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Tourist
attractions in France
This guide
covers continental France and Corsica, but does not include French
overseas departments and territories . In no way is it a complete guide
- that would require an encyclopaedia ; its aim is to provide an
informed general overview for tourists and visitors, to help you plan
your stay or your coming holiday in France.
Top
sites: the most visited tourist attractions in France
The top twenty most visited paid-entry tourist sites in France, 2006 (source French national
statistical office)
- Eurodisney, Paris
12.8 million visitors
- The
Louvre, Paris
8.3 million visitors
- The Eiffel Tower
Paris
6.7 million visitors
- The Georges
Pompidou centre and museum of art, Paris
5.1 million visitors
- Château de Versailles, near Paris
4 million visitors
- La Villette science museum, Paris
3 million visitors
- Orsay
museum of the 19th century Paris
3 million visitors
- Parc
Astérix, Plailly near Paris 1.7
million visitors
- Futuroscope theme park, Poitiers
1.4 million visitors
- Arc de Triomphe, Paris
1.3 million visitors
- Le
Puy du Fou theme park Vendée
1.2 million visitors
- Musée de l'Armée, Paris 1.1
million visitors
- Mont Saint-Michel, Brittany
1.1 million visitors
- Lille zoo, Lille 1.1
million visitors
- Sainte Chapelle, Paris
800,000 visitors
- Aquarium, La Rochelle
800,000 visitors
- Mer de Glace rack-and-pinion railway, Chamonix,
Alps 800,000 visitors
- La Palmyre zoo, Charente Maritime
700,000 visitors
- Musée Grévin
waxworks, Paris
700,000 visitors
- Château de Chambord, Loire Valley
700,000 visitors
Natural
environment :
France boasts the most varied natural environment of any country in
Europe; it varies from the lush agricultural countryside of Normandy
and Brittany, or the rolling prairies of Champagne or Beauce, to Alpine
peaks, northern spruce forests, the dry hinterland of Provence, the
steppe-like plateaux of the Causses, not to mention a very varied
coastline including the North Sea, the Channel, the Atlantic ocean and
the Mediterranean.
It would take an encyclopaedia to make
an exhaustive list of the thousands of natural attractions in France.
The country has six National Parks, 43 regional parks (parcs naturels
régionaux), hundreds of areas listed and protected under the
European Natura 2000 programme, and even - off the beaten track -
hundreds more sites that would be classified as Areas of Outstanding
Natural Beauty (AONBs) in England, but do not even get a mention in
guidebooks in France.
The
six national parks in continental France are:
The Cévennes national park (Languedoc)
Les Ecrins (Provence - Alps)
Le Mercantour (Provence)
Les Pyrénées (Hautes
Pyrénées)
La Vanoise (Provence)
Port-Cros (Coastal park, Var, Provence)
Among
the principal regional parks are:
The Auvergne volcanoes
The Grandes Causses (Aveyron - Lozère)
The Morvan hills (Burgundy)
The Ballon des Vosges (Lorraine - Alsace)
More
information:
National Parks website
(official site)
National
parks in Provence
Map
of Regional nature parks in France
Historic
monuments :
Lying at the heart of Western Europe, France has one of the richest
historic heritages of any country in the world. Every region has its
selection of monuments, including ancient cathedrals, fortified
castles, magnificent chateaux and palaces, historic towns and city
centres, and a range of other sites including prehistoric caves, Roman
remains and medieval bridges. France has 31 sites classed as UNESCO
world heritage sites.
While the richest concentration of historic
monuments can be found in Paris, the vast majority of historic
monuments lie in the regions. Here is a short themed selection:
The prehistoric caves of the Dordogne
The roman
remains of Provence and Languedoc
The romanesque churches of the Saintonge (Charentes) and of Auvergne
The great gothic cathedrals of northern France (Paris, Chartres, Reims,
Amiens, Rouen, Beauvais, etc.)
The châteaux of the Loire Valley
The military fortifications of eastern France
The bastides and bourgs of south west France.
The scenic railways of the Massif Central
Excluding the monuments in and around Paris, the most visited historic
sites in France include the Mont St.Michel (Brittany), the
Châteaux de Chambord, Amboise and Chenonceaux (Loire valley),
the Palace of the Popes at Avignon, the Hospices de Beaune (a mediaeval
hospital) in Burgundy, the mediaeval city and ramparts of
Carcassonne (Languedoc).
Theme
parks :
France has getting on for 100 different theme parks, if you include all
categories from the amusement parks such as Eurodisney, through
wildlife parks and aquariums, to living history open-air museums such
the Alsace Ecomusée. Among the most popular of thes are:
Eurodisney, Marne la Vallée, Paris
Parc Astérix, near Paris
Puy du Fou, historical theme park,
Vendée
The Futuroscope park, near Poitiers
Vulcania, the volcano theme park, Auvergne
France Miniature, at Elancourt, west of Paris
(replicas of France's major monuments)
The Bioscope environmental theme park (Alsace)
Ecomusée d'Alsace, near Colmar,
France's largest open-air museum
Sigean African safari park and nature reserve
(Languedoc)
Nigloland theme park, near Troyes, southern
Champagne.
Wine
and dine :
France is world famous for its "gastronomy", its fine restaurants and
wines. It sometimes surprises visitors from outside France, that they
can find top quality restaurants even in small provincial towns, and
that many of these offer first-class menus at a fraction of the price
one would pay for something similar in Britain or the USA. There are
several directories that approve and list the top restaurants, and the
most famous of these are the Michelin guide and the Gault &
Millau guide. However, there is no directory that lists all the good
restaurants in France, since some of these are found in the most
unexpected out-of-the-way places, and while the food they offer is not
"haute cuisine", it is tasty, well prepared and nourishing.
Some
good restaurants in the Auvergne
Some
good restaurants in Brittany
By region
:
Check out these links:
Paris tourist attractions
Auvergne
tourist attractions
Brittany
tourist attractions
Burgundy tourist attractions
Franche-Comté tourist attractions
Provence
tourist attractions
A brief introduction to the regions of France
More regions coming soon...
Other useful sites:
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