Top tourist attractions in France
Here is a list of top tourist attractions in France. Only the topmost tourist destinations are presented here. To see other destinations, please check the images from France section.
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The Louvre
Art Gallery
The Louvre or Louvre Museum is one of the world's largest museums and a historic monument. A central landmark of Paris, France, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement. Nearly 35,000 objects from prehistory to the 21st century are exhibited over an area of 60,600 square metres. With more than 8 million visitors each year, the Louvre is the world's most visited museum. The museum is housed in the Louvre Palace, originally built as a fortress in the late 12th century under Philip II. Remnants of the fortress are visible in the basement of the museum. The building was extended many times to form the present Louvre Palace. In 1682, Louis XIV chose the Palace of Versailles for his household, leaving the Louvre primarily as a place to display the royal collection, including, from 1692, a collection of ancient Greek and Roman sculpture. In 1692, the building was occupied by the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres and the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture, which in 1699 held the first of a series of salons. The Académie remained at the Louvre for 100 years. During the French Revolution, the National Assembly decreed that the Louvre should be used as a museum to display the nation's masterpieces.
Palace of Versailles
French Baroque Structure
The Palace of Versailles, or simply Versailles, is a royal château in Versailles in the Île-de-France region of France. In French it is the Château de Versailles. When the château was built, Versailles was a country village; today, however, it is a wealthy suburb of Paris, some 20 kilometres southwest of the French capital. The court of Versailles was the center of political power in France from 1682, when Louis XIV moved from Paris, until the royal family was forced to return to the capital in October 1789 after the beginning of the French Revolution. Versailles is therefore famous not only as a building, but as a symbol of the system of absolute monarchy of the Ancien Régime.
Eiffel Tower
Tourist attraction
The Eiffel Tower is an iron lattice tower located on the Champ de Mars in Paris. It was named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower. Erected in 1889 as the entrance arch to the 1889 World's Fair, it has become both a global cultural icon of France and one of the most recognizable structures in the world. The tower is the tallest structure in Paris and the most-visited paid monument in the world; 7.1 million people ascended it in 2011. The tower received its 250 millionth visitor in 2010. The tower stands 324 metres tall, about the same height as an 81-storey building. During its construction, the Eiffel Tower surpassed the Washington Monument to assume the title of the tallest man-made structure in the world, a title it held for 41 years, until the Chrysler Building in New York City was built in 1930. Because of the addition of the antenna atop the Eiffel Tower in 1957, it is now taller than the Chrysler Building by 17 feet. Not including broadcast antennas, it is the second-tallest structure in France, after the Millau Viaduct. The tower has three levels for visitors. The third level observatory's upper platform is at 279.11 m the highest accessible to the public in the European Union. Tickets can be purchased to ascend, by stairs or lift, to the first and second levels. The walk from ground level to the first level is over 300 steps, as is the walk from the first to the second level. Although there are stairs to the third and highest level, these are usually closed to the public and it is usually accessible only by lift. The first and second levels have restaurants.
Disneyland Paris
Tourist attraction
Disneyland Paris, originally Euro Disney Resort, is an entertainment resort in Marne-la-Vallée, a new town located 32 km east of the center of Paris and is the most visited attraction in all of France and Europe. It is owned and operated by Euro Disney S.C.A., a publicly traded company in which The Walt Disney Company owns a minority stake. The resort covers 4,800 acres and encompasses two theme parks, several resort hotels, a shopping, dining, and entertainment complex, and a golf course, in addition to several additional recreational and entertainment venues. Disneyland Park is the original theme park of the complex, opening with the resort on April 12, 1992. A second theme park, Walt Disney Studios Park opened in 2002. The resort is the second Disney park to open outside the United States, following Tokyo Disney Resort, and the first to be owned and operated by Disney. The resort was designed specifically to follow the model established by Walt Disney World in Florida. Park attendance, hotel occupancy and revenues initially fell below projections, but in July 1995 the company saw its first quarterly profit. However, the resort still struggles to be profitable even to this day because of its large debt.
Notre Dame de Paris
French Gothic Structure
Notre-Dame de Paris, also known as Notre-Dame Cathedral or simply Notre-Dame, is an historic Catholic cathedral on the eastern half of the Île de la Cité in the fourth arrondissement of Paris, France. The cathedral is widely considered to be one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture and among the largest and most well-known church buildings in the world. The naturalism of its sculptures and stained glass are in contrast with earlier Romanesque architecture. As the cathedral of the Archdiocese of Paris, Notre-Dame is the parish that contains the cathedra, or official chair, of the archbishop of Paris, currently Archbishop André Vingt-Trois. The cathedral treasury is notable for its reliquary which houses some of Catholicism's most important first-class relics including the purported Crown of Thorns, a fragment of the True Cross, and one of the Holy Nails. In the 1790s, Notre-Dame suffered desecration during the radical phase of the French Revolution when much of its religious imagery was damaged or destroyed. An extensive restoration supervised by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc began in 1845. A project of further restoration and maintenance began in 1991.
Centre Georges Pompidou
Postmodern Structure
Centre Georges Pompidou is a complex in the Beaubourg area of the 4th arrondissement of Paris, near Les Halles, rue Montorgueil and the Marais. It was designed in the style of high-tech architecture. It houses the Bibliothèque publique d'information, a vast public library, the Musée National d'Art Moderne which is the largest museum for modern art in Europe, and IRCAM, a centre for music and acoustic research. Because of its location, the Centre is known locally as Beaubourg. It is named after Georges Pompidou, the President of France from 1969 to 1974 who commissioned the building, and was officially opened on 31 January 1977 by President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing. The Centre Pompidou has had over 150 million visitors since 1977. The sculpture, Horizontal by Alexander Calder, a free-standing mobile that is twenty-five feet high, was placed permanently in front of the Centre Pompidou by the architect of the building, Renzo Piano.
Mont Saint-Michel
Tourist attraction
Mont Saint-Michel is an island commune in Normandy, France. It is located approximately one kilometre off the country's northwestern coast, at the mouth of the Couesnon River near Avranches. 247 acres in size, the island has a population of 44. The island has held strategic fortifications since ancient times, and since the eighth century AD has been the seat of the monastery from which it draws its name. The structural composition of the town exemplifies the feudal society that constructed it. On top God, the abbey and monastery, below this the Great halls, then stores and housing, and at the bottom, outside the walls, fishermen and farmers' housing. One of France's most recognisable landmarks, Mont Saint-Michel and its bay are part of the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites and more than 3 million people visit it each year.
Arc de Triomphe
Neoclassicism Structure
The Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile is one of the most famous monuments in Paris. It stands in the centre of the Place Charles de Gaulle, at the western end of the Champs-Élysées. It should not be confused with a smaller arch, the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, which stands west of the Louvre. The Arc de Triomphe honours those who fought and died for France in the French Revolutionary and the Napoleonic Wars, with the names of all French victories and generals inscribed on its inner and outer surfaces. Beneath its vault lies the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from World War I. The Arc de Triomphe is the linchpin of the historic axis – a sequence of monuments and grand thoroughfares on a route which goes from the courtyard of the Louvre, to the Grande Arche de la Défense. The monument was designed by Jean Chalgrin in 1806, and its iconographic program pitted heroically nude French youths against bearded Germanic warriors in chain mail. It set the tone for public monuments, with triumphant patriotic messages. The monument stands 50 metres in height, 45 m wide and 22 m deep. The large vault is 29.19 m high and 14.62 m wide. The small vault is 18.68 m high and 8.44 m wide. It was the largest triumphal arch in existence until the construction of the Arch of Triumph in Pyongyang, in 1982. Its design was inspired by the Roman Arch of Titus. The Arc de Triomphe is so colossal that three weeks after the Paris victory parade in 1919, Charles Godefroy flew his Nieuport biplane through it, with the event captured on newsreel.
Champs-Élysées
Tourist attraction
The Avenue des Champs-Élysées is a street in Paris, France. With its cinemas, cafés, luxury specialty shops and clipped horse-chestnut trees, the Champs-Élysées is arguably one of the world's most famous streets, and is one of the most expensive strips of real estate in the world. Several French monuments are also on the street, including the Arc de Triomphe and the Place de la Concorde. The name is French for Elysian Fields, the place of the blessed dead in Greek mythology. According to a much used description, the Champs-Élysées is la plus belle avenue du monde.
Lyon–Saint Exupéry Airport
Transport terminus
Lyon–Saint Exupéry Airport, formerly known as Lyon Satolas Airport, is one of the two airports located in the agglomeration of Lyon, France. The airport was named in 2000 in honour of the French writer and pilot Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, a native of Lyon, on the centenary of his birth. The airport lies in Colombier-Saugnieu, 11 nautical miles east southeast of Lyon city centre. Its two runways are aligned north–south. It is an important transport facility for the entire Rhône-Alpes region. Coach links connect the airport with the centre of Lyon and other towns in the area including Chambéry and Grenoble. Railway transport in the form of Rhônexpress began in August 2010 and links the TGV rail station of Lyon Part-Dieu with the Gare de Lyon Saint-Exupéry in less than 30 minutes. The airport consists of three terminals. Terminal 3 is used by low-cost airlines and has very basic facilities.
Stade Vélodrome
Sports Facility
The Stade Vélodrome is a football stadium in Marseille, France. It is home to the Olympique de Marseille football club of Ligue 1, and was a venue in the 1998 FIFA World Cup and the 2007 Rugby World Cup. Before its current renovations, it was the largest club football ground in France, with a capacity of 60,031 spectators; although the current capacity is 48,000 due to ongoing renovations ahead of UEFA Euro 2016. When the construction is completed in 2014, its capacity is expected to be 67,000. The stadium is also used regularly by the French rugby union team. The record attendance for a club game at the Stade Vélodrome was of 58,897. The stadium was also featured as a Football World Cup venue when the 1938 finals were held in France. The first-ever match to be played was between Marseille and Torino in 1937. The French rugby union team began an impressive run of victories at the stadium in the early 2000s. They defeated the All Blacks 42–33 in November 2000, and in 2001 defeated Australia by one point. They beat the Springboks in 2002, followed by a win over England in 2003. However, their run of luck was broken in 2004 when they lost 14–24 to Argentina. The venue was used by France in November 2009 when the French played the New Zealand All Blacks. France is not the only rugby team to have used the Vélodrome in recent years. On April 18, 2009, Toulon took their home fixture in the Top 14 against Toulouse to the Vélodrome, drawing 57,039 spectators to see a 14–6 Toulon win which played a key role in the Toulonnais' successful fight against relegation in the 2008–09 season. Toulon has taken two home matches to the Vélodrome in each of the succeeding two seasons. The Vélodrome was also the venue for both semi-finals in the 2010–11 Top 14 season.
Panthéon, Paris
Neoclassical Structure
The Panthéon is a building in the Latin Quarter in Paris. It was originally built as a church dedicated to St. Genevieve and to house the reliquary châsse containing her relics but, after many changes, now functions as a secular mausoleum containing the remains of distinguished French citizens. It is an early example of neoclassicism, with a façade modeled on the Pantheon in Rome, surmounted by a dome that owes some of its character to Bramante's "Tempietto". Located in the 5th arrondissement on the Montagne Sainte-Geneviève, the Panthéon looks out over all of Paris. Designer Jacques-Germain Soufflot had the intention of combining the lightness and brightness of the gothic cathedral with classical principles, but its role as a mausoleum required the great Gothic windows to be blocked.
Les Invalides
French Baroque Structure
Les Invalides, officially known as L'Hôtel national des Invalides, is a complex of buildings in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France, containing museums and monuments, all relating to the military history of France, as well as a hospital and a retirement home for war veterans, the building's original purpose. The buildings house the Musée de l'Armée, the military museum of the Army of France, the Musée des Plans-Reliefs, and the Musée d'Histoire Contemporaine, as well as the burial site for some of France's war heroes, notably Napoleon Bonaparte.
Basilica of the Sacré Cœur
Byzantine Structure
The Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Paris, commonly known as Sacré-Cœur Basilica and often simply Sacré-Cœur, is a Roman Catholic church and minor basilica, dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, in Paris, France. A popular landmark, the basilica is located at the summit of the butte Montmartre, the highest point in the city. Sacré-Cœur is a double monument, political and cultural, both a national penance for the excesses of the Second Empire and socialist Paris Commune of 1871 crowning its most rebellious neighborhood, and an embodiment of conservative moral order, publicly dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which was an increasingly popular vision of a loving and sympathetic Christ. The Sacré-Cœur Basilica was designed by Paul Abadie. Construction began in 1875 and was finished in 1914. It was consecrated after the end of World War I in 1919.
Chartres Cathedral
Gothic Structure
Chartres Cathedral, also known as Cathedral of Our Lady of Chartres, is a medieval Roman Rite Catholic cathedral located in Chartres, France, about 80 kilometres southwest of Paris. It is considered one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The current cathedral, mostly constructed between 1194 and 1250, is the last of at least five which have occupied the site since the town became a bishopric in the 4th century. The cathedral is in an exceptional state of preservation. The majority of the original stained glass windows survive intact, while the architecture has seen only minor changes since the early 13th century. The building's exterior is dominated by heavy flying buttresses which allowed the architects to increase the window size significantly, while the west end is dominated by two contrasting spires – a 105-metre plain pyramid completed around 1160 and a 113-metre early 16th-century Flamboyant spire on top of an older tower. Equally notable are the three great façades, each adorned with hundreds of sculpted figures illustrating key theological themes and narratives.
Grand Palais
Beaux-Arts Structure
The Grand Palais des Champs-Elysées, commonly known as the Grand Palais, is a large historic site, exhibition hall and museum complex located at the Champs-Élysées in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France. Construction of the Grand Palais began in 1897 following the demolition of the Palais de l'Industrie as part of the preparation works for the Universal Exposition of 1900, which also included the creation of the adjacent Petit Palais and Pont Alexandre III. The structure was built in the style of Beaux-Arts architecture as taught by the École des Beaux-Arts of Paris. The building reflects the movement's taste for ornate decoration through its stone facades, the formality of its floor planning and the use of techniques that were innovative at the time, such as its glass vault, its structure made of iron and light steel framing, and its use of reinforced concrete.
Palace of Fontainebleau
Château
The Palace of Fontainebleau, located 55 kilometres from the centre of Paris, is one of the largest French royal châteaux. The palace as it is today is the work of many French monarchs, building on an early 16th-century structure of Francis I. The building is arranged around a series of courtyards. The commune of Fontainebleau has grown up around the remainder of the Forest of Fontainebleau, a former royal hunting park.This forest is now home to many endangered species of Europe.
Parc Astérix
Amusement Park
Parc Astérix is a theme amusement park in France, based on the stories of Asterix. Situated approximately 35 km north of Paris and 32 km from Disneyland Resort Paris, in Plailly in the département of Oise, it opened in 1989. The park is operated by Compagnie des Alpes. It is especially well known for its large variety of roller coasters, and has begun incorporating rides and themes from historic cultures such as the Romans and the ancient Greeks.
Pont du Gard
Arch Bridge
The Pont du Gard is an ancient Roman aqueduct bridge that crosses the Gardon River in Vers-Pont-du-Gard near Remoulins, in the Gard département of southern France. It is part of the Nîmes aqueduct, a 50 km-long structure built by the Romans to carry water from a spring at Uzès to the Roman colony of Nemausus. Because the terrain between the two points is hilly, the aqueduct – built mostly underground – took a long, winding route that crossed the gorge of the Gardon, requiring the construction of an aqueduct bridge. Built in the 1st century AD, the Pont du Gard is the highest of all Roman aqueduct bridges and is the best preserved with the Aqueduct of Segovia. It was added to UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites in 1985 because of its historical importance. The bridge has three tiers of arches, standing 48.8 m high. The whole aqueduct descends in height by only 17 m over its entire length, while the bridge descends by a mere 2.5 cm – a gradient of only 1 in 3,000 – which is indicative of the great precision that Roman engineers were able to achieve using only simple technology. The aqueduct formerly carried an estimated 200,000 m³ of water a day to the fountains, baths and homes of the citizens of Nîmes. It continued to be used possibly until the 6th century, with some parts used for significantly longer, but lack of maintenance after the 4th century meant that it became increasingly clogged by mineral deposits and debris that eventually choked off the flow of water.
Château de Chambord
Château
The royal Château de Chambord at Chambord, Loir-et-Cher, France, is one of the most recognizable châteaux in the world because of its very distinct French Renaissance architecture which blends traditional French medieval forms with classical Renaissance structures. The building, which was never completed, was constructed by King François I. Chambord is the largest château in the Loire Valley ; it was built to serve as a hunting lodge for François I, who maintained his royal residences at Château de Blois and Château d'Amboise. The original design of the Château de Chambord is attributed, though with several doubts, to Domenico da Cortona. Some authors claim that the French Renaissance architect Philibert Delorme had a considerable role in the château's design, and others have suggested that Leonardo da Vinci may have designed it. Chambord was altered considerably during the twenty-eight years of its construction during which it was overseen on-site by Pierre Nepveu. With the château nearing completion, François showed off his enormous symbol of wealth and power by hosting his old archnemesis, Emperor Charles V at Chambord. In 1792, some of the furnishings were sold and timber removed. For a time the building was left abandoned, though in the 19th century some attempts were made at restoration. During the Second World War art works from the collections of the Louvre and Compiègne were moved to Château de Chambord. Now open to the public, in 2007 the château received 700,000 visitors.
Île de Ré
Geographical Feature
Île de Ré is an island off the west coast of France near La Rochelle, on the northern side of the Pertuis d'Antioche strait. The island's highest point has an elevation of 20 metres; the island is Template:Convert/LoffAofDbSoffTemplate:Convert/track/abbr/of long and 5 kilometres wide. The 2.9 km Île de Ré bridge, completed in 1988, connects it to La Rochelle on the mainland.
National Museum of Natural History (France)
Natural history Museum
The National Museum of Natural History (France), known in French as the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, is the national museum of natural history of France. The main museum is located in Paris, France, on the left bank of the River Seine. It was founded in 1793 during the French Revolution. The museum now comprises 14 sites throughout France, with four in Paris, including the original location at the Jardin des Plantes.
Col du Tourmalet
Mountain pass
Col du Tourmalet is the highest road in the central Pyrenees in the department of Hautes-Pyrénées in France. Sainte-Marie-de-Campan is at the foot on the eastern side and the ski station La Mongie two-thirds of the way up. The village of Barèges lies on the western side, above the town of Luz-Saint-Sauveur. Tourmalet is also a cheese made from sheep milk produced in these mountains.
Bois de Boulogne
Tourist attraction
The Bois de Boulogne is a large public park located along the western edge of the 16th arrondissement of Paris, near the suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt and Neuilly-sur-Seine It was created between 1852 and 1858 during the reign of the Emperor Louis Napoleon. It is the second-largest park in Paris, slightly smaller than the Bois de Vincennes on the eastern side of the city. It covers an area of 8.459 km², which is 2.5 times larger than Central Park in New York, and comparable in size to Richmond Park in London. Within the boundaries of the Bois de Boulogne are an English landscape garden with several lakes and a cascade; two smaller botanical and landscape gardens, the Château de Bagatelle and the Pré-Catelan; a zoo and amusement park in the Jardin d'Acclimatation; The Jardin des Serres d'Auteuil, a complex of greenhouses holding a hundred thousand plants; two tracks for horse racing, the Hippodrome de Longchamp and the Auteuil Hippodrome; a tennis stadium where the French Open tennis tournament is held each year; and other attractions.
Disneyland Park
Amusement Park
Disneyland Park, originally Euro Disneyland, is the first of two theme parks built at Disneyland Paris in Marne-la-Vallée, France, opened on 12 April 1992. Designed and built by Walt Disney Imagineering, its layout and attractions are similar to Disneyland Park in Anaheim, California and Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World in Bay Lake, Florida. Spanning 56.656 ha it is dedicated to fairy tales and Disney characters. In 2012, the park hosted approximately 11,200,000 visitors, making it the most-visited theme park in Europe, and the fifth-most visited theme park in the world. The park is represented by Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant, a replica of the fairy tale castle seen in Sleeping Beauty.
Vaux-le-Vicomte
Tourist attraction
The Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte is a baroque French château located in Maincy, near Melun, 55 km southeast of Paris in the Seine-et-Marne département of France. It was built from 1658 to 1661 for Nicolas Fouquet, Marquis de Belle Île, Viscount of Melun and Vaux, the superintendent of finances of Louis XIV. The château was an influential work of architecture in mid-17th-century Europe. At Vaux-le-Vicomte, the architect Louis Le Vau, the landscape architect André le Nôtre, and the painter-decorator Charles Le Brun worked together on a large-scale project for the first time. Their collaboration marked the beginning of the "Louis XIV style" combining architecture, interior design and landscape design. The garden's pronounced visual axis is an example of this style.
Reims Cathedral
Gothic Structure
Notre-Dame de Reims is the seat of the Archdiocese of Reims, where the kings of France were crowned. The cathedral replaces an older church, destroyed by fire in 1211, that was built on the site of the basilica where Clovis was baptized by Saint Remi, bishop of Reims, in AD 496. That original structure had itself been erected on the site of some Roman baths. A major tourism destination, the cathedral receives about one million visitors annually. See also: Coronation of the French monarch
Futuroscope
Amusement Park
Futuroscope, or Parc du Futuroscope is a French theme park based upon multimedia, cinematographic futuroscope and audio-visual techniques. It has several 3D cinemas and a few 4D cinemas along with other attractions and shows, some of which are the only examples in the world. It is located in the department of Vienne, 10 kilometres north of Poitiers, on the territory of the communes of Chasseneuil-du-Poitou and Jaunay-Clan. The park had 1.826 million visitors in 2010. In total, 40 million visitors have been to the park since it opened in 1987.
Verdon Gorge
Tourist attraction
The Verdon Gorge, in south-eastern France, is a river canyon that is often considered to be one of Europe's most beautiful. It is about 25 kilometres long and up to 700 metres deep. It was formed by the Verdon River, which is named after its startling turquoise-green colour, one of the canyon's most distinguishing characteristics. The most impressive part lies between the towns of Castellane and Moustiers-Sainte-Marie, where the river has cut a ravine up to 700 metres down through the limestone mass. At the end of the canyon, the Verdon river flows into the artificial lake of Sainte-Croix-du-Verdon. Because of its proximity to the French Riviera, the canyon is very popular with tourists, who can drive around its rim, rent kayaks or hike. The limestone walls, which are several hundreds of metres high, attract many rock climbers. It is considered an outstanding destination for multi-pitch climbing. There are routes encompassing cracks, pillars and seemingly endless walls. The climbing is generally of a technical nature, and there are over 1,500 routes, ranging from 20m to over 400m.
Folies Bergère
Venue
The Folies Bergère is a cabaret music hall, located in Paris, France. Established in 1869, the house was at the height of its fame and popularity from the 1890s' Belle Époque through the 1920s' Années folles. The institution is still in business, and is always a strong symbol of French and Parisian life.
Strasbourg Cathedral
Building
Strasbourg Cathedral or the Cathedral of Our Lady of Strasbourg, also known as Strasbourg Minster, is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Strasbourg, Alsace, France. Although considerable parts of it are still in Romanesque architecture, it is widely considered to be among the finest examples of high, or late, Gothic architecture. Erwin von Steinbach is credited for major contributions from 1277 to his death in 1318. At 142 metres, it was the world's tallest building from 1647 to 1874, when it was surpassed by St. Nikolai's Church, Hamburg. Today it is the sixth-tallest church in the world and the highest still-standing structure built entirely in the Middle Ages. Described by Victor Hugo as a "gigantic and delicate marvel", and by Goethe as a "sublimely towering, wide-spreading tree of God", the cathedral is visible far across the plains of Alsace and can be seen from as far off as the Vosges Mountains or the Black Forest on the other side of the Rhine. Sandstone from the Vosges used in construction gives the cathedral its characteristic pink hue.
Church of Saint-Sulpice, Paris
Tourist attraction
Saint-Sulpice is a Roman Catholic church in Paris, France, on the east side of the Place Saint-Sulpice within the rue Bonaparte, in the Luxembourg Quarter of the VIe arrondissement. At 113 metres long, 58 metres in width and 34 metres tall, it is only slightly smaller than Notre-Dame and thus the second largest church in the city. It is dedicated to Sulpitius the Pious. During the 18th century, an elaborate gnomon, the Gnomon of Saint-Sulpice, was constructed in the church.
Musée du quai Branly
Art Museum
The Musée du quai Branly, known in English as the Quai Branly Museum, is a museum in Paris, France that features indigenous art, cultures and civilizations from Africa, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas. The museum is located at 37, quai Branly - portail Debilly, 75007 Paris, France, situated close to the Eiffel Tower. The nearest métro and RER stations are Alma – Marceau and Pont de l'Alma, respectively. MQB is named after its location on the quai Branly, which in turn is named after the physicist Édouard Branly.
Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes
Tourist attraction
The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes or the Domain is an area of ground surrounding the Catholic shrine to Our Lady of Lourdes in the town of Lourdes, France. The Sanctuary is a destination for pilgrimage; sick pilgrims are reputed to be miraculously healed by Lourdes water. This ground is owned and administrated by the Roman Catholic Church, and has several functions, including devotional activities, offices, and accommodation for sick pilgrims and their helpers. The Domain includes the Grotto itself, the nearby taps which dispense the Lourdes water, and the offices of the Lourdes Medical Bureau, as well as several churches and basilicas. It comprises an area of 51 hectares, and includes 22 separate places of worship. There are six official languages of the Sanctuary: French, English, Italian, Spanish, Dutch and German. Grottos intended as replicas of the one at Our Lady of Lourdes, and other grottos in honour of Our Lady of Lourdes, are often described as "Lourdes grottos".
Petit Palais
Beaux-Arts Structure
The Petit Palais is a museum in Paris, France. Built for the Universal Exhibition in 1900 to Charles Girault's designs, it now houses the City of Paris Museum of Fine Arts. Arranged around an octi-circular courtyard and garden, the palace is similar to the nearby Grand Palais. Its ionic columns, grand porch and dome echo those of the Invalides across the river. The tympanum depicting the city of Paris surrounded by muses is the work of sculptor Jean Antoine Injalbert. The current exhibits are divided into sections: the Dutuit Collection of medieval and Renaissance paintings, drawings and objets d'art; the Tuck Collection of 18th century furniture and the City of Paris collection of paintings. The museum displays paintings by painters such as Rembrandt, Rubens, Nicolas Poussin, Claude Gellée, Fragonard, Hubert Robert, Greuze and a remarkable collection of 19th-century painting and sculpture: Ingres, Géricault, Delacroix, Courbet, Monet, Sisley, Pissarro, Cézanne, Modigliani, Carpeaux, Maillol, Rodin etc. The Petit Palais has served as a model for other public buildings, notably for the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Tervuren, Belgium, and the Museo de Bellas Artes in Santiago, Chile.
Musée Rodin
Museum
The Musée Rodin in Paris, France, is a museum that was opened in 1919, dedicated to the works of the French sculptor Auguste Rodin. It has two sites, at the Hôtel Biron and surrounding grounds in central Paris, and just outside Paris at Rodin's old home, the Villa des Brillants at Meudon. The collection includes 6,600 sculptures, 8,000 drawings, 8,000 old photographs and 7,000 objets d’art, and the museum receives 700,000 visitors annually. While living in the Villa des Brillants Rodin used the Hôtel Biron as his workshop from 1908, and subsequently donated his entire collection of sculptures to the French State on the condition that they turn the buildings into a museum dedicated to his works. The Musée Rodin contains most of Rodin's significant creations, including The Thinker, The Kiss and The Gates of Hell. Many of his sculptures are displayed in the museum's extensive garden. The museum is one of the most accessible museums in Paris. It is located near a Metro stop, Varenne, in a central neighborhood and the entrance fee is very reasonable. The gardens around the museum building contain many of the famous sculptures in natural settings. Behind the museum building is a small lake and casual restaurant.
Palais des Papes
Tourist attraction
The Palais des Papes is a historical palace in Avignon, southern France, one of the largest and most important medieval Gothic buildings in Europe. One time fortress and palace, the papal residence was the seat of Western Christianity during the 14th century. Six papal conclaves were held in the Palais, leading to the elections of Benedict XII in 1334, Clement VI in 1342, Innocent VI in 1352, Urban V in 1362, Gregory XI in 1370 and Antipope Benedict XIII in 1394. The Palais is actually made up of two buildings: the old Palais of Benedict XII which sits on the impregnable rock of Doms, and the new Palais of Clement VI, the most extravagant of the Avignon popes. Not only is the final combination the largest Gothic building of the Middle Ages, it is also one of the best examples of the International Gothic architectural style. The construction design was the work of two of France’s best architects, Pierre Peysson and Jean du Louvres and the lavish ornamentation was the work of two of the best students of the School of Siena, Simone Martini and Matteo Giovanetti. In addition, the papal library housed in the Palais, attracted a group of clerics passionate in the study of "belle-lettres", amongst the future founders of Humanism, Petrarch. At the same time, composers, singers and musicians were drawn to the Great Chapel of the Palais. It was there that Clement VI appreciated the Mass of Notre-Dame de Guillaume de Machault, there that Philippe de Vitry at the pope’s invitation presented his Ars Nova and there that Johannes Ciconia came to study.
Marineland
Amusement Park
Marineland is an animal exhibition park in Antibes, France. It was founded in 1970 by Roland de la Poype. First, it was a small oceanarium with a few pools and animals but now it is one of the biggest in the world and receives more than 1,200,000 visitors per year. It is the only French sea park featuring two cetacean species: killer whales and dolphins. On July 25, 2006, the park was sold to the Spanish amusement park group Parques Reunidos for about 75 million Euros. Parques Reunidos also operates L'Oceanografic in Valencia on the Spanish mainland.
Amiens Cathedral
French Gothic Structure
The Cathedral of Our Lady of Amiens, or simply Amiens Cathedral, is a Roman Catholic cathedral and seat of the Bishop of Amiens. It is situated on a slight ridge overlooking the River Somme in Amiens, the administrative capital of the Picardy region of France, some 120 kilometres north of Paris. Medieval cathedral builders were trying to maximize the internal dimensions in order to reach for the heavens and bring in more light. In that regard, the Amiens cathedral is the tallest complete cathedral in France, its stone-vaulted nave reaching an internal height of 42.30 metres. It also has the greatest interior volume of any French cathedral, estimated at 200,000 cubic metres. The cathedral was built between 1220 and c.1270 and has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1981. Although it has lost most of its original stained glass, Amiens Cathedral is renowned for the quality and quantity of early 13th-century Gothic sculpture in the main west façade and the south transept portal, and a large quantity of polychrome sculpture from later periods inside the building.
Château de Blois
Château
The Royal Château de Blois is located in the Loir-et-Cher département in the Loire Valley, in France, in the center of the city of Blois. The residence of several French kings, it is also the place where Joan of Arc went in 1429 to be blessed by the Archbishop of Reims before departing with her army to drive the English from Orléans. Built in the middle of the town that it effectively controlled, the château of Blois comprises several buildings constructed from the 13th to the 17th century around the main courtyard. It has 564 rooms and 75 staircases although only 23 were used frequently. There is a fireplace in each room. There are 100 bedrooms.
Louvre-Lens
Museum
The Louvre-Lens is an art museum located in Lens, Pas-de-Calais, Northern France, approximately 200 kilometers north of Paris. It displays objects from the collections of the Musée du Louvre that are lent to the gallery on a medium or long term basis. The Louvre-Lens annex reflects the continuing decentralization of French cultural institutions, though the Louvre claims the Lens museum is not a subordinate of the palace in Paris. Though the museum maintains close institutional links with The Louvre, it is primarily funded by the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region. A Louvre Abu Dhabi branch is planned to open in 2015.
Dune of Pilat
Tourist attraction
The Dune of Pilat, also called Grande Dune du Pilat is the tallest sand dune in Europe. It is located in La Teste-de-Buch in the Arcachon Bay area, France, 60 km from Bordeaux.
Arab World Institute
Tourist attraction
The Arab World Institute is an organization founded in Paris in 1980 by 18 Arab countries with France to research and disseminate information about the Arab world and its cultural and spiritual values. The Institute also promotes cooperation and exchanges between France and the Arab nations, particularly in the areas of science and technology, contributing to understanding between the Arab world and Europe. Libya joined the institute in 1984.
Guimet Museum
Art Museum
The Guimet Museum is a museum of Asian art located at 6, place d'Iéna in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, France. It has one of the largest collections of Asian art outside Asia. Some of the museum's artifacts were collected from Southeast Asia by French authorities during the colonial period.
Lake Annecy
Lake
Lake Annecy is a perialpine lake in Haute-Savoie in France. It is the third largest lake in France, after the Lac du Bourget and Lac de Grand-Lieu, if the French part of Lake Geneva is excluded. It is known as "Europe's cleanest lake" because of strict environmental regulations introduced in the 1960s. It is a popular tourist destination known for its swimming and water sports. The lake was formed about 18,000 years ago, at the time the large alpine glaciers melted. It is fed by many small rivers from the surrounding mountains, and from a powerful underwater source, the Boubioz, which enters at 82 m depth.
Aiguille du Midi
Mountain
The Aiguille du Midi is a mountain in the Mont Blanc massif in the French Alps.
Musée national du Moyen Âge
Museum
The Musée national du Moyen Âge, formerly Musée de Cluny, officially known as the Musée national du Moyen Âge - Thermes et hôtel de Cluny, is a museum in Paris, France. It is located in the 5th arrondissement at 6 Place Paul Painlevé, south of the Boulevard Saint-Germain, between the Boulevard Saint-Michel and the Rue Saint-Jacques. Among the principal holdings of the museum are the six La Dame à la Licorne tapestries.
Île de la Cité
Tourist attraction
The Île de la Cité is one of two remaining natural islands in the Seine within the city of Paris. It is the centre of Paris and the location where the medieval city was refounded. The western end has held a palace since Merovingian times, and its eastern end since the same period has been consecrated to religion, especially after the 10th century construction of a cathedral preceding today's Notre Dame. The land between the two was, until the 1850s, largely residential and commercial, but since has been filled by the city's Prefecture de Police, Palais de Justice, Hôtel-Dieu hospital and Tribunal de Commerce. Only the westernmost and northeastern extremities of the island remain residential today, and the latter preserves some vestiges of its 16th century canon's houses. The Mémorial des Martyrs de la Déportation, a memorial to the 200,000 people deported from Vichy France to the Nazi concentration camps during the Second World War, is located at the upriver end of the island.
Notre-Dame de la Garde
Tourist attraction
Notre-Dame de la Garde, is a Catholic basilica in Marseille, France. This Neo-Byzantine church was built by the architect Henri-Jacques Espérandieu on the foundations of an ancient fort located at the highest natural point in Marseille, a 149 m limestone outcrop on the south side of the Old Port. It is a major local landmark and the site of a popular annual pilgrimage every year on Assumption Day, August 15. The basilica was consecrated on June 5, 1864 and replaced a church of the same name built in 1214 and restored in the 15th century. It was built on the foundations of a 16th-century fort built by Francis I of France to resist the 1536 siege of Marseilles by the Emperor Charles V. The basilica consists of a lower church, or crypt, in the Romanesque style carved from the rock, as well as an upper church of Neo-Byzantine style decorated with mosaics. A square bell tower of 41 m topped by a belfry of 12.5 m supports a monumental 11.2 m statue of the Madonna and Child, made of copper gilded with gold leaf. The green limestone from the area surrounding Florence used to build the basilica, has been discovered to be sensitive to atmospheric corrosion. An extensive restoration took place from 2001 to 2008, including work on the mosaics that were damaged by candle smoke and the impact of bullets during the Liberation of France at the end of World War II.
ZooParc de Beauval
Zoo
ZooParc de Bauval is a tourist attraction in Central France. It carries a firm conservation message, breeding endangered species to be sent to other zoos.
La Palmyre Zoo
Zoo
La Palmyre Zoo is a zoo in Les Mathes, Charente-Maritime, France. It was created in 1966 in the forest of the Les Mathes by Claude Caillé. Extending over 18 hectares, including 14 of landscape garden, it offers the visitor the opportunity of observing more than 1600 animals of all kinds, divided into 130 species, over a distance of more than 4 kilometres.
Carnavalet Museum
Museum
The Carnavalet Museum in Paris is dedicated to the history of the city. The museum occupies two neighboring mansions: the Hôtel Carnavalet and the former Hôtel Le Peletier de Saint Fargeau. On the advice of Baron Haussmann, the civil servant who transformed Paris in the latter half of the 19th century, the Hôtel Carnavalet was purchased by the Municipal Council of Paris in 1866; it was opened to the public in 1880. By the latter part of the 20th century, the museum was bursting at the seams. The Hôtel Le Peletier de Saint Fargeau was annexed to the Carnavalet and opened to the public in 1989. Carnavalet Museum is one of the 14 City of Paris' Museums that have been incorporated since January 1st 2013 in the public institution Paris Musées.
Rouen Cathedral
Gothic Structure
Rouen Cathedral is a Roman Catholic Gothic cathedral in Rouen, in northwestern France. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Rouen and Normandy.
Musée Picasso
Art Gallery
The Musée Picasso is an art gallery located in the Hôtel Salé in rue de Thorigny, in the Marais district of Paris dedicated to the work of the artist Pablo Picasso.
Pont de Normandie
Cable-stayed Bridge
The Pont de Normandie is a cable-stayed road bridge that spans the river Seine linking Le Havre to Honfleur in Normandy, northern France. Its total length is 2,143.21 metres – 856 metres between the two piers. Despite being a motorway toll bridge, there is a footpath as well as a narrow cycle lane in each direction allowing pedestrians and cyclists to cross the bridge free of charge.
Walt Disney Studios Park
Amusement Park
Walt Disney Studios Park is the second of two theme parks built at Disneyland Paris in Marne-la-Vallee, France, opened on March 16, 2002. It is dedicated to show business, themed after movies, production, and behind-the-scenes. In 2011, the park hosted approximately 4.7 million guests, making it the second-most visited amusement park in Europe and the 20th-most visited in the world, though it has the lowest attendance figures of all eleven Walt Disney parks. The park is represented by the Earffel Tower, a water tower similar to the Earful Tower in Walt Disney World's Disney's Hollywood Studios.
Stade Geoffroy-Guichard
Sports Facility
Stade Geoffroy-Guichard is a multi-purpose stadium in Saint-Étienne, France. It is used primarily for football matches, and tournaments such as the 1984 European Football Championship, the Football World Cup 1998 and the Confederations Cup 2003. It is also used for rugby union, and was a venue at the 2007 Rugby World Cup. It is nicknamed "le Chaudron", or "l'enfer vert", an allusion to the colours worn by the local football team, the AS Saint-Étienne, given during the team's heyday when it drew particularly large crowds. More recently, its current capacity was 35,616 before the current renovations, which began in 2011 and have temporarily reduced this figure to 26,747. When the renovations are finished, the stadium will hold 40,830 seated spectators. The stadium opened on September 13, 1931, and AS Saint-Étienne's first match there took place on September 17 against FAC Nice. The stadium was named after Geoffroy Guichard, founder of the Casino retail group, who purchased the site on which it was built.
Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille
Museum
The Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille is one of the largest museums in France, and the largest French museum outside of Paris. It was one of the first museums built in France, established under the instructions of Napoleon I at the beginning of the 19th century as part of the popularisation of art : Jean-Antoine Chaptal's decree of 1801 selected fifteen French cities to receive the works seized from churches and from the territories occupied by the armies of Revolutionary France. The painters Louis Joseph Watteau and François Watteau, known as the "Watteau of Lille", were heavily involved in the museum's beginnings - Louis Joseph Watteau made in 1795 the first inventory of the paintings confiscated during the Revolution, whilst his son François was deputy curator of the museum from 1808 to 1823. The museum opened in 1809 and was initially housed in a church confiscated from the Récollets before being transferred to the city's town hall. In 1866, the "musée Wicar", formed from the collection of Jean-Baptiste Wicar, was merged into the Palais des Beaux-Arts. Construction of the Palais's current Belle Époque-style building began in 1885 under the direction of Géry Legrand, mayor of Lille, and it was completed in 1892. The architects chosen to design the new building were Edouard Bérard and Fernand Etienne-Charles Delmas from Paris. The building is located on the place de la République, in the center of the city, facing the préfecture of Lille. It was renovated during the 1990s and reopened in 1997.
Arena of Nimes
Roman Structure
The Arena of Nîmes is a Roman amphitheatre found in the French city of Nîmes. Built around 70 AD, it was remodelled in 1863 to serve as a bullring. The Arenas of Nimes is the site of two annual bullfights during the Feria de Nîmes, and it is also used for other public events. The building encloses an elliptical central space 133 m long by 101 m wide. It is ringed by 34 rows of seats supported by a vaulted construction. It has a capacity of 16,300 spectators and since 1989 has a movable cover and a heating system.
Walygator Parc
Amusement Park
Walygator Parc is an amusement park located in Maizières-les-Metz, Lorraine, France. Since its opening, back in 1989, the park has taken on a variety of names; successively Big Bang Smurf, Walibi Schtroumpf, Walibi Lorraine up to its present name Walygator Parc.
Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume
Art Gallery
The Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume is a museum of contemporary art in the north corner of the Tuileries Gardens next to the Place de la Concorde in Paris.
Musée du Luxembourg
Art Museum
Musée du Luxembourg is a museum in Paris, France. It occupies the east wing of the Palais du Luxembourg, whose matching west wing originally housed Ruben's Marie de' Medici cycle. Since 2000 it has been run by the French Ministry of Culture and the Senate and is devoted to temporary exhibitions. From 1750 to 1780 it was the first public painting gallery in Paris, displaying the king's collection which included Titian's The Madonna of the Rabbit, Da Vinci's Holy Family and nearly a hundred other Old Master works now forming the nucleus of the Louvre. In 1803 it reopened, showing paintings by a range of artists from Nicolas Poussin to Jacques-Louis David, and has been devoted to living artists from 1818 to 1937. Much of the work first shown here has found its way into other museums of Paris including the Jeu de Paume, the Orangerie, and ultimately the Musée National d'Art Moderne and the Musée d'Orsay.
Cité de la musique
Museum
The Cité de la Musique is a group of institutions dedicated to music and situated in the La Villette quarter, 19th arrondissement, Paris, France. It was designed by the architect Christian de Portzamparc and opened in 1995. It consists of an amphitheater; a concert hall that can accommodate an audience of 800-1,000; a museum of music, containing an important collection of classical music instruments dating mainly from the fifteenth- to twentieth-century; and exhibition halls, workshops and archives. Part of François Mitterrand's Grands Projets along with the Parc de la Villette, the Cité de la Musique reinvented La Villette - the former slaughterhouse district. Its official address is 221, Avenue Jean Jaurès, 75019 Paris.
Musée Grévin
Museum
The Musée Grévin is a waxwork museum in Paris located on the Grands Boulevards in the IXe arrondissement on the right bank of the Seine, at 10, Boulevard Montmartre, Paris, France. It is open daily; an admission fee is charged.
Château de Cheverny
Château
The Château de Cheverny is located at Cheverny, in the département of Loir-et-Cher in the Loire Valley in France.
Parc des Félins
Zoo
Parc des Félins is a zoological park in France dedicated to the breeding and conservation of wild members of the Cat family. It is located in the commune of Lumigny-Nesles-Ormeaux in Seine-et-Marne, about 53.6 km southeast of Paris. The park covers an area of 60 hectares. Of the 41 recognized species of felines in the world, the park has 30 different species and subspecies, with a total of 140 cats. The park opened to the public on October 14, 2006. Originally, the majority of the animals came from the Parc d'Aulneau, which was deemed too small to house this many animals.
Piton de la Fournaise
Volcano
Piton de la Fournaise: "Peak of the Furnace" is a shield volcano on the eastern side of Réunion island in the Indian Ocean. It is currently one of the most active volcanoes in the world, along with Kīlauea in the Hawaiian Islands, Stromboli, Etna and Mount Erebus in Antarctica. A previous eruption began in August 2006 and ended in January 2007. The volcano erupted again in February 2007, and on 21 September 2008. Most recently, an eruption occurred on 9 December 2010 and lasted for two days. The volcano is located within Réunion National Park, a World Heritage site. Piton de la Fournaise is often known locally as le Volcan; it is a major tourist attraction on Réunion island.
Pont Saint-Bénezet
Arch Bridge
The Pont Saint-Bénezet, also known as the Pont d'Avignon, is a famous medieval bridge in the town of Avignon, in southern France.
Musée des Arts et Métiers
Museum
The Musée des Arts et Métiers is an industrial design museum in Paris that houses the collection of the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers, which was founded in 1794 as a repository for the preservation of scientific instruments and inventions.
Disney Village
Amusement Park
Disney Village is a shopping, dining and entertainment complex in Disneyland Paris, Marne-la-Vallée, France. Originally named Festival Disney, it opened April 12, 1992 with what was then the Euro Disney Resort and originally covered an area of approximately 18,000 m². Based on Walt Disney World's Disney Village Marketplace, it was designed by architect Frank Gehry with towers of oxidised silver and bronze-coloured stainless steel under a canopy of lights. It is adjacent to the two theme parks of Disneyland Paris and its Lake Disney hotel area.
Le Thoronet Abbey
Tourist attraction
Le Thoronet Abbey is a former Cistercian abbey built in the late twelfth and early thirteenth century, now restored as a museum. It is sited between the towns of Draguignan and Brignoles in the Var Department of Provence, in southeast France. It is one of the three Cistercian abbeys in Provence, along with the Sénanque Abbey and Silvacane, that together are known as "the Three Sisters of Provence." Le Thoronet Abbey is one of the best examples of the spirit of the Cistercian order. Even the acoustics of the church imposed a certain discipline upon the monks; because of the stone walls, which created a long echo, the monks were forced to sing slowly and perfectly together. The abbey is fundamentally connected to its site, and is an exceptional example of spirituality and philosophy transformed into architecture. It is distinguished, like other Cistercian abbeys, by its purity, harmony, and lack of decoration or ornament.
Place Stanislas
Tourist attraction
The Place Stanislas, known colloquially as the place Stan', is a large pedestrianized square in Nancy, Lorraine, France. Since 1983, the architectural ensemble comprising the Place Stanislas and the extension of its axis, the Place de la Carrière and Place d'Alliance, has been on the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Fondation Maeght
Museum
Fondation Maeght is a museum of modern art situated in Saint-Paul de Vence in the south of France about 25 km from Nice. It was founded by Marguerite and Aimé Maeght in 1964 and houses paintings, sculptures, collages, ceramics and all forms of modern art. The collection includes works by many important 20th-century artists including Bonnard, Georges Braque, Alexander Calder, Marc Chagall, Alberto Giacometti, Fernand Léger and Joan Miró among others. The building was design by the Spanish architect Josep Lluís Sert. The Fondation is entirely independently funded with no reliance on state subsidies. Adrien Maeght is the chairman of the Administrative Council of the Fondation which also includes Isabelle Maeght and her sister Yoyo Maeght.
Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux
Theatre
Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux, is a Theatre in Bordeaux, France, first inaugurated on 17 April 1780. It was in this theatre that the ballet La Fille Mal Gardée premiered in 1789, and where a young Marius Petipa staged some of his first ballets. The Theatre was designed by the architect Victor Louis, who was selected for the task by winning the famous Grand Prix de Rome. Louis was also famous for designing the galleries surrounding the gardens of the Palais Royal, and the Théâtre Français in Paris. The Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux was conceived as a temple of the Arts and Light, with a neo-classical facade endowed with a portico of 12 Corinthian style colossal columns which support an entablature on which stand 12 statues that represent the nine Muses and three goddesses. In 1871 the theatre was briefly the National Assembly for the French Parliament. The inside of the theatre was restored in 1991, and once again has its original colours of blue and gold. The Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux is one of the oldest wooden frame opera houses in Europe not to have burnt or required rebuilding. Today the theatre is home to the Opéra National de Bordeaux, as well as the Ballet National de Bordeaux.
Maison Carrée
Roman Structure
The Maison Carrée is an ancient building in Nîmes, southern France; it is one of the best preserved Roman temples to be found anywhere in the territory of the former Roman Empire.
Canal de Bourgogne
Body Of Water
The Burgundy Canal is a canal in Burgundy in central eastern France. There are two river entrances; to the north the Yonne River allows access in the town of Migennes, and in the south the Saône allows access in the town Saint-Jean-de-Losne. The construction began in 1775 and was completed in 1832. The canal connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea via the Seine and the Yonne to the Saône and Rhône. The canal is 242 km long, with 189 locks. There were originally 191 lock basins but the double-basin locks at Migennes and Germigny have had the uppermost set of gates removed and now operate as single locks, though twice as deep as a standard lock It passes through the departments of Yonne and Côte-d'Or. The highest point of the canal is the "partition" at Pouilly-en-Auxois, which is 378m above sea level. At this point the canal passes through a tunnel which is 3,333 metres long. The lowest point is at the junction with the Yonne at 79 m above sea level.
Carlton Cannes
Accommodation
The InterContinental Carlton Cannes is a 343-room luxury hotel built in 1911, located at 58 La Croisette in Cannes on the French Riviera and listed by the Government of France as a National Historic Building. During the Cannes Film Festival it is the most prestigious place to stay and the undisputed headquarters of motion picture industry deal-making. Part of the InterContinental chain, the Carlton is famous for hosting movie stars from around the world during the annual Film Festival. The hotel was also featured in Elton John's well-known 1983 music video for the single, "I'm Still Standing", and the exterior and interior features in New Order's 1993 music video for the single, "World". More famously, the hotel was a central location for the Alfred Hitchcock film To Catch a Thief starring Grace Kelly and Cary Grant. In 1970 it featured in the Peter Sellers/ Goldie Hawn comedy "There's a Girl in my Soup" and exterior scenes were filmed at the entrance to the hotel and on the hotel beach. The hotel lobby scene and interior scenes were done on a film set. While staying at the Hotel Carlton during the 1955 Cannes Film Festival, Academy Award winning movie star Grace Kelly had an arranged meeting and photo shoot with Prince Rainier III of Monaco; they married in 1956.
Basilica of St. Sernin, Toulouse
Tourist attraction
The Basilica of St. Sernin is a church in Toulouse, France, the former abbey church of the Abbey of St. Sernin or St. Saturnin. Apart from the church, none of the abbey buildings remain. The current church is located on the site of a previous basilica of the 4th century which contained the body of Saint Saturnin or Sernin, the first bishop of Toulouse in c. 250. Most of the current building was constructed in the Romanesque style between about 1080 and 1120, with construction continuing thereafter. Saint-Sernin is particularly noted for the quality and quantity of its Romanesque sculpture. In 1998 the basilica was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Sites under the description: World Heritage Sites of the Routes of Santiago de Compostela in France.
Nice Observatory
Astronomical Observatory
The Observatoire de Nice is an astronomical observatory located in Nice, France on the summit of Mont Gros. The observatory was founded in 1879 by the banker Raphaël Bischoffsheim. The architect was Charles Garnier, and Gustave Eiffel designed the main dome. The 77 cm refractor telescope made by Henry and Gautier became operational around 1886–1887, was the largest in a privately funded observatory, and the first at such high altitude. It was slightly bigger in aperture and several metres longer than the new 30 inch at Pulkovo observatory in the Russian Empire. The French telescope was also at a higher altitude. The two 30 inch telescopes had taken the crown from the 69 cm at Vienna Observatory. All three were outperformed by the 36 in refractor installed at the Lick Observatory in 1889. As a scientific institution, the Nice Observatory no longer exists. It was merged with CERGA in 1988 to form the Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur, which often is still referred to as Nice Observatory. The Nice Observatory was featured in the unsuccessful 1999 film Simon Sez.
Clos Lucé
Tourist attraction
The Château du Clos Lucé is a small château in the city of Amboise, France. The place is famous for being the official residence of Leonardo da Vinci between 1516 and 1519. Clos Lucé is located at 500 metres from the royal Château d'Amboise, to which it is connected by an underground passageway. Built by Hugues d'Amboise in the middle of the fifteenth century, it was acquired in 1490 by Charles VIII of France for his wife, Anne de Bretagne. Later, it was used by Francis I, as well as his sister Marguerite de Navarre, who began writing her book entitled L'Heptaméron while living there. In 1516, King Francis I of France invited Leonardo da Vinci to Amboise and provided him with the Clos Lucé, then called Château de Cloux, as a place to stay and work. Leonardo, a famous painter and inventor, arrived with three of his paintings, namely the Mona Lisa, Sainte Anne, and Saint Jean Baptiste. Leonardo lived at the Clos Lucé for the last three years of his life, and died there on 2 May 1519. Today, the Clos Lucé is a Leonardo da Vinci museum that reflects the prestigious history of the region and includes forty models of the various machines designed by Leonardo.
Cirque de Gavarnie
Tourist attraction
The Cirque de Gavarnie is a cirque in the central Pyrenees, in south-western France. The cirque is 800 m wide and about 3000 m wide at the top. It is located within the commune of Gavarnie, the department of Hautes-Pyrénées, and the Pyrenees National Park. Major features of the cirque are La Brèche de Roland and the Gavarnie Falls.
Reims-Gueux
Tourist attraction
Reims-Gueux or Reims was a triangular motor racing road course near Reims, France, which hosted 14 French Grands Prix. Reims-Gueux was first established in 1926 on the public roads between the small French villages of Thillois and Gueux. The circuit had two very long straights between the towns, and teams strove to maximize straight-line speed of their cars; many slipstream battles ensued. Race organizers actually felled trees and demolished old houses in order to make the circuit even quicker. Its first event was the Grand Prix de la Marne, staged by the Automobile Club of Champagne. International racing came soon thereafter, with the first official Formula One event occurring in 1950, the inaugural year of the Formula One world championship. The circuit layout was shortened and changed in 1952 to bypass the town of Gueux; and the circuit was then renamed Reims. The layout was changed yet again in 1953, it was made slightly longer and faster; two fast curves and a hairpin further up the RN31 highway were added. The circuit was last used by Formula One in 1966 and the last car meeting was held in 1969. Motor bike racing continued for 3 more years and it closed permanently in 1972 due to financial difficulties.
Montmajour Abbey
Tourist attraction
Montmajour Abbey, formally the Abbey of St. Peter in Montmajour was a fortified Benedictine monastery built between the 10th and 18th centuries on what was originally an island five kilometers north of Arles, in what is now the Bouches-du-Rhône Department, in the region of Provence in the south of France. The abbey complex consists of six sections: ⁕the hermitage, dating from the 11th century, which includes the Chapel of St. Peter; ⁕the cloister, built during the 12th and 13th centuries; ⁕the adjacent Chapel of the Holy Cross, built during the 12th century; ⁕the fortified Monastery of St. Peter, built during the 14th century; ⁕the Tower of Abbot Pons de l'Orme, dating from the same period; ⁕the Maurist monastery, built in the 17th century. The abbey is noted for its 11th-14th century graves, carved in the rock, its subterranean crypt, and its massive unfinished church. It was an important pilgrimage site during the Middle Ages, and in the 18th century it was the site of a large Maurist Monastery, now in ruin. The abbey and the landscape around it were frequently painted and drawn by Vincent van Gogh. Today the ruins of the abbey are cared for as a historic monument by the Centre des monuments nationaux.
Promenade des Anglais
Tourist attraction
The Promenade des Anglais is a celebrated promenade along the Mediterranean at Nice, France.
Musée de la Vie Romantique
Museum
The Musée de la Vie romantique stands at the foot of Montmartre hill in the IXe arrondissement, 16 rue Chaptal, Paris, France in a 1830 hôtel particulier facing two twin-studios, a greenhouse, a small garden, and a paved courtyard. The museum is open daily except Monday. Permanent collections are free. An admission fee is charged for temporary exhibitions. The nearest métro stations are Pigalle, Blanche, Saint-Georges, and Liège. The Museum of Romantics is one of the 14 City of Paris' Museums that have been incorporated since January 1, 2013 in the public institution Paris Musées.
Calanques de Piana
World Heritage Site
Calanques de Piana are Corsican calanques located in Piana, between Ajaccio and Calvi, in the gulf of Porto.
Scandola Nature Reserve
World Heritage Site
The Scandola Nature Reserve, established in December, 1975, is located on the French island Corsica, within Corsica Regional Park. The park and reserve has been recognized by the United Nations as a Natural World Heritage Site, and was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1983.
Place Bellecour
Tourist attraction
The Place Bellecour is a large square in the centre of Lyon, France, to the north of the Ainay district. Measuring 312 m by 200 m, it is the largest clear square in Europe, and the third biggest square of France, behind the place des Quinconces in Bordeaux and the place de la Concorde in Paris. It is also the largest pedestrian square of Europe, the places mentioned above can accommodate vehicles, as opposed to the Place Bellecour. In the middle is a statue of king Louis XIV mounted on a horse, made by François-Frédéric Lemot in 1825. Another statue, representing the Petit Prince and Antoine de Saint-Exupery, is located at the west end of the square. Two pavilions are also on the square. The first houses the tourist information office of Lyon, the second an art gallery. The square belongs to the zone classified as World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
Palais de la Découverte
Museum
The Palais de la Découverte is a science museum located in the Grand Palais, in the 8th arrondissement on Avenue Franklin D. Roosevelt, Paris, France. It is open daily except Monday; an admission fee is charged. The museum was created in 1937 by Jean Baptiste Perrin during an international exhibition on "Arts and techniques in modern life". In 1938 the French government decided to convert the facility into a new museum, which now occupies 25,000 square metres within the west wing of the Grand Palais built for the Exposition Universelle to designs by architect Albert-Félix-Théophile Thomas. In January 2010 the museum was merged with the Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie. The new institution is named universcience. Today the museum contains permanent exhibits for mathematics, physics, astronomy, chemistry, geology, and biology, featuring interactive experiments with commentaries by lecturers. It includes a Zeiss planetarium with 15-metre dome.
Abbey of Saint-Remi
World Heritage Site
The Abbey of Saint-Remi is an abbey in Reims, France, founded in the sixth century. Since 1099 it has conserved the relics of Saint Remi, the Bishop of Reims who converted Clovis, King of the Franks, to Christianity at Christmas in AD 496, after he defeated the Alamanni in the Battle of Tolbiac. The present basilica was the abbey church; it was consecrated by Pope Leo IX in 1049. The eleventh-century nave and transepts, in the Romanesque style, are the oldest; the façade of the south transept is the most recent.
Château des ducs de Bretagne
Tourist attraction
The Château des ducs de Bretagne is a large castle located in the city of Nantes in the Loire-Atlantique département of France; it served as the centre of the historical province of Brittany until its separation in 1941. It is located on the right bank of the Loire, which formerly fed its ditches. It was the residence of the Dukes of Brittany between the 13th and 16th centuries, subsequently becoming the Breton residence of the French Monarchy. The castle has been listed as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture since 1862. Today the castle houses the Nantes History Museum.
Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière
Tourist attraction
The Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière is a minor basilica in Lyon. It was built with private funds between 1872 and 1884 in a dominating position in the city. The site it occupies was once the Roman forum of Trajan, the forum vetus, thus its name.
Musée national de la Marine
Museum
The Musée national de la Marine is a maritime museum located in the Palais de Chaillot, Trocadéro, in the XVIe arrondissement of Paris. It has annexes at Brest, Port-Louis, Rochefort, Toulon and Saint-Tropez. The permanent collection originates in a collection that dates back to Louis XV of France.
Château de Quéribus
Tourist attraction
The Château de Quéribus is a ruined castle in the commune of Cucugnan in the Aude département of France. It has been listed as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture since 1907. Queribus is one of the "Five Sons of Carcassonne", along with Aguilar, Peyrepertuse, Termes and Puilaurens: five castles strategically placed to defend the French border against the Spanish, until the border was moved in 1659. It is sometimes regarded as the last Cathar stronghold. After the fall of Montségur in 1244 surviving Cathars gathered together in another mountain-top stronghold on the border of Aragon. In 1255, a French army was dispatched to deal with these remaining Cathars, but they slipped away without a fight, probably to Aragon or Piedmont - both regions where Cathar beliefs were still common, and where the Occitan language was spoken. Quéribus is high and isolated. It stands on top of the highest peak for miles around. In 1951 restoration work on the turret began, and between 1998-2002 a complete restoration of the castle was undertaken: the castle is now accessible to visitors.
Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild
Notable Garden
Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild, also called villa Île-de-France, is a French seaside villa located at Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat on the French Riviera. The villa was designed by the French architect Aaron Messiah, and constructed between 1905 and 1912 by Baroness Béatrice de Rothschild . A member of the t Rothschild banking family and the wife of the banker Baron Maurice de Ephrussi, Béatrice de Rothschild built her rose-colored villa on a promontory on the isthmus of Cap Ferrat overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. The Baroness filled the mansion with antique furniture, Old Master paintings, sculptures, objets d'art, and assembled an extensive collection of rare porcelain. The gardens are classified by the French Ministry of Culture as one of the Notable Gardens of France. On her death in 1934, the Baroness donated the property and its collections to the Académie des Beaux Arts division of the Institut de France and it is now open to the public.
Villa Leopolda
Villa
Villa La Leopolda is a large villa in the French town of Villefranche-sur-Mer on the French Riviera.
Arles Amphitheatre
Roman Structure
The Arles Amphitheatre is a Roman amphitheatre in the southern French town of Arles. This two-tiered Roman amphitheatre is probably the most prominent tourist attraction in the city of Arles, which thrived in Roman times. The pronounced towers jutting out from the top are medieval add-ons. Built in 90 AD, the amphitheatre was capable of seating over 20,000 spectators, and was built to provide entertainment in the form of chariot races and bloody hand-to-hand battles. Today, it draws large crowds for bullfighting during the Feria d'Arles as well as plays and concerts in summer.
Fraispertuis City
Amusement Park
Fraispertuis City is a theme park in Jeanménil, France. It opened in 1966. Its roller coaster Timber Drop, created by S&S Power, was the steepest in the world when it opened on July 2, 2011, but it lost the record with the opening on July 16, 2011, of Takabisha at Fuji-Q Highland in Japan.
Rosary Basilica
Tourist attraction
The Basilica of our Lady of the Rosary is a Roman Catholic church and minor basilica within the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes in France. Its main theme is a celebration and depiction of the Rosary.
Promenade de la Croisette
Tourist attraction
The Promenade de la Croisette is a prominent road in Cannes, France. It stretches along the shore of the Mediterranean Sea and is about 2 km long. The Croisette is known for the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès, where the Cannes Film Festival is held. Many expensive shops, restaurants, and hotels line the road. It goes completely along the coastline of Cannes. The Croisette is listed in the cultural heritage general inventory of France.