France Itineraries

France is the most visited country on Earth, and has been for decades. The reasons are not hard to understand: a concentration of world-class art, architecture, food, wine, and landscape that is perhaps unequalled in such a compact territory. From the chalk cliffs of Normandy to the snow-streaked peaks of the Alps, from the lavender fields of Provence to the Atlantic beaches of the Côte d'Argent, France contains in a single country what most nations can only dream of offering across several. Paris, the capital, is a city that does not need introduction. Beyond the headline attractions — the Eiffel Tower, Louvre, Notre-Dame (being painstakingly restored after the 2019 fire), Champs-Élysées, Montmartre, Musée d'Orsay — Paris rewards slow neighbourhood exploration, from the Jewish and LGBT quarters of the Marais to the bohemian cafés of the Left Bank, the foodie markets of the 11th, and the canals of the 10th. A thirty-minute train ride brings you to the gilded palace and gardens of Versailles, a monument to the excesses that triggered the French Revolution. The French countryside spreads out from the capital in every direction. The Loire Valley, ninety minutes south-west, is dotted with more than 300 châteaux — Chambord, Chenonceau, Villandry — set among rolling farmland and serious vineyards. Normandy and Brittany in the north-west offer the D-Day beaches, the monastic island of Mont Saint-Michel, half-timbered villages, and crêpes served in buckwheat-flour galettes. Burgundy and Champagne, east of Paris, are wine country with global reputations — the Route des Grands Crus winds past village after village whose names appear on wine lists in every great restaurant on Earth. To the south, Lyon has a claim to being France's gastronomic capital, with more Michelin-starred restaurants per capita than Paris and a medieval old town that rivals any in Europe. Provence combines Roman ruins in Nîmes and Orange with perched hilltop villages in the Luberon, perfumed fields in Grasse, and a palpable light that drew Van Gogh and Cézanne. The French Riviera, from Saint-Tropez to Menton, still has the glamour of yachts and casinos in Nice, Cannes, and Monaco, while quieter stretches like Cassis and the Calanques offer dazzling turquoise coves. The French Alps are world-class in every season — Chamonix and Val d'Isère for skiing and climbing, the Tour du Mont Blanc for summer hiking — and the Basque country in the south-west has a culture, cuisine, and landscape distinct from anywhere else in France. French cuisine remains, for good reason, one of the two or three most influential in the world. And almost everywhere, a café terrace, a glass of local wine, and a decent boulangerie are never far away.