Lonely Planet France: Perfect for exploring top sights and taking roads less travelled (Travel Guide)

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Planning tip: If you're traveling with small kids and fancy a dip in the sea, you can't go wrong with the beautiful Plage d'Arcachon. It sits in a sheltered basin that ensures flat, calm waters at all times. 8. Plage de l’Amour, St-Tropez And France’s superb train network makes it easy to explore the far corners of this rich, varied country. We’ve highlighted the following journeys because they offer scenic beauty, keep up a vintage heritage or are just plan fabulous. Everything is a little more easygoing and gentle during the French shoulder season. As France warms up from April onwards, particularly in the south, that’s the time for a more leisurely exploration among the spring flowers.

The Dordogne holds two special distinctions – it's the home of many of France's top culinary delights, as well as being a land of fortified villages. Serenity may reign now, but during the Middle Ages, the area was often a battleground because the Dordogne River marked an important strategic frontier between English and French forces during the Hundred Years War. November brings plunging temperatures and two public holidays – November 1 and 11 – bring more closures as well as winter hours. But it’s a good time for a city break as prices go down. Sample gastronomic delights at the Annecy Wine and Food Festival or the Beaujolais Nouveau weekend. Flowing through central Paris, the Seine is flanked by many of the French capital’s most emblematic sights. Whether it's day or night, when the river’s ripples reflect the illuminated monuments, getting out on the water sees first-time visitors fall for Paris’ charms and return travelers – and even locals – rekindle the magic. Tempting as it is to cram in as much as possible, this is one of Europe’s largest countries, both in size and population, and rushing is counterproductive to French joie de vivre (enjoyment of life). Savoring small, daily rituals like people-watching over an apéro ( apéritif; predinner drink) on a cafe terrace enhances any trip and will probably become some of your favorite memories. Apart from a brief burst of activity during Christmas and New Year’s, France’s rural regions go into hibernation mode. Opening hours get even more restricted than usual, with many restaurants open three to four days a week. But cities are still lively.A resort’s ecological footprint is becoming increasingly vital to skiers. Green-thinking Morzine-Avoriaz hits the spot with renewable energy-powered chalet accommodation, electric-vehicle transfers and car-sharing, zero-waste initiatives and plant-based dining. Skiers can rent ski clothing from Crevasse Clothing, feast on artisan cuisine showcasing local produce at Avoriaz’s cool new hotel-restaurant hangout MiL8, drink zero-waste coffee roasted in the valley by Cafés Vorlaz and chink craft beer with local eco-riders at Morzine’s experimental microbrewery Bec Jaune. Both resorts, accessible by train to Cluses or Geneva and then shared transfer, carry the Flocon Vert (‘Green Snowflake’) label, awarded for sustainable practice to 11 resorts in France. When you’re visiting religious sights such as churches, dress modestly and cover bare shoulders (skip sightseeing altogether while worship and religious celebrations are taking place). Health and safety 13. Prevention helps avert petty theft Everything is happening at once in July – the incredible Tour de France, Bastille Day celebrations all around the country on July 14, major festivals in Avignon and Aix-en-Provence and Provence’s lavender fields in full bloom. Booking ahead is imperative and this isn't the time for a budget break. Once you’ve worked up an appetite, head to Le Bouchon Du Vaugueux for a taste of traditional dishes of the terroir made from locally-sourced seasonal products in a snug and convivial space – hone your French-listening skills by eavesdropping on neighboring conversations.

There’s nowhere in the Mediterranean quite like Corsica. Thanks to fierce local resistance, strong environmental protection and tight building rules, the coastline of this rugged, mountainous island has been spared the rampant tourism overdevelopment that has scarred so many Mediterranean beaches. The result is an island where ancient coastal forests still dominate, and dusty footpaths lead to serene white sands. The unexpected thing about this most famous of beaches is that many parts actually remain remarkably unspoiled and as beautiful as the day Brigitte Bardot first brought international fame to the town – and herself – in the 1956 film Et Dieu Créa la Femme ( And God Created Woman). 9. Grande Plage, Biarritz Make the most out of every adventure with help from our weekly newsletter delivered to your inbox. Le Train du Montenvers will get you up close to a glacier The French capital is likely to be one of your most unforgettable memories of France. Defined by icons like the Eiffel Tower glittering by night, Arc de Triomphe straddling the Champs-Élysées and Sacré-Cœur crowning hilltop Montmartre, Paris is crammed with megastar museums like the Louvre and impressionist-filled Musée d’Orsay; the mansion-housed Musée Carnavalet brings the city’s history to life.Founded in the 8th century, the beautiful Burgundy village of Flavigny-sur-Ozerain , some 36 miles (60km) northwest of Dijon, tells its medieval history through its ramparts, fortified gates, cobbled streets, artisans’ workshops, houses and hotels. Its aniseed sweets were made by Benedictine monks using green aniseed growing on the hill (a legacy of Julius Caesar’s field base here for treating troops Roman troops, who defeated Vercingetorix at nearby Alésia). Planning tip: Maps of the D-Day beaches are widely available, and local tourist offices have created a helpful e-booklet outlining it all. 7. Breton coast loop After WWII, the focus moved to the Mediterranean, but since the start of the 21st century, Biarritz has rediscovered its glam, with a new audience taking to the waters. Today though, they do so on surfboards, and Biarritz and its environs have gained a well-earned reputation as one of Europe’s finest surf destinations. Calling Les Calanques “beaches” is perhaps overstepping the mark. Not really beaches at all; they’re more a gathering of pebbles and sand set deep into a series of knife slits in the Mediterranean cliffs, massaged by clear, turquoise waters. France’s third-largest metropolis, at the confluence of the Rhône and the Saône Rivers in the country’s southeast, Lyon has long been a creative hub. In 1895, brothers Auguste and Louis Lumière shot the first-ever motion-picture reels of workers leaving their photographic-plate factory, La Sortie des Usines Lumières ( Exit of the Lumières Factories).