Guide to France's main attractions:
The
North
***Paris: the world's most seductive
city for sights, arts, culture, gastronomy, and romance...For more
information and a gallery of travel pictures see Paris
Travel Guide.
Ile du France: [a region around Paris]
***Versailles, one of the most famous palace in Europe, with vast,
ornate buildings and beautiful gardens, as well as a formidable
history. For more information and pictures see Versailles.
The North and Jura:
*Strasbourg [Picture]
a pretty EU city, dominated by the awesome **Cathédrale de
Notre-Dame in pink sandstone.
**Amiens Cathedral, France's largest chunk of Gothic architecture;
especially marvellous during the sound and light show on summer
evenings.
*Champagne tasting at Epernay.
The Loire:
The region is tranquil and pastoral yet loaded with castles, palaces
and stately homes. For more information and pictures see
Loire.
Burgandy:
*Dijon, one of the France's most inviting provincial cities, known
for it's mustard and an ideal base for staggering around the Côte
d'Or vineyards.
It has several notable museums, too. Do not miss **the Hôtel-Dieu
[15th century hospital with a multicoloured, patterned roof in the
nearby town of Beaune.
**Basilique Sainte Madeleine [a Romanesque church in Burgandy style]
in Vézelay and **Fontenay Abbey [Cistercian monastery] near
Montbard, despite the herds of tour buses, the magnificent abbeys
are travel-worthy.
Normandy:
*Mont Saint Michel
[World Heritage Site], a magnificent Gothic Abbey on a tiny fortified
island, ready to be swept away by marshy waves.
Brittany:
*St-Malo, an attractive medieval port, this is an ideal base to
visit the region's archaeological sights and Celtic culture. [See
Festivals]
Nearby, there is *Côte de Granit Rose, a popular seaside resort
with strange pink rock formations along white sandy beaches - from
Perros-Guirec to Ploumanach. An excellent region for families.
**Carnac, is one of the world's most important prehistoric sites
with more than 5,000 rows of megaliths [huge, standing stones].
The
South
Atlantic coast:
***Arcachon, a lovely little summer beach resort surrounded by a
massive pine forest and hosting Europe's largest dune. Arcachon
pictures and more information
***Bordeaux, A sophisticated city with an elegant old town centre
of neo-classical architecture, surrounded by globally famous vineyards.
**Biarritz, a popular resort with fine beaches in classy settings,
known as one of Europe's best surfing sites. A day-trip [8 km] from
Bayonne is possible.
Just 20 minutes drive from Biarritz is the stunning little beach
resort of St Jean de Luz with a great beach and wonderful Basque
architecture. St Jean and Biarritz
pictures and info
The Alps:
***Chamonix, a world-famous mountain resort, lies in a valley at
the foot of Mont Blanc. It is fashionable and lively, so crowded
with hikers and skiers throughout the year. Chamonix
picture and info
***Aiguille du Midi offers breathtaking cable-car [one of the world's
highest] travel from the town, with spectacular views of the Alpine
peaks. Unmissable.
** Mar de Glace, train travel to a glacier cave - another fascinating
trip.
**Annecy, one of the
most charming towns in the Alps, with a photogenic setting beside
Lac d'Annecy [lake], it is always invaded in high seasons.
The
Dordogne and the Massif Central
**Monpazier, the best preserved 'bastide' [fortified town].
**Carcassonne, a very picturesque medieval city with a well-preserved cité [old fortified town]. Remarkable, but you'll need
to fortify yourself against all the other France travel freaks.
Les Eyzies, a bland village but with an excellent Stone Age Museum
[Musée National de Préhistoire], this is a prime base
for travelling around the prehistoric cave arts in the Vèzére
valleys, while *Montignac is a pleasant base for the Lascaux caves.
The must-see caves are:
***Grotte de Front-de-Guume with a vividly painted 'Frieze of five
bison'
**Grotte des Combarelles, ***Grotte de Lascaux and Lascaux II, are
known for their fine paintings, including the largest known prehistoric
drawing of a bull, 5.5 m in size. Limited tickets are available daily
to those sites so it's essential to book ahead in high season.
**The Gorges de l'Ardèche, a gorge starting with the Pont d'Arc,
a picturesque and natural stone arch, then winding into the Rhône
Valley.
Kayaking and canoeing is fantastic way to travel through this scenic
landscape. |
|
Provence/the Rhône Valley:
***Avignon, a delightful city of art and culture, situated in beautiful
location and full of character - and tourists. The main attractions
are the fortified Popes' Palace, Pont St Bénézet and
some great museums. It's totally mad to be there during the summer
festival, but it's still a must.
Other travel-worthy places are:
**Aix-en-Provence, another pretty city, known for its classical music
festival, **Arles, the site of Van Gogh's later years, with a Roman
amphitheatre,
*Orange, with France's best preserved Roman theatre. And medieval
hilltop villages such as **Gordes, Fontaine-de-Vaucluse, Les Baux,
and Saignon.
***The Gorges du Verdon, France's grandest canyon. See
Verdon Gorge.
The Côte d'Azur [Marseilles - Menton]/
Riviera [Cannes-Menton]:
Lovely, evocative names but the reality is traffic, crowds and diminuitive
beaches - many of them pay-per-parasol and/or stony, but lots of action,
people watching, good and [surprisingly] low cost eating, drinking,
shopping. And the Mediterranean is still refreshing!
Cannes is smaller, more arty and has sandy beaches but Nice
is bigger and offers some wonderful 19C buildings as well as the spectacular
Promenade des Anglais, but both are lively, while Menton
on the Italian border is tiny and quiet but a bit dull.
Monaco is the tiny [less than
a square mile], tedious, independent, silly-rich principality embedded
in the Riviera between Nice and Menton and worth a drive-thru shooting
[pictures of course].
The Pyrenees:
**Pic du Canigou, a sacred mountain with a Romanesque monastery, St
Martin.
**Sarlat-La-Canéda, a beautiful town which attracts visitors
for its lovely Renaissance architecture.
Try the region's cuisine, specializing in Truffes du Périgord
[black truffles] and Foie gras.
*** The Parc National des Pyrenees covers 460sq km [180 sq miles]
of area along the France/Spain border, with Sommet du Vignemale [3,300m],
the highest mountain in the Pyrenees. The park is fantastic for climbing
and hiking with 350km of trails.
*** Beaches:
A variety on offer, ranging from big, sandy Atlantic stretches with
cool, surfy water to small, warm, crowded strands on the south coast
where you may have to pay to mix with casualties from London and Paris
style wars on stony ground. Or head to Corsica for more space, less
development and some superb sandy crescents. See
France Beach Pictures | Corsica
Beaches
***Corsica
A small and rugged island four hours by ferry southeast of Nice
in southern France, it's about 160 kms/100miles long and 80kms/50miles
at its widest.
The birthplace of Napoleon and still French territory in spite of
local demands for independence, Corsica is a popular holiday target
not only for French travellers but also European tourists in search
of a mild climate, warm seas, piles of fine sandy beaches and dramatic
hiking trails through an unspoilt and picturesque landscape of mountainous
red and grey granite outcrops separated by huge swathes of pines
and eucalyptus trees. See: Corsica Pictures
*** Ski resorts:
A superb collection of stylish towns and pistes in big scenery with
classic names. See Skiing.
Cookery
Courses:
Chef wannabe? Cooking classes in English run by celebrated chefs
or simpler regional cookery schools are available.
Wine/Champagne tour: Guided tours or on-the-spot-activities from
grape picking [picture] to tasting are available in wine regions
such as Alsace, Champagne, Burgandy, the Loire and Bordeaux.
If
you plan to travel in France you may find these other Bugbog guides
useful:
UK
Guide | Spain
Guide | Italy
Guide
Germany
Guide | Austria
Travel
Belgium
Travel | Portugal
Travel
Czech
Republic |
