Plan Your Trip
France's Top 12
1Paris
Romance and culture in the City of Light
Possibly claiming more famous landmarks than any other city in the world, the French capital evokes all sorts of expectations – and more than lives up to the promise. Think grand vistas across tree-shaded boulevards, romance along the Seine, world-class art museums, magnificent monuments evoking glorious histories, buzzing cafe pavement terraces and a bevy of city bistros. Allow yourself plenty of time to absorb, embrace and enjoy.
FRANCE'S TOP 12 PLAN YOUR TRIP
2Loire Valley
Fabulous châteaux, medieval to Renaissance
If it's aristocratic pomp and architectural splendour you're after, this regal valley west of Paris is the place to linger. The Loire is one of France's last fleuves sauvages (wild rivers) and its banks provide a 1000-year snapshot of French high society. The valley is riddled with beautiful châteaux sporting glittering ballrooms and lavish cupolas. Hopeless romantics seeking the perfect fairy-tale castle, head for moat-ringed Azay-le-Rideau or supremely graceful Chenonceau.
FRANCE'S TOP 12 PLAN YOUR TRIP
3Champagne
The heart and soul of French bubbly
Nothing quite fulfils the French dream like easy day hikes through neat rows of vineyards, exquisite picture-postcard villages and a gold-stone riverside hamlet. This is Champagne, the land of French bubbly where everyone – from world-famous Champagne houses in Reims and Épernay to passionate, small-scale vignerons (winegrowers) in drop-dead gorgeous villages along the exquisite Marne driving routes – lives, breathes and dreams the region's fizzy liquid gold. Do the same.
FRANCE'S TOP 12 PLAN YOUR TRIP
4Nice
Riviera high life for savvy urbanites
There is no savvier city for soaking up the glitz, glamour and hedonist lifestyle of the mythical French Riviera. Undisputed queen of this Mediterranean kingdom of shimmering seas, idyllic beaches and lush hills, Nice is one of France's smartest urban hangouts. Its old town is gorgeous, its street markets buzz and it knows how to party. Take the dramatic trio of coastal roads, impossible to drive without conjuring up the glitz of Riviera high life.
FRANCE'S TOP 12 PLAN YOUR TRIP
5Provence
Slow touring around lazy lunches
Sip pastis over pétanque (boules) on the village square, mingle over buckets of herbs and tangy olives at the weekly market, hunt truffles, taste Côtes de Provence rosé and congratulate yourself on arriving in Provence. At home in France's hot, sultry south, this region is a place that calls for slow touring around lazy lunches – be it motoring past scented lavender fields and chestnut forests, cycling through apple-green vineyards, or hopping between hilltop villages.
FRANCE'S TOP 12 PLAN YOUR TRIP
6Brittany
Outdoor capers with cider and crêpes
With its wild coastline, islands stitched together with craggy coastal paths, medieval towns and thick forests laced in Celtic lore and legend, this is a land for explorers. Pedalling past open fields dotted with megaliths gives a poignant reminder of Brittany's ancient human inhabitants, while the enthralling city of St-Malo promises visitors pure drama. Throw back a cider, bite into a sweet crêpe, rev up your sense of Breton adventure and tuck in.
FRANCE'S TOP 12 PLAN YOUR TRIP
7Lyon
Gastronomic capital of France
No city in France excites taste buds quite like Lyon, France's second-largest city commandeering the vineyard-laced Rhône Valley in eastern France. The red-and-white checked tablecloths could be anywhere in France, but it's the extraordinary piggy-parts cuisine and quaint culinary customs that makes Lyonnais dining so unique. Fabulous street markets, a stunning old town and fascinating silk-weaving heritage complete the ensemble.
FRANCE'S TOP 12 PLAN YOUR TRIP
8Normandy
Emotional histories in northern France
This coastal chunk of northern France is a pastoral land of butter and soft cheeses, a kingdom where creamy Camembert, cider, fiery apple brandy and super-fresh seafood entice and inspire. Seductive is its coastline, a wind-buffeted ribbon of chalk-white cliff and dune-lined beach, climaxing with the mysterious, iconic, tide-splashed island-abbey of Mont St-Michel and D-Day landing beaches of 1944. In a small town called Bayeux meanwhile, history buffs relive the Norman invasion of England in 1066 with a world-famous Bayeux Tapestry.
FRANCE'S TOP 12 PLAN YOUR TRIP
9Marseille
Two millennia of Mediterranean heritage
The Greeks loved it and so will you after a while: hot sultry Marseille grows on visitors with its unique history, fusion of cultures, souk-like markets, millennia-old port and hair-raising corniches (coastal roads) chicaning around spectacular rocky inlets, surprise coves and glistening sun-baked beaches. The icing on the cake: the striking Musée des Civilisations de l’Europe et de la Méditerranée, a state-of-the-art museum showcasing Mediterranean history and mind-blowing panoramas across one of the Med's most bewitching cities.
FRANCE'S TOP 12 PLAN YOUR TRIP
10Bordeaux
Fine wine and gourmet dines in southwest France
The city of Bordeaux is a name synonymous with some of France's finest wine. Little wonder then that this elegant, architecturally rich city on the Garonne River oozes tasteful splendour from every historic crevice. A feast of gourmet dining awaits foodies and wine-tasting opportunities are outstanding, kicking off with the ground-breaking La Cité du Vin. Around town, country lanes wiggle past vine-striped hills into the magnificent châteaux-specked Médoc and St-Émilion wine-growing regions.
FRANCE'S TOP 12 PLAN YOUR TRIP
11French Alps
Mountain-and-lake outdoor action
Crowned by Mont Blanc (4810m), the French Alps show no mercy in their outdoor-action overload. At the heart of these big mountains is the iconic ski resort of Chamonix, birthplace of mountaineering and winter playground to the rich, famous and not-so-famous. Hop aboard the Aiguille du Midi cable car for the ride of a lifetime above 3800m. For foodies, fondue is the tip of the culinary iceberg in this Alpine region where cow’s milk goes into dozens of cheeses.
FRANCE'S TOP 12 PLAN YOUR TRIP
12St-Tropez
Sexy Riviera fishing port with bags of glamour
Sizzling St-Tropez is the French Riviera's hangout of choice on the Med for celebrities and star-spangled party aficionados in summer, but the Riviera town is strangely quiet the rest of the year. Sit for hours in a bottleneck to arrive in August and curse the old fishing port; arrive by boat on the shimmering Mediterranean and love it forever. Indisputable assets: bewitching light, brilliant sandy beaches, fabulous market, chic bars, nightlife on the sand.
