The top tourist attractions and sites in France
A
guide to the principal monuments, museums and other main visitor
attractions throughout France. This page contains an informed general
overview for tourists and visitors, to help you plan your stay or your
coming holiday in France. In no way is it a complete guide – that would
require an encyclopaedia – nor does it include tourist attractions in
French overseas departments and territories .
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Guide
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The
main tourist attractions and places to visit in France - historic
monuments, art galleries, seasides, and more
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A-Z dictionary of France
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culture, icons, etc.
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 Chateau de Chenonceau, Loire
valley
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| France
is Europe's leading tourist destination, and not surprisingly as such
it is a country that boasts a wealth of famous tourist
attractions historic monuments and other sites. This page is
a
starting point to give you ideas about your holiday in France. Follow
the hyperlinks for more detailed or extra information. |
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Top sites: the most
visited tourist attractions in France
The top twenty-four most visited paid-entry
tourist attractions in France (source
French national statistical office, year 2007 ) ;Click here for top historic monuments
 Disneyland , Paris 14.5 million
visitors.- The
Louvre, Paris
8.3 million visitors (photo right)
- The Eiffel Tower
Paris
6.8 million visitors
- The Georges
Pompidou centre and museum of art, Paris 5.5 million
visitors
- Château
de Versailles, near
Paris 5.3 million visitors
- Orsay museum of
the 19th century Paris
3.2 million visitors
- La Villette science museum, Paris 3 million
visitors
- Pompidou Centre (Modern art museum) 2.6
million visitors
- Parc Astérix
 - Parc Astérix theme park
Plailly north of Paris
1.6 million visitors
- Futuroscope
 theme park, Poitiers 1.6 million
visitors
- Arc de Triomphe, Paris 1.5 million
visitors
- Natural history museum, Paris 1.4 million
visitors
- Mont Saint-Michel,
Brittany
1.2 million visitors
- Puy du Fou
 theme park Vendée 1.2 million
visitors
- Musée de l'Armée, Paris 1.2 million
visitors
- Lille zoo, Lille 1.0 million
visitors
- Musée Carnavalet, Paris 900,000 visitors
- Sainte Chapelle, Paris 900,000
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
- Boat trip round old Strasbourg 700,000
visitors
Click here for the best art
galleries and museums in France
Click here for the best towns and cities to visit in
France
Click here for a guide to historic monuments in France
France's 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 - including the French Riviera, or Côte d'Azur.
It would take an encyclopaedia to make an
exhaustive list of all the natural tourist sites, and the thousands of
natural attractions in France. The country has six National Parks, 43
regional parks which are more or less the same as national parks in all
but in official status (parcs naturels régionaux), hundreds of areas
listed and protected under the official 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)
See French national parks official website
The
Auvergne
volcanos - high upland rising to over 1800 m.
Parc régional de la Brenne ( Pays
de la Loire) - lakes and wetlands popular with ornithologists.
The Grandes Causses (Aveyron - Lozère) - arid southern uplands
The Morvan hills ( Burgundy)
- the closest area of low mountain environment to Paris
The Ballon des Vosges (Lorraine - Alsace) - forested mountains in
Eastern France.
More
information:
Winter
sports in French mountain areas:
Wildlife
parks in France :
Among the most interesting of France's many wildlife parks, are
- The Parc de
Thoiry, west of Paris, over 150 species in a safari park
covering over 300 acres.
- Zoo
Parc de Beauval,
in the Loir et Cher department, in the Loire valley area. Over 4000
animals, including koalas aned orang-utangs. the largest wildlife
collection in France.
- Planete
Sauvage, south west of Nantes. A large safari park (over 250
acres) , with safari tours. Over 2,000 animals in semi liberty.
- Réserve
Africaine de Sigean,
near Narbonne in the Languedoc. 3,800 animals in a huge area of natural
mediterranean environment, one of Europe's oldest safari parks and the
biggest tourist attractions in the area.
- African
Safari park, at Plaisance du touch, just outside Toulouse,
in the Midi Pyrenees region.
Theme
parks in France :
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 these sites are:
Euro Disneyland,
Marne la Vallée, Paris
Parc Astérix - Parc Astérix Plailly north of Paris
Puy du Fou historical reenactments theme
park, Vendée
Mer de Sable Theme Park - Ermenonville, just north of Paris
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
Nigloland theme park, near Troyes, southern Champagne.
Other
attractions:
The
Tour de France cycle race (July)
Wine,
dine , culture :
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 et 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.
Restaurants
and eating out in France
Some
good restaurants in the Auvergne
Some
good restaurants in Brittany
France abounds in cultural opportunities, with a wealth of concerts and
other music events throughout the year. visit the France
for music-lovers page for more details
By region
:
Follow these links for a more detailed list of major tourist
attractions, the main things to see and do in the French regions::
A brief introduction to the regions
of France
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