France Travel Guide - Original Travel

France at a glance

From lush green forests and sandy beaches to charming cities and world-class cuisine, France has it all. In fact, you could probably spend a lifetime of holidays in France and still feel as if you haven’t done the country justice. Whether it be fine dining in Bordeaux, quaint boulangeries in Lyon and Camembert and Calvados in Normandy, France is the ultimate smorgasbord. It’s also why having a trusty guide is so necessary – to help you decipher where to go. Discover why Nice is best visited during its September and October shoulder seasons (think bright balmy skies and seas without the crowds), know your Monbazillac from your Montravel in the Dordogne and get to know the Lavezzi Archipelago – Corsica’s protected paradise of granite isles and reefs – in the middle of the Mediterranean.

Island hop to your hearts content between the island’s bluer-than-blue seas and verdant valleys, and swoon at the scents of nearby Provence’s lavender fields, olive groves and enticing markets. A country for all seasons, France knows how to put on a good snow show too. Gaze up at the mighty Mont Blanc – the highest mountain in the Alps and Western Europe - snowshoe across the wild wilderness surrounding Megeve and take a bite out of the village’s aromatic boulangeries. And if Paris beckons – as it undoubtedly will – take a long weekend away to ogle at its Renaissance buildings, meander round its myriad museums and markets and learn about the opulent and scandalous history that makes the city, to this day, the second most visited in the world.