Named for the French mainland’s hexagonal form, l’Hexagone comprises an astonishing range of pure and concrete landscapes full of exhilarating actions.
Glittering monuments, medieval villages, rolling vineyards, hovering peaks, pounding surf… France has all of it, and a lot extra it’s onerous to know the place to start out. Learn the way to get essentially the most out of your go to with 15 of the perfect issues to do in France.
Cruise by way of the center of Paris
Flowing by way of central Paris, the Seine is flanked by most of the French capital’s most emblematic sights. Whether or not it is day or night time, when the river’s ripples mirror the illuminated monuments, getting out on the water sees first-time guests fall for Paris’ charms and return vacationers – and even locals – rekindle the magic.
Much less touristy and extra versatile than customary sightseeing cruises, the Batobus makes a 1¾-hour loop. All-day passes allow you to hop on and off as usually as you want at its 9 stops: the Eiffel Tower; Invalides navy advanced (and town’s most stunning bridge, Pont Alexandre III); Musée d’Orsay, with impressionist, post-impressionist and artwork nouveau masterpieces; the stylish cafes and boutiques of St-Germain des Près; Notre Dame cathedral; Jardin des Plantes (botanic gardens) bordering the Latin Quarter; Paris’ metropolis corridor, the Hôtel de Ville (adjoining Le Marais’ hip bars and eating places); the rambling Louvre, showcasing antiquities and artwork together with the Mona Lisa; and the luxury-shop-lined Champs-Élysées, house to the Arc de Triomphe. It’s the final word ticket to Paris.
Breathe within the scent of Provence’s lavender fields
Within the south of France’s sun-drenched area of Provence, lavender blazes violet-blue from June to August, peaking in July. Driving alongside Les Routes de la Lavande (Lavender Routes), open your automotive home windows to let within the fragrance from the rows of aromatic flowers upholstering the countryside like corduroy.
The very best place to study lavender’s historical past, harvest and manufacturing is at eco-museum Musée de la Lavande within the picturesque Luberon; ebook forward for workshops (equivalent to portray with scented watercolors) and convey elements from Provence’s markets for a picnic.
Idyllic places to snap a quintessential picture additionally embody Abbaye Notre-Dame de Sénanque, a Twelfth-century abbey framed by lavender; the blooming fields across the honey-colored village of Sault; and farms and distilleries on the Valensole plateau, beneath the scoured limestone summit of Mont Ventoux.
Float over fairy-tale Loire Valley châteaux in a hot-air balloon
Southwest of Paris and surrounded by vineyards, the splendid castles and aristocratic estates in France’s Loire Valley make up a large Unesco World Heritage website that’s much more spellbinding when seen from the air.
France’s Montgolfier brothers invented the montgolfière (hot-air balloon) within the 18th century, and more moderen types of transport nonetheless can’t compete with drifting with the wind whereas absorbing the views in, aside from the hiss of the burner, blissful silence. From April to October, when flying situations are finest, firms equivalent to France Montgolfières function balloon flights within the Loire Valley simply after dawn and earlier than sundown, with a celebratory toast upon touchdown.
Discover epicurean heaven in Burgundy
With ribbons of stone-walled vineyards first planted by Romans and tended by monks from the native abbeys, bucolic Burgundy (Bourgogne in French), to Paris’ southeast, is synonymous with the wines that accompany regional specialities like snails, poultry, beef, truffles, mustard, cheeses, blackcurrants and gingerbread.
Burgundy’s capital, Dijon, is an ideal place to dive in: the Unesco-protected “French gastronomic meal” is the centerpiece of the 2022-opened Cité Internationale de la Gastronomie et du Vin (Worldwide Metropolis of Gastronomy and Wine), which sprawls over 16 acres (6.5 hectares). Whet your urge for food at its array of exhibitions, retailers, wine-school and cookery courses, and satiate it on the array of eating places and spectacular wine bar. South from Dijon, a number of the world’s most well-known vineyards unfold alongside the Route des Grands Crus.
Watch fountains dance to baroque music at Versailles
Wandering by way of ornate gardens on summer time days as plumes of water leap and splash to dramatic baroque music transports you again to the French monarchy’s glory days on the Château de Versailles.
France’s most opulent palace was constructed for King Louis IX on the positioning of his father’s searching lodge, 13 miles (22km) southwest of Paris within the mid-Seventeenth century by the best architects and artisans of the day. Louis XVI and his queen Marie-Antoinette later reveled in its extra, till the French Revolution ended the social gathering they usually had been guillotined.
On summer time Saturdays, you possibly can relive that lavish way of life with a “Royal Serenade” tour within the palace’s glimmering Corridor of Mirrors. Reserve forward for these and different seasonal occasions, equivalent to night-time exhibits with torches, candles and fireworks illuminating the gardens. The palace and grounds might be toured year-round.
Hit the slopes of the world’s largest ski resort within the French Alps
Schussing by way of contemporary powder reaches its zenith at Les 3 Vallées. Over an unlimited pure playground masking upwards of 111,197 acres (45,000 hectares), with 373 miles (600km) of ski runs, a cumulative 203,412ft (62,000m) of vertical drop and boundless freeriding alternatives, that is the most important ski resort on the earth. And its altitude means the snow season stretches from November into Could (exterior of which, the mountain climbing and mountain biking are epic).
At 7546ft (2300m), Val Thorens is Europe’s highest ski village; the Boismint & Plan de l’Eau’s descent is certainly one of Les Trois Vallées’ trophy runs. (Others embody St-Martin de Belleville’s Jérusalem, Meribel’s Olympic Roc de Fer and Courchevel’s Eclipse.) Rural Orelle, with a brand new cable automotive carrying you on to Val Thorens, makes a less expensive, off-the-beaten-track base.
Experience the waves in and round Biarritz
On southwestern France’s Atlantic coast, Biarritz’ belle époque villas, striped seaside tents, and ritzy cafes, eating places and spa inns retain a cachet from Napoleon III’s holidays right here. However you’re additionally as more likely to see surfers’ vans trawling the coast looking out for legendary waves in what’s now the surf capital of Europe.
Breakers roll in to the golden sweep of sand at Biarritz’ important metropolis seaside, Grande Plage. Past the Nineteenth-century lighthouse to the north, Anglet’s line-up of 11 seashores extending greater than 2.5 miles (4km) are famend for his or her constant swell and highly effective barrels.
North once more, Capbreton and Hossegor host main worldwide competitions. Surf colleges (select one with Féderation Française de Surf (FFS) registration) can get you out on the waves – and above them, with superior situations for kitesurfing.
Tour subterranean Champagne cellars in Épernay
Beneath Épernay’s elegant streets, a staggering 200 million bottles of bubbly are aged in a maze of greater than 68 miles (110km) of chilly chalk cellars. Delve under floor on excursions of well-known Champagne homes, together with Mercier, Moët & Chandon and De Castellane.
Above floor, the fantastically restored mid-Nineteenth-century red-brick mansion Château Perrier now homes the glowing 2021-opened Musée du Vin de Champagne et d’Archéologie Régionale (Museum of Champagne Wine and Regional Archaeology). From Épernay, you possibly can set out into the vineyards alongside a Champagne wine trail.
Retrace the footsteps of medieval pilgrims to Mont St-Michel
Like a mirage showing throughout the shimming sand – or rising from the ocean on the pace of galloping horses, due to Europe’s highest tidal vary of as much as 49 toes (15m) – the extraordinary abbey-island of Mont St-Michel sits off the coast of Normandy in northwestern France. Fortified through the Center Ages, the turreted, spire-topped abbey nonetheless sees Benedictine monks maintain companies right here most days.
Arriving at Mont St-Michel is one thing of a pilgrimage itself, as you cross the causeway by maringote (horse-drawn carriage), motorized shuttle or on foot (steep steps on the island are unavoidable). For the unique pilgrim expertise – and an up-close appreciation of the bay’s pure atmosphere, together with 130 completely different chook species – stroll barefoot throughout the bay with an accredited guide at low tide.
Go to the birthplace of cinema in Lyon
France’s third-largest metropolis, on the confluence of the Rhône and the Saône Rivers within the nation’s southeast, Lyon has lengthy been a inventive hub. In 1895, brothers Auguste and Louis Lumière shot the first-ever motion-picture reels of staff leaving their photographic-plate manufacturing facility, La Sortie des Usines Lumières (Exit of the Lumières Factories).
Throughout from the unique “Hangar du Premier-Movie” (“First Movie Shed”), preserved as a historic monument and built-in into a recent screening middle, is the household’s stunning artwork nouveau villa, the place museum reveals embody the brothers’ Cinematograph and different innovations and tools that introduced the magic of cinema to life. The gardens are a venue for Lyon’s Festival Lumière every October, with extra screenings, occasions and ceremonies across the vibrant metropolis.
Cycle round Carnac’s otherworldly megaliths
Shrouded within the mists of Celtic historical past in northwestern France, Carnac in Brittany is house to the best focus of megalithic websites wherever on earth.
Probe their origins on the Maison des Mégalithes, and pedal throughout the windswept panorama that includes greater than 3000 menhirs (standing stones), dolmens (capstone tombs) and tumuli (grave mounds) courting from Neolithic occasions (estimated to be between 5000 and 3500 BCE), making them older than Stonehenge.
Choose up bikes (conventional or electrical) from a handful of retailers round Carnac. Entry is restricted within the busy summer time months, however in any case, the traditional alignments are at their most mystical within the early morning or approaching nightfall on winter days.
Marvel at Matisse’s artistry on the Côte d’Azur
Stroll alongside Good’s pebbled seaside on the palm-lined Promenade des Anglais nearly any time of yr, and also you’ll see why the fantastic French Riviera gentle drew artists equivalent to Renoir, Picasso and Henri Matisse.
On the Genoese villa housing Good’s Musée Matisse, you will get an intimate perspective of his work, drawings and prints, cut-outs and sculptures, and go to his grave throughout the park.
For essentially the most ethereal instance of Matisse’s work, head 20 miles (32km) east to Vence, the place seeing sunshine filter by way of the stained-glass home windows of the chapel he designed, the Chapelle du Rosaire, is a profoundly religious expertise.
Paddle beneath the mighty Roman aqueduct Pont du Gard
From Collias in southern France’s Languedoc, a 1½ -hour-or-so paddle by canoe or kayak takes you alongside the winding Gard previous sunflower fields, rock formations and extraordinary Pont du Gard. A legacy of the Romans from circa 19 BCE, this three-tier, 52-arch aqueduct as soon as transported water from Uzès to Nîmes. Its monumental measurement turns into much more obvious wanting up from beneath.
Canoeing is feasible from March to October, however in spring and early summer time, the water degree might be excessive and the present sturdy; late summer time and autumn are prime. To save lots of the return journey, Collias’ rental outfits can gather you an extra half-hour downstream.
Hike up Puy de Dôme to survey the volcanic panorama
Deep in central France, you possibly can sense the panorama’s evolution in one of many nation’s wildest and most distant pure regional parks, the Parc Naturel Régional des Volcans d’Auvergne.
A part of the Chaîne des Puys, a 25-mile (40km) string of craters, cinder cones and lava domes now cloaked in beech and spruce forest, the head, Puy de Dôme, rises 4806ft (1465m). Climbing the dormant volcano to the grassy summit rewards you with swooping chook’s-eye views. Two routes, the steep Chemin des Muletiers (45 minutes to 1½ hours) and longer however steadier Chemin des Chèvres (2½ hours) make the ascent.
For a neater various, board the Panoramique des Dômes cog railway for a 15-minute journey. To stand up even greater, spiral above Puy de Dôme on a paragliding flight.
Ring within the festive season at Strasbourg’s historic Christmas market
Whereas Strasbourg is as fairly as an image in summer time, when geraniums spill out the half-timbered buildings’ window bins in canal-laced Petite France, the stunning Alsatian capital in northeastern France is much more enchanting come Noël. Relationship again to 1570, its Christkindelsmärik is the oldest Christmas market in France and one of many oldest in Europe.
From late November to late December, tons of of stalls promoting handcrafted toys, steaming mulled wine and bredle (Christmas cookies made with spices equivalent to cinnamon) arrange round Strasbourg’s Fifteenth-century Gothic cathedral. Place Kléber’s 98ft (30m) Christmas tree from the close by Vosges mountains is strung with decorations, and twinkling lights all through town create a winter wonderland.
