France

France has 45 sites inscribed in the UNESCO’s World Heritage List and features cities or sites of high cultural interest Paris being the foremost, but also Loire Valley (map), Toulouse (map), Strasbourg (map), Bordeaux (map), Lyon (map).

⇒ Customs & Visas • Places to go • Things to do

Small and picturesque French villages of quality heritage (such as Collonges-la-Rouge (map), Locronan (map), or *Montsoreau (map) are promoted through the association les-plus-beaux-villages-de-france.org (The Most Beautiful Villages of France).

With its international reputation for fine dining, few people would be surprised to hear that *French cuisine can certainly be very good. French cuisine as a whole has been inscribed on the UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage.

Paris hosts some of the world’s most recognizable landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower (map), which is the most-visited paid monument in the world, the Arc de Triomphe (map), the cathedral of Notre-Dame (map), or the Sacré-Cœur (map) on *Montmartre (map).

The *French Riviera (Côte d’Azur, map), in southeastern France, is the second leading tourist destination in the country, after the Parisian region. Main cities on the French Riviera include Nice (map), Antibes (map) and Cannes (map); Cap Ferrat (map) is also a popular destination.

Provence – numerous famous natural sites can be found in the region, as the Gorges du Verdon (map), the Camargue (map), the Calanques National Park (map) and the typical landscape of *Luberon.

Loire Valley – This World Heritage Site is noteworthy for the quality of its architectural heritage, in its historic towns such as Amboise (map), Angers (map), Blois (map), *Chinon (map), *Orléans (map), and Saumur (map) >> +*Châteaux of the Loire Valley)

French Alps are the portions of the Alps mountain range that stand within France, located in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (map) and Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur regions. Notable towns in the French Alps include Grenoble (map), Chamonix (map), Annecy (map) is called “the Venice of Savoie”, Chambéry (map), Évian-les-Bains (map) and Albertville (map).

Corsica – is the fourth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea after Sicily, Sardinia and Cyprus. It is a popular attraction for tourists with both cultural aspects (cities *Ajaccio and *Bastia) and geographical features (Parc naturel régional de Corse, map).

The coach companies compete with rail on price, which means they usually are somewhat cheaper than trains, sometimes much cheaper, especially if booked in advance. Trains will be more comfortable and sometimes much faster.

⇒ Public transport (parisinfo.com) • Getting to France (uk.france.fr)