a vehicle handling eight of us in Ireland, and settled on renting two smaller cars as being far more affordable. Please let us know your final decision.

A 12 passenger van is unlikely to carry 12 people PLUS all their luggage.

Two 8 passenger vans may be what is needed for 12 bodies plus luggage .

Probably easier to find an 8 passenger van vs 12 passenger

Do you have only one driver? I second Auto Europe, but call do not use the website because it is likely that the large vans will not appear in your results. If you are the only driver, I would actually get the 15 passenger vehicle that they offer because you will have trouble getting 12 people and their luggage into the 12 passenger van. I know someone who tried and they had to get a second vehicle (luckily, there was a second driver). The 12 passenger holds 12 passengers, 4 suitcases and 2 or 3 bags. Also, 9 passengers is often the cut-off for needing a special license so you may want to ask that specific question. I'd get two 7 or 8 passenger vehicles if there is a second driver.

JHK and Tocard are correct: one would need a particular kind of license to drive a van seating 12 people. That would be classified as an "M2" vehicle (one designed and constructed to carry more than 8 passengers in addition to the driver and having a maximum weight less than or equal to 5 metric tons). To drive that in France, you would need what's called a "permis D." The standard permit for driving a typical car is a "permis B."

As a foreigner on a short-term stay (fewer than 185 days, if I recall correctly), you can drive vehicles in France that are the same type you are licensed to drive in your home country, as long as you can show your license indicating that, along with either an International Permit (make sure they stamp the "D" category) or an official translation of your license (meaning an apostille if done by a translator outside the U.S. or in France by a traducteur agréé (certified translator).

From a practical perspective, more than one smaller vehicle would be a better choice, in my opinion, rather than one rubber-tired beast for which it would be difficult to maneuver on narrow roads, difficult to find parking, and more likely to be damaged by scraping up against building corners or other vehicles.