Must-see attractions in France

  • TOULOUSE, FRANCE - JULY, 2018: The planetarium  in the City of Space 'Cite de l'espace', decorated as planet Earth; Shutterstock ID 1154206081; your: Sloane Tucker; gl: 65050; netsuite: Online Editorial; full: POI
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    Cité de l’Espace

    Toulouse

    The fantastic space museum on the city's eastern outskirts brings Toulouse's illustrious aeronautical history to life through hands-on exhibits, including…

  • Wide shot of Eiffel Tower with blue sky, Paris, France.

    Eiffel Tower

    Paris

    There are different ways to experience the Eiffel Tower, from a daytime trip or an evening ascent amid twinkling lights, to a meal in one of its…

  • Paris, France - August 13, 2016: The Pompidou Centre is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of the 4th arrondissement. It houses the Public Information Library and the museum of Modern art.

    Centre Pompidou

    Paris

    Home to Europe's largest collection of modern and contemporary art, Centre Pompidou has amazed and delighted visitors ever since it opened in 1977, not…

  • France, Indre et Loire, Loire Castles, Chenonceau

    Château de Chenonceau

    Touraine

    Spanning the languid Cher River atop a graceful arched bridge, Chenonceau is one of France's most elegant châteaux. It's hard not to be moved and…

  • MARCH 16, 2017: a stained glass window inside the Sainte Chapelle church.

    Sainte-Chapelle

    Paris

    Visit Sainte-Chapelle on a sunny day when Paris’ oldest, finest stained glass (1242–48) is at its dazzling best. The chapel is famous for its stained…

  • September 2016 - Paris, France- Le Louvre museum in daytime

    Musée du Louvre

    Paris

    It isn’t until you’re standing in the vast courtyard of the Louvre, with its glass pyramid and ornate façade, that you can truly say you’ve been to Paris.

  • The royal Chateau de Chambord in the evening, France. This castle is located in the Loire Valley, was built in the 16th century and is one of the most recognizable chateaux in the world.

    Château de Chambord

    The Loire Valley

    If you only have time to visit one château in the Loire, you might as well make it the grandest – and Chambord is the most lavish of them all, and the…

  • Skulls and bones in Paris Catacombs

    Les Catacombes

    Paris

    It’s gruesome, ghoulish and downright spooky, but it never fails to captivate visitors. In 1785, the subterranean tunnels of an abandoned quarry were…

  • Grounds of Rodin Museum sculpture garden.

    Musée Rodin

    St-Germain & Les Invalides

    Even if you're not an art lover, it is worth visiting this high-profile art museum to lose yourself in its romantic gardens.

  • JULY 30, 2012: Model sailing boats in the pool in front of Luxembourg Palace in Luxembourg Gardens.

    Jardin du Luxembourg

    St-Germain & Les Invalides

    This famous inner-city oasis of formal terraces, chestnut groves and lush lawns has a special place in Parisians' hearts. 

  • PARIS, FRANCE - JULY 08, 2016 : French Mausoleum of Great People of France - the Pantheon in Paris. France.; Shutterstock ID 573291478; Your name (First / Last): Daniel Fahey; GL account no.: 65050; Netsuite department name: Online Editorial; Full Product or Project name including edition: Panthéon POI

    Panthéon

    Latin Quarter

    Elegant and regal in equal measure, the massive neoclassical dome of the Left Bank's iconic Panthéon is an icon of the Parisian skyline. Louis XV…

  • Le Mont Saint-Michel tidal island in beautiful twilight at dusk, Normandy, France
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    Abbaye du Mont St-Michel

    Mont St-Michel

    Mont St-Michel's one main street, the Grande Rue, leads up the slope – past souvenir shops, eateries and a forest of elbows – to the star attraction of a…

  • France, Paris, Seine River banks listed as World Heritage by UNESCO, musee d'Orsay

    Musée d’Orsay

    St-Germain & Les Invalides

    Musée d’Orsay may not be quite as famous as the Louvre—though it’s located a mere 10-minute walk away—but this Left Bank museum holds its own in its…

  • Church of the Jacobins aerial panoramic view, a Roman Catholic church located in Toulouse city, France
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    Couvent des Jacobins

    Toulouse

    With its palm tree vaulted ceiling, the Couvent des Jacobins is one of Toulouse’s oldest and most recognizable buildings

  • The Jardin des Tuileries in Paris.

    Jardin des Tuileries

    Paris

    Filled with fountains, ponds and sculptures, the formal 28-hectare Tuileries Garden, which begins just west of the Jardin du Carrousel, was laid out in…

  • Station F in the 13th arrondissement (district).

    Station F

    Paris

    The world's largest start-up campus was unveiled by French president, Emmanuel Macron, in mid-2017. At any one time, some 3000 resident entrepreneurs from…

  • Coucher de l'Arc de Triomphe de l'étoile à  Paris

    Arc de Triomphe

    Paris

    If anything rivals the Eiffel Tower as the symbol of Paris, it’s this magnificent 1836 monument to Napoléon’s victory at Austerlitz (1805), which he…

  • The south view of Cathedral of Our Lady of Chartres, France.; Cathédrale Notre Dame

Shutterstock ID 688583665; your: Bridget Brown; gl: 65050; netsuite: Online Editorial; full: POI Image Update

    Cathédrale Notre Dame

    Chartres

    One of Western civilisation’s crowning architectural achievements, the 130m-long Cathédrale Notre Dame de Chartres is renowned for its brilliant-blue…

  • Exterior of Villandry Castle with its manicured garden.

    Château de Villandry

    Touraine

    Villandry's six glorious landscaped gardens à la française are some of France's finest, with more than 6 hectares of kitchen gardens, cascading flowers,…

  • Spiral staircase in the Francis I wing, the Royal ChÃ?¢teau de Blois, France; Château Royal de Blois

Shutterstock ID 97979516; your: Bridget Brown; gl: 65050; netsuite: Online Editorial; full: POI Image Update

    Château Royal de Blois

    Blois

    Seven French kings lived in Blois' royal château, whose four grand wings were built during four distinct periods in French architecture: Gothic (13th…

  • Carnac Stones, Brittany, France
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    Carnac Alignments

    Golfe du Morbihan

    Predating Stonehenge by around 100 years, the Carnac (Garnag in Breton) area is the world's greatest concentration of megalithic sites, with no fewer than…

  • Reconstruction of cave paintings of animals inside Lascaux II.

    Grotte de Lascaux

    The Dordogne

    France’s most famous prehistoric cave paintings are at the Grotte de Lascaux, 2km southeast of Montignac. Naturally sealed and protected for millennia, it…

  • Cathedral Notre Dame in Reims, France

    Cathédrale Notre Dame

    Reims

    Imagine the extravagance of a French royal coronation. The focal point of such pomposity was Reims’ resplendent Gothic cathedral, begun in 1211 on a site…

  • Pere Lachaise Cemetery

    Cimetière du Père Lachaise

    Le Marais, Ménilmontant & Belleville

    Opened in 1804, Père Lachaise is the world's most visited cemetery. Its 70,000 ornate tombs of the rich and famous form a verdant, 44-hectare sculpture…

  • Paris, France

    Château de Versailles

    Versailles

    Amid magnificently landscaped formal gardens, this splendid and enormous palace was built in the mid-17th century during the reign of Louis XIV – the Roi…

  • Toulouse Lautrec Museum exterior in Albi, France on 12 June 2015; Shutterstock ID 1319357564; your: Sloane Tucker; gl: 65050; netsuite: Online Editorial; full: POI
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    Musée Toulouse-Lautrec

    Tarn

    Lodged inside the Palais de la Berbie (built in the early Middle Ages for the town's archbishop), this wonderful museum offers an overview of Albi's most…

  • Inside the Orange Amphitheatre (Théâtre antique d'Orange).

    Théâtre Antique

    Vaucluse

    Orange's monumental, Unesco-protected Roman theatre is unquestionably one of France's most impressive Roman sights. It's one of only three intact Roman…

  • Woman walking on the dune in Dune du Pilat in southern France.

    Dune du Pilat

    Gironde

    This colossal sand dune (sometimes referred to as the Dune de Pyla because of its location 4km from the small seaside resort town of Pyla-sur-Mer), 8km…

  • Nantes, France - September 17, 2022: The Great Elephant animated giant puppet, part of the Machines of the Isle of Nantes artistic and tourist attraction, wanders slowly amid onlookers on a sunny day.; Shutterstock ID 2220543875; your: Sloane Tucker; gl: 65050; netsuite: Online Editorial; full: POI
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    Les Machines de l’Île de Nantes

    Nantes

    Nantes' quirkiest sight is this fantasy world – a serious and seriously wacky workshop with mechanical contraptions galore displayed in plant-filled…

  • View of Strasbourg Cathedral from ground. Alsace; Shutterstock ID 543791347; Your name (First / Last): Daniel Fahey; GL account no.: 65050; Netsuite department name: Online Editorial; Full Product or Project name including edition: Cathédrale Notre-Dame Strasbourg POI

    Cathédrale Notre-Dame

    Strasbourg

    Nothing prepares you for your first glimpse of Strasbourg's Cathédrale Notre-Dame, completed in all its Gothic grandeur in 1439. The lace-fine facade…

  • CAEN, FRANCE - OCTOBER 22, 2016: The Memorial de Caen is a museum and war memorial in Caen, Normandy, France commemorating the Second World War and the Battle for Caen.; Shutterstock ID 511924579; Your name (First / Last): Daniel Fahey; GL account no.: 65050; Netsuite department name: Online Editorial; Full Product or Project name including edition: BiT Normandy POIs

    Le Mémorial – Un Musée pour la Paix

    Caen

    For a very insightful and vivid account of the entire war, with special focus on the Battle of Normandy, Le Mémorial is unparalleled – it's one of Europe…

  • View on Cathedral of Ste-Cecile in town of Albi in south France; Shutterstock ID 9695551; your: Sloane Tucker; gl: 65050; netsuite: Online Editorial; full: POI
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    Cathédrale Ste-Cécile

    Tarn

    Resembling a castle more than a cathedral, this formidable edifice in orange brick rises above Vieil Albi like an apparition. Its defensive walls hark…

  • Amiens Cathedrale Notre Dame

    Cathédrale Notre Dame

    Amiens

    A Unesco World Heritage Site, the largest Gothic cathedral in France (at 145m long) and the largest in the world by volume was begun in 1220 to house the…

  • Bayeux Tapestry known in France as La Tapisserie de la Reine Mathilde (Tapestry of Queen Mathilda), Bayeux, Normandy, France, Europe

    Bayeux Tapestry

    Bayeux

    The world’s most celebrated embroidery depicts the conquest of England by William the Conqueror in 1066 from an unashamedly Norman perspective…

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Pont Du Gard, roman bridge  over crossing the Gardon river

    Pont du Gard

    Languedoc-Roussillon

    The extraordinary three-tiered Pont du Gard was once part of a 50km-long system of channels built around 19 BC to transport water from Uzès to Nîmes. The…

  • Aguille du Midi platforms

    Aiguille du Midi

    Chamonix

    The great rocky fang of the Aiguille du Midi (3842m), rising from the Mont Blanc massif, is one of Chamonix’ most distinctive features. The 360-degree…

  • Corte Citadel  Historical Capital of Corsica

    Citadel

    Bonifacio

    The great joy of visiting Bonifacio lies in strolling the tangled medieval lanes of the citadel. The paved steps of montée du Rastello and montée St-Roch…

  • Roman Amphitheater in Nimes, France

    Les Arènes

    Nîmes

    Nîmes’ twin-tiered amphitheatre is the best preserved in France. Built around 100 BC, the arena once seated 24,000 spectators and staged gladiatorial…

  • Montpellier, France - January 2, 2019: architectural detail of the Fabre museum next to the Place de la Comedie where people pass on a winter day; Shutterstock ID 1628380093; your: Sloane Tucker; gl: 65050; netsuite: Online Editorial; full: POI
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    Musée Fabre

    Montpellier

    Founded in 1825 by painter François-Xavier Fabre, this exceptional museum houses one of France’s richest collections of European art. The galleries…

  • GIVERNY, FRANCE -3 JULY 2016- The house of French impressionist painter Claude Monet in Giverny is now a museum. It includes a beautiful garden with a nymphea waterlily pond and Japanese bridge.; Shutterstock ID 649707625; Your name (First / Last): Daniel Fahey; GL account no.: 65050; Netsuite department name: Online Editorial; Full Product or Project name including edition: Maison et Jardins de Claude Monet POI

    Maison et Jardins de Claude Monet

    Giverny

    Monet’s home for the last 43 years of his life is now a delightful house-museum. His pastel-pink house and Water Lily studio stand on the periphery of the…

Not France... but still worth the visit