Most Beautiful Places in France — 15 Destinations Worth Travelling For
France is one of the most varied and beautiful countries in Europe — mountains, coastline, river valleys, lavender plains, medieval hilltowns and two of the world's most extraordinary cities. The difficulty isn't finding somewhere beautiful to go. It's choosing between places that all feel unmissable.
Here are the 15 most beautiful places in France, and what makes each one worth the journey.
15 Most Beautiful Places in France
1. Provence
Ancient stone farmhouses behind screens of cypress, lavender fields turning violet in July, the clicking of cicadas on a hillside in late afternoon and the smell of thyme carried on a warm breeze. Provence is France at its most impossibly beautiful — a landscape that has been inspiring painters, writers and travellers for centuries without ever losing its ability to surprise.
2. The Côte d'Azur
The original glamour coast — azure sea meeting terracotta cliffs, parasol pines above the bay, palm-lined promenades and the unhurried shimmer of the Mediterranean in summer. Nice, Antibes, Cannes and the villages of the arrière-pays above them are each worth the journey. The light on the Côte d'Azur is genuinely different from anywhere else in France.
3. The Loire Valley
The garden of France — a river valley lined with Renaissance châteaux, vineyards producing some of France's finest whites and a landscape of such gentle beauty that UNESCO listed the entire valley as a World Heritage Site. Cycling between châteaux on summer mornings is one of the great simple pleasures of European travel.
4. Mont Saint-Michel
A medieval abbey on a tidal island, connected to the Normandy coast by a causeway that disappears at high tide — one of the most dramatic and recognisable sights in France. At dawn, before the crowds arrive, with the bay still and the island rising from the mist, it is genuinely extraordinary.
5. The French Riviera
Beyond the famous resorts lies a coastline of extraordinary variety — hidden coves between Nice and Monaco, the Estérel massif dropping red rock cliffs to turquoise water, the Lerins Islands accessible by ferry from Cannes. The French Riviera rewards exploration away from the main promenades and into the villages of the hills above the sea.
6. Versailles
The most extraordinary royal residence in Europe — the Hall of Mirrors, the Grand Canal, the formal gardens stretching to the horizon and the sheer ambition of a palace built to make the whole world feel small. Versailles is one of those places that exceeds even the most inflated expectation. Go early, go on a weekday, and walk to the Trianon away from the main crowds.
7. The Dordogne
A river valley in southwest France lined with medieval bastide towns, prehistoric cave paintings at Lascaux and Les Eyzies, limestone cliffs and the most beautiful market town in France at Sarlat. The Dordogne is unhurried, deeply beautiful and rewards slow travel more than almost any region in the country.
8. Alsace
The region on France's eastern border with Germany — half-timbered houses in pink and yellow and green, vineyards producing exceptional Riesling and Gewurztraminer, the extraordinary cathedral at Strasbourg and the wine route between Colmar and Mulhouse that is one of Europe's most scenic drives. Colmar is the most beautiful small city in France.
9. Monaco
The most glamorous postage-stamp of a country in the world — a principality built into a cliff above the Mediterranean, with superyachts in the harbour, the curved corniche road above the sea and the extraordinary improbability of a place this beautiful existing at all. Monaco is worth a day from Nice or Antibes and is unlike anywhere else on the Côte d'Azur.
10. The Lavender Fields of the Vaucluse
Between late June and early August, the plateau above Apt and the Luberon turns violet — row upon row of lavender stretching to the horizon, the scent carried on the breeze and the hum of bees filling the afternoon silence. The lavender fields of Provence are one of the most beautiful seasonal sights in Europe and worth timing a trip around.
11. Normandy
White chalk cliffs above the Channel, apple orchards and cideries in the bocage country inland, the D-Day beaches carrying the weight of history and the extraordinary Gothic architecture of Rouen. Normandy is France at its most dramatic and most moving — a region that rewards several days of slow exploration.
12. The Camargue
The wetland delta of the Rhône, where white horses, black bulls and pink flamingos live in a landscape that feels nothing like the rest of France. The Camargue is wild, flat, extraordinary and almost entirely unlike any other region in the country — a natural world that operates on its own terms and rewards those who take time to understand it.
13. Bordeaux
Arguably the most beautiful city in France after Paris — a sweep of 18th-century limestone architecture along the Garonne, the Cité du Vin, the Grand Théâtre and the most celebrated wine region in the world on its doorstep. Bordeaux has reinvented itself in the last decade and is now one of the great destinations in Europe.
14. The French Alps
Chamonix below Mont Blanc, the Vanoise National Park, the Gorges du Verdon in summer — the French Alps offer landscape on a scale that the rest of the country doesn't. In summer, the mountain passes and high-altitude lakes are among the most dramatic and beautiful places in Europe.
15. Paris
It remains the most beautiful capital city in Europe — the Seine at dusk, the Eiffel Tower from the Trocadéro at night, the covered passages of the 2nd arrondissement, the Marais on a Sunday morning, the view from Sacré-Cœur across the rooftops. Paris is the city that rewards every return visit with something it somehow kept hidden the time before.
Bringing France Home
Some places stay with you long after the journey home — in the quality of light you start noticing elsewhere, in the particular shade of blue you keep comparing every other sky to. If France is one of those places, a watercolour print of the destination that got under your skin is one of the most lasting ways to keep it close. Sundays In Tuscany's French Edit covers destinations across France on premium matte fine art paper, free UK shipping, made to order.