Antibes
A wonderful – and as its name hints, very Provençal – local market selling fruit, vegetables, meat, cheese and local products like tapenade (olive spread)…
Must-see shopping in France
Honfleur
Natacha's terrifically vibrant, bright designs are a delight. It's a small shop, but it packs in a lot of colour and life. Pick up a ceramic from €120;…
Nantes
Pedestal statues represent traditional Nantais industries inside this ornate, three-tiered shopping arcade. It was built in 1843 to link the then–stock…
Marseille
Pick up a set of handmade boules (complete with matching carry bag), plus plenty of other souvenirs of France’s iconic game. There’s also an indoor court…
Aix-en-Provence
Bibliophiles rejoice: this brilliant Anglophile bookshop has a huge selection of English-language books for sale (among works in other languages) and a…
St-Jean de Luz
This renowned shop, selling delicious Basque-style macarons (melt-in-the-mouth biscuit-like delicacies), hams and other regional foods, has been trading…
Bouches-du-Rhône
Among France’s top chocolatiers, using Provençal herbs and plants – lavender, rosemary, violet and thyme – with unexpected flavours such as Earl Grey.
Le Marais, Ménilmontant & Belleville
Framed by glass-canopied wrought-iron girders, this gourmet emporium incorporates a covered-market-style, terrazzo-floored food hall filled with exquisite…
Le Marais, Ménilmontant & Belleville
At this brother-and-sister-run parfumerie near the Seine you can have bespoke scents made up in just 10 minutes. Or learn how to create fragrances…
St-Germain & Les Invalides
Spanning three floors of a Haussmannian building is this part gallery, part concept store for men, part design showcase and part collaborator. It also…
Marseille
Every Wednesday morning the farmers market along cours Julien squawks with life, colour and accordion music as traders flog mounds of organic vegetables,…
St-Germain & Les Invalides
At the bright, whitewashed Left Bank boutique of Christophe Michalak – one of Paris' most inventive pastry chefs – colourful displays include Michalak's…
Marseille
If you only have time to visit one shop in Marseille, make it this one. Run by the same family since 1827, France’s oldest hardware store remains a one…
Bordeaux
A classic Bordeaux experience is a Saturday morning spent slurping oysters and white wine from a seafood stand in the city's legendary covered food market…
Espace Pagès Maison Verveine du Velay
Auvergne
Sip free samples of Le Puy's famous green liqueur and buy a bottle of your preferred drop at this tasting room and boutique. First concocted in 1859 as a…
Bordeaux
An old-fashioned cherry-red bicycle with worn leather seat and wicker basket, casually propped up outside, beckons gourmets and romantics into this…
St-Germain & Les Invalides
This stunning market benefitted to great effect from a refit in 2017. A food market has been here since 1486 and it became covered in the 1880s. Today's…
Paris
Famous department store Le Printemps encompasses Le Printemps de la Mode, for women’s fashion; Le Printemps de la Beauté et Maison, for beauty and…
The Jura Mountains
This 13th-century Gothic convent, abandoned by the Jacobins (Dominicans) after the Revolution and nabbed by the vignerons of Poligny in 1907, makes for an…
Paris
Affordable French fashion label Sézane, founded by Parisian entrepreneur-designer Morgane Sézalory, has cult status in Paris. Its chic women's tops,…
Montmartre & Northern Paris
One of Paris' best vinyl shops, Balades Sonores sprawls over two adjacent buildings. The ground floor of 1 av Trudaine stocks contemporary pop, rock,…
St-Germain & Les Invalides
For the ultimate finishing touch, the men’s and women’s gloves at this boutique, which specialises solely in gloves, are the epitome of both style and…
Bordeaux
'Made in Bordeaux' and 'Made in France' is the essence of this small, beautifully arranged concept store selling lifestyle items, homewares, clothing,…
Paris
Over 400 different French designers come together under one roof at this light-filled concept store, which showcases rotating collections of men's and…
Montmartre & Northern Paris
Ethical fashion for children aged up to 14 years forms the backbone of this trendy concept store, conceived by the eco-conscious Parisan dup behind vegan…
Auvergne
This fragrant and oh-so-fancy sweet boutique, founded in 1926, sells pâtes de fruits d'Auvergne (jammy fruit jellies), cables of handmade marshmallow and,…
Cannes
With cowbells strung from the wooden ceiling, and a stunning array of cheeses, this is the only place to shop for dairy products in Cannes. A master…
Paris
Founded in 1840, beret maker Laulhère still supplies the French army with the iconic headwear. Handcrafted from soft, durable and water-resistant merino…
Galeries Lafayette – Champs-Élysées
Paris
The 2019-opened Galeries Lafayette on the Champs-Élysées is located in one of the avenue's grandest art deco buildings (1931), with marble columns and…
Montmartre & Northern Paris
White-on-white concept store O/HP/E ('Objets Homemade Pâtisserie Épicerie') stocks chic homewares – ceramics, textiles, light fittings, candles and…
St-Germain & Les Invalides
Fronted by a midnight-blue façade, this magical boutique is solely devoted to the world of Le Petit Prince (the Little Prince), the golden-haired…
Bayonne
The window displays at this renowned chocolate shop are practically an art-form. Inside there are 12 grades of plaquettes (chocolate bars) to try, each…
St-Germain & Les Invalides
‘The Last Drop’ is the brainchild of Cuban-American sommelier Juan Sánchez, whose tiny wine shop is packed with exciting, mostly organic French vins de…
Le Marais, Ménilmontant & Belleville
Part art space, part lounge and part deconstructionist fashion statement, this shop is known for having the next big thing first. Two tons of wooden…
Bordeaux
Queues to pay are a constant feature at this vast maze of a private bookshop, founded in 1896 and always packed with Bordelais browsing books in several…
Le Marais, Ménilmontant & Belleville
Innovative, often out-there homewares by European designers fill these neighbouring boutiques: textiles (curtains, cushions etc), vases, mirrors,…
Le Marais, Ménilmontant & Belleville
Koché, with an atelier far from the madding fashion crowd in edgy Ménilmontant and rapidly rising designer Christelle Kocher at the helm, continues to…
Montmartre & Northern Paris
Belleville Brûlerie brought good coffee to Paris and its beans go into some of the best espressos in town. Here at its headquarters, Le Quartier Général,…
Le Marais, Ménilmontant & Belleville
To inject a dose of Parisian glamour into your own home, mooch around this gorgeous design boutique across the street from the iconic Les Bains hotel…
Latin Quarter
This wonderful little fromagerie feels more like a farm shop you'd find in the countryside than an inner-city Parisian boutique. Organic eggs sit in straw…
