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Planning a trip to France? Whether you're a gourmand or a history buff, a sun seeker or a shopper, everything in this country seems to derive from or end up in Paris. It's the starting point for most trips, and with its world-class museums, ever-renewing neighborhoods, and cavalcade of classic and new restaurants, it'd be easy to spend your whole trip there. However, the rest of France provides an equally staggering embarrassment of riches. Hop a train south to Provence where Roman ruins sit among medieval villages and pine-covered mountains, and the Côte d'Azur, where celebs and socialites pack sunny beaches and swanky nightclubs.
Art lovers will want to reserve significant time for classics like the Louvre, Musée Rodin, and Musée d'Orsay in Paris, and then head to the many small Impressionist museums in Provence and along the coast. For architectural grandeur, explore the Gothic cathedrals in Reims, the Champagne region, and Normandy, as well as Paris's Notre-Dame, Sainte-Chapelle, and Saint-Eustache. Or head to the Loire Valley to tour (or spend the night in) the region's grand châteaux. And if you'd rather a feast for your stomach than your eyes, head to Lyon, the center of France's butter-and-cream culinary culture, or to Bordeaux, a revitalized city at the center of one of the world's most prestigious wine-growing regions. Any short visit will tend to excess, mais c'est la vie.
Founded in 1118 by Saint Bernard and finished in 1147, Fontenay Abbey is a masterpiece of Romanesque architecture and one of the oldest Cistercian monasteries...more
see the Burgundy guideThis important Romanesque abbey, founded in 1101 under the patronage of the Plantagenets, was ruled by a series of royal abbesses. After an interlude as a...more
see the Loire Valley guideOn the south side of the port lies the Basilique St. Victor, a Romanesque basilica constructed in the fifth century by St. Cassien, and then destroyed by the...more
see the Marseille guidePerfectly preserved medieval walls and turrets surround France's oldest port, at the southern end of the Camargue marsh. The town dates to Roman times, but its...more
see the Provence guideThe world's highest cable car soars 12,600 feet up the Aiguille ("Needle") du Midi, providing staggering views of Mont Blanc—at 15,780 feet, Western...more
see the Chamonix guideAmboise is, above all, a spectacular site. The immense château royal looms above the river right in the center of town, with its tiny Gothic chapel...more
see the Loire Valley guideThe cradle of the Plantagenet kings and former capital of the counts of Anjou is perhaps the most agreeable of the main Loire cities. It is dominated by its...more
see the Loire Valley guideAntibes is an odd combination of cutesy medieval town and luxury yacht harbor, with one of the Côte d'Azur's longest stretches of beach at its western...more
see the Côte d'Azur guideThis is Vincent's town, as you can see when you look at the live copy of his Café du Soir standing in the Place du Forum or visit l'Espace van Gogh, the...more
see the Provence guide
About ten miles south of Mont Beuvray, on the southern edge of the Morvan, is Autun, a walled city founded by Augustus Caesar. One of France's great cathedrals,...more
see the Burgundy guide
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