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This paper addresses the relevance of speech rhythm acoustic measures for the description of some standard, regional and contact varieties of French. First, the limitation of conventional speech rhythm measures (e.g. %V, ΔC or PVI) for the description of French regional variations is pointed out. Then, alternative acoustic measures of speech rhythm, based on supra-segmental characteristics associated with timing (regularity of accentual phrases) and tempo (articulation rate, speech rate) are introduced and discussed. A comparison with the conventional measures proves that long-term measures provide a classification which is more consistent with the expected classification, either in terms of continuous similarities or typological differences.