Travel advice for France
From travel safety to visa requirements, discover the best tips for traveling to France
- Europe
- France
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The following itineraries are designed to lead you up, down and round about la belle France – picking out the crème de la crème of the country’s cities, valleys and mountains, vineyards and coastline.
14 days / from3891 USD
An active walking tour out of the way in France
Your trip starts with an in-depth introduction to France in Paris: several unique day excursions connect you with local Parisians to show you their city and way of life. Afterwards continue south to start a few days walking journey through Southern France before ending around Avignon.
view tour ⤍10 days / from2431 USD
Southern France – Walks in the Alpilles and Lavender fields
Start your tour in the coastal city of Marseille, exploring Cassis on the way. Around the Alpilles in Provence, you will be provided with detailed walking materials to explore the area on foot, from both Les Baux and St Remy. End your tour in famous Avignon.
view tour ⤍12 days / from2971 USD
Tasting Eastern France
A delicious yet active journey through Eastern France. Start your trip in Lyon with some unique food tours before setting off on a 4-day walk across the Beaujolais region. Almost every day ends with a wine tasting in your guesthouse, soothing for body and soul.
view tour ⤍10 days / from5616 USD
Taste of Three - Belgium, France and Switzerland
Start your journey in Belgium and explore Brussels, Ghent and Bruges. A high-speed train will then take you to Strasbourg, from where you'll discover the Alsace. Proceed to Basel as your base, from where you'll see plenty of Switzerland: Zermatt, Matterhorn, Mount Pilatus and much more.
view tour ⤍If you are planning your travel to France yourself, use these itineraries created by our travel writers as a starting point for inspiration.
1. Paris
Crossing off the iconic sights takes up most visitors’ first few days, but leave time for soaking up that legendary Parisian chic while relaxing in pavement cafés and squares.
2. Normandy
The chocolate-box port of Honfleur makes the obvious base for day-trips to the Bayeux tapestry, D-Day Beaches and Le Mont St-Michel.
3. Loire Valley
Use Amboise as your pied-à-terre in the beautiful Loire Valley, famed for its fairy-tale castles.
4. Dordogne
An abundance of medieval clifftop castles, prehistoric cave art and sublime local cuisine account for the enduring popularity of the Dordogne.
5. Carcassonne
Take in a couple of the southern Lot’s bastide towns and Cathar castles en route to the magnificently turretted Carcassonne.
6. Arles, West Provence
The elegant Pont du Gard and beautifully preserved theatre at Orange are just two of the many Roman vestiges within reach of Arles.
7. Gorges du Verdon, East Provence
String together as many villages perchés as you can on the high road across the Var to the awesome Gorges du Verdon.
8. The Alps
A jaw-dropping journey north through the heart of Europe’s highest mountains culminates with the snowfields of Mont Blanc.
9. Nancy, Lorraine
A serene and refined city, Nancy has one of the most elegant places in Europe – Place Stanislas.
10. Verdun
Travel back to the capital via the sobering monument to World War I’s fallen at Verdun.
1. Saumur, Loire
Known for its cool-climate-style whites, such as Sancerre, Vouvray and Muscadet, the Loire’s varied wines are best sampled from the pretty town of Saumur.
2. St-Émilion, Bordeaux
St-Émilion is an ideal springboard for visiting the famous châteaux around Bordeaux.
3. St-Jean-Pied-de-Port, Pays Basque
In the Pyrenean foothills, St-Jean is a delightfully picturesque medieval town where you can taste the luscious sweet wines of nearby Jurançon.
4. Béziers, Languedoc
The sun-drenched land sweeping from the Mediterranean coast is the world’s largest wine-producing region, and Béziers, its capital, is perfectly placed for tasting forays to Collioure, Banyuls and Faugères.
5. Bandol, Côte d’Azur
Low rainfall and oodles of sunshine are the hallmarks of the region to the east of Marseille, where the fishing village of Bandol is home to the flagship wine; reds and rosés rule the roost here.
6. Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Provence
The wines produced around this ancient village in the southern Rhône are legendary – and expensive.
7. Beaune, Bourgogne
Burgundy boasts more AOP designation wine than anywhere else and the medieval town of Beaune is the recommended base.
8. Colmar, Alsace
The Fecht valley, just west of Colmar, is striped with steeply shelving vines – source of Alsace’s finest Rieslings and Gewürtztraminers.
9. Épernay, Champagne
France’s champagne capital, Épernay, is the place to sample the country’s best bubbly.
1. Les Falaises d’Étretat, Normandy
The chalk cliffs, needles and arches of Étretat inspired Monet, Courbet, Flaubert and Maupassant in their day, and now offer a superb, if dizzying, coastal walk.
2. Les Volcans d’Auvergne
With their grassy slopes, cratered summits and ridgetops, the extinct volcanoes running across the Massif Central create a mountain environment unlike any other.
3. Grande Cascade de Gavarnie, Pyrenees
France’s tallest waterfall crashes 423 metres from the awesome Cirque de Gavarnie in the Pyrenees.
4. Gorge de l’Ardèche
Kayak down the magnificent Gorge de l’Ardèche, lined by 300-metre-tall limestone cliffs. Famous landmarks include the Pont d’Arc, the largest natural bridge in Europe.
5. Lavender fields, Provence
Immortalized in the paintings of Van Gogh and Cézanne, the lavender fields of the southeast are at their most fragrant in early summer.
6. Golfe de Porto, Corsica
The red porphyry cliffs of Corsica’s wild northwest coast rise from a bay of exquisite cobalt blue to a wall of snow-streaked granite mountains.
7. Les Gorges du Verdon, Vaucluse
France’s own Grand Canyon forms a spectacular trench in the Provençal limestone.
8. Mer de Glace, French Alps
Hop on the rack railway from Chamonix for a stupendous view of Europe’s largest glacier.
From travel safety to visa requirements, discover the best tips for traveling to France
written by Rough Guides Editors
updated 26.04.2021