Alsace
About 20 storks live year-round in the Enclos aux Cigognes, and more hang out on top of it. It’s 250m behind the Renaissance hôtel de ville; on foot,…
Must-see attractions in France
Brittany American Cemetery & Memorial
Mont St-Michel
Almost 5000 Americans who died during the Normandy and Brittany campaigns of 1944 are buried or memorialised at the Brittany American Cemetery & Memorial,…
Musée du Débarquement de Utah Beach
D-Day Beaches
This impressive museum is a few kilometres inland from the US landings at Utah Beach. Guided tours of the museum and of the landing site can be arranged…
Parc Naturel Régional des Volcans d'Auvergne
Uncover Salers' history in one of the most enigmatic buildings in town. This former Knights Templar house exposes local history and traditions among its…
Cathédrale Notre-Dame de la Nativité
Côte d'Azur
Vence's Romanesque cathedral was built in the 11th century on the site of an old Roman temple. It contains Chagall’s mosaic of Moses (1979), appropriately…
Versailles
Oriented to reflect the sunset, the Grand Canal, 1.6km long and 62m wide, is traversed by the 1km-long Petit Canal, creating a cross-shaped body of water…
Sarlat-la-Canéda
Tour this mansion, dating from the 13th century, in the heart of Sarlat to get a taste of how the bourgeoisie lived. There's a cabinet of curiosities in…
Sarlat-la-Canéda
The Lanterne des Morts is a dramatic monument – it's shaped like a giant rocket – that was built to honour a visit by St Bernard, one of the founders of…
Dijon
Originally built in the mid-16th century for Jean Maillard, mayor of Dijon, this Renaissance-style gem sports a façade richly ornamented with garlands,…
Èze
Down by the waterfront in Èze Mer, this private beach opens daily in warm weather, with sun loungers, umbrellas and dreamy Mediterranean views. Pricey…
Musée d’Art et d’Archéologie du Périgord
The Dordogne
The city’s museum displays fine Roman mosaics, prehistoric scrimshaw, medieval stonework from the Cathédrale St-Front, and interesting art (mainly from…
Centre International du Vitrail
Chartres
After viewing the stained glass in Chartres’ cathedral, nip into the town’s International Stained-Glass Centre, in a half-timbered former granary, to see…
Chapelle de l’Immaculée Conception
Bastia
Notable for its elaborately painted barrel-vaulted ceiling, the baroque Chapelle de l’Immaculée Conception served in 1795 as the seat of the short-lived…
Lyon
Lyon's Roman theatre, built around 15 BC and enlarged in AD 120, sat an audience of 10,000. Romans held poetry readings and musical recitals in the…
Colmar
Delicate stonework guides the eye to the polychrome mosaic roof and Mongol-style copper spire of this Gothic church. Its jewel-like stained-glass windows…
The Loire Valley
The exhibits here, which focus on La Sologne's 3000 étangs (ponds) – all of them human-made over the past millennium – come alive on guided tours,…
The Pyrenees
Works by Rubens and El Greco both figure at Pau’s fine-arts museum, but the museum’s prize piece is a famous Degas canvas, A New Orleans Cotton Office,…
Sarlat-la-Canéda
This attractive medieval courtyard can be reached via an alleyway off rue Tourny or from the Jardin des Enfeus. The passage from Cour des Chanoines leads…
Dijon
Figures of an owl and a cat perch high atop the roof of the 15th-century Maison Millière, which was a setting in the 1990 film Cyrano de Bergerac with…
Reims
The last great work by the Japanese-born artist Tsuguharu (Léonard) Foujita (1886–1968) is an arresting melange of Japanese and Italian Renaissance styles…
Sarlat-la-Canéda
Appropriate to its name this picturesque medieval courtyard contains a bubbling fountain. You can find it down an alleyway off rue Tourny or reach it from…
The Dordogne
This château, with portions dating from as early as the 12th century, though much of it is in the later Italian Renaissance style, is fully kitted out…
Lyon & the Rhône Valley
For the best views of Vienne and the Rhône Valley, head to this bluff that lords it over the old town and the Roman theatre. It's signposted and is topped…
Nancy
On a hot summer’s day, escape the crowds in this formal garden, with ornamental fountains, a rose garden and a Rodin sculpture of Baroque landscape…
St-Émilion
Climb 118 steps inside this sturdy square tower – what's left of a 13th-century donjon – for a 360-degree panorama of the town, Dordogne River and its…
Colmar
At the southern tip of rue des Marchands is this late-medieval customs house, with loggia and variegated tile roof, which now hosts temporary exhibitions…
Jardin des plantes de Coutances
Normandy
These delightful landscaped botanical gardens date to the mid-19th century and include a Cedar of Lebanon, magnolias and a large variety of flowers as…
Colmar
True to its name, this step-gabled house, built in 1609 for a wealthy wine merchant, is festooned with 106 grimacing faces and heads of animals, devils…
Colmar
Kids of every age delight at the sight of toys from generations past – from demure 1950s Barbies to Gaultier-clad dolls and Hornby train sets – at this…
Metz
On the eastern edge of the city centre, triangular place St-Louis is surrounded by medieval arcades and merchants’ houses dating from the 14th to 16th…
Versailles
At the eastern end of the Grand Canal, the Bassin d'Apollon was built in 1688. Emerging from the water in the centre is Apollo's chariot, pulled by…
Touraine
Yannick Amirault's reds are velvety, well rounded and almost creamy. His Bourgueil and St-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil vineyards are midway between Langeais and…
Dijon
Originally built in the 13th-century, the Hôtel Aubriot's elegant façade owes some of its current splendour to restoration work completed in the early…
The Dordogne
This 24.5m-high cella (inner shrine) is the last remaining section of a massive 2nd-century Gallo-Roman temple dedicated to the local goddess Vesunna.
Colmar
For photogenic views of Colmar's canal-woven Petite Venise district, head to this bridge at the top of rue de Turenne.
Sarlat-la-Canéda
This striking 16th-century Italian Renaissance–style house opposite Cathédrale St-Sacerdos is the birthplace of writer Étienne de la Boétie (1530–63).
The Jura Mountains
Near the Grottes de Baume, the Tufs waterfalls slosh dramatically over limestone boulders into the Dard River. There are picturesque walking trails nearby.
Burgundy
To better appreciate the abbey's vastness, climb the 120 steps to the top of this tower, once used to ripen cheeses. Access is through the tourist office.
Alsace
This late-13th-century stone and half-timbered gate, topped by a 25m bell tower, is worth a look for its panoramic views and small local-history museum.
Côte d'Azur
Cap Taillat is guarded by the Conservatoire du Littoral and shelters some of France's rarest plant species as well as a population of Hermann tortoises.
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