France

Whether you're cruising the clifftop roads, sunbathing on the beaches or browsing the weekly markets, Provence and the Côte d'Azur are sexy, sun-drenched and seductive. Living History Two thousand years ago Provence was part of Roman Gaul, and the Romans left behind a fabulous legacy of monuments, structures and buildings – not to mention some of France's first vineyards. The area is littered with Roman remains, including an amphitheatre in Arles, a theatre in Orange, many bridges including a fine one near Bonniuex, and even whole towns near St-Rémy de Provence and Vaison-la-Romaine. Factor in a collection of prehistoric sites, medieval abbeys, elegant churches and art deco buildings, and Provence begins to feel like a living history book. Art Aplenty It wasn't just the scenery that drew artists like Rénoir, Chagall, Cézanne and Picasso here: it was the light, described by Matisse as 'soft and tender, despite its brilliance'. Whether you're gazing over a glittering seascape or watching a fiery sunset in the hills, a trip around this corner of France feels like stepping straight into an impressionist canvas. And with such a rich artistic legacy, it's no surprise that the region is home to a wealth of iconic art collections, not to mention studios where Van Gogh, Cézanne and Renoir worked. Lyrical Landscapes Provence and the Côte d'Azur are made for explorers. One of the joys of travelling here is touring the back roads and soaking up the stunning variety of landscapes: fields of lavender, ancient olive groves, clifftop roads, maquis-cloaked hills and even snow-tipped mountains. It's home to France's deepest canyon, oldest road and some striking mountain passes, all a dream come true for drivers. And then there's the Mediterranean itself, a bright mirror of blue reflecting back craggy cliffs, white beaches and endless skies. Take your time – getting there is half the fun. Flavours of Provence Wherever you end up in Provence, you certainly won't go hungry. Food is a central part of French life, but in Provence it becomes an all-consuming passion. Dominated by the hallowed ingredients of Mediterranean cooking – olive oil, wine, tomatoes and garlic – the region's cuisine is guaranteed to be a highlight, whether that's savouring a simple bowl of soupe au pistou, trying candied fruits near Apt, tasting the season's first-press olive oil on a local farm, or indulging in a full-blown bowl of bouillabaisse in a bistro on Marseille's harbourside. Bon appetit.

Provence & the Côte d'Azur

Southwest France

Paris' monument-lined boulevards, museums, classical bistros and boutiques are enhanced by a new wave of multimedia galleries, creative wine bars, design shops and tech start-ups.

Iconic Architecture

The cloud-piercing, wrought-iron Eiffel Tower, broad Arc de Triomphe guarding the glamorous avenue des Champs-Élysées, flying buttressed Notre Dame cathedral, lamplit bridges spanning the Seine and art nouveau cafes' wicker-chair-lined terraces are enduring Parisian emblems. Despite initial appearances, however, Paris’ cityscape isn’t static: there are some stunning modern and contemporary icons, too, from the inside-out, industrial-style Centre Pompidou to the mur végétal (vertical garden) gracing the Musée du Quai Branly, the glass sails of the Fondation Louis Vuitton contemporary-art centre, and the gleaming steel egg-shaped concert venue La Seine Musicale.

Glorious Food

France’s reputation for its cuisine (the French word for ‘kitchen’) precedes it, and whether you seek a cosy neighbourhood bistro or a triple-Michelin-starred temple to gastronomy, you'll find that every establishment prides itself on exquisite preparation and presentation of quality produce, invariably served with wine. Enticing patisseries, boulangeries (bakeries), fromageries (cheese shops) and crowded, colourful street markets are perfect for putting together a picnic to take to the city’s beautiful parks and gardens. A host of culinary courses – held anywhere from home kitchens to the world’s most prestigious cookery schools – offers instruction for all schedules, abilities and budgets.

Stylish Shopping

The word 'Parisian' is synonymous with style, and fashion shopping is the city’s forte. Paris remains at the forefront of international trends, and browsing emerging and established designer boutiques and flagship haute couture houses is a quintessential part of any visit. You’ll also find hip concept and homewares shops, and resplendent art nouveau department stores, along with a trove of vintage shops and flea markets, atmospheric bookshops and dark-green bouquiniste stalls stocking secondhand titles along the riverbanks, adorable children’s wear and toy shops, art and antique dealers, venerable establishments selling professional cookware, and, of course, gourmet-food and wine shops galore.

Artistic Treasures

With an illustrious artistic pedigree – Renoir, Rodin, Picasso, Monet, Manet, Dalí and Van Gogh are but a few of the masters who have lived and worked here over the years – Paris is one of the world's great art repositories, harbouring treasures from antiquity onwards. In addition to big hitters like the incomparable Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay’s exceptional impressionist collection, and the Centre Pompidou’s cache of modern and contemporary art, scores of smaller museums showcase every imaginable genre, a diverse range of venues mount major exhibitions through to offbeat installations, and there's also the city's vibrant street art.

Paris

Brittany & Normandy

For many people, the pastoral landscapes of Provence are a French fantasy come true. Provence seems to sum up everything enviable about the French lifestyle: fantastic food, hilltop villages, legendary wines, bustling markets and a balmy climate. For decades, it's been a hotspot for holidaymakers and second-homers, inspired by the vision of the rustic good life depicted in Peter Mayle's classic 1989 travelogue, A Year in Provence.

For the quintessential Provençal countryside, the best place to begin is inland around the valleys and hills of the Luberon and Var. Further inland rises Provence's highest peak, Mont Ventoux, and beyond it, the snow-capped peaks of the Hautes-Alpes. Meanwhile, along the coast, the rough-and-ready port of Marseille, the tourist honeypot of St-Tropez, the dramatic cliffs of the Calanques and the flamingo-rich wetlands of the Camargue are all worthy of a detour.

Provence

Once upon a time, everyone called this glamorous stretch of Mediterranean coast the French Riviera; then in 1888 author Stéphen Liégeard dubbed it La Côte d'Azur, the name stuck and the rest is history. Whatever you prefer to call it, the seashore that extends from St-Tropez to the French-Italian border is one of the world's great seaside destinations, packed with gorgeous beaches, luxury hotels, designer bars, belle époque villas, coastal trails, red-rock headlands and offshore islands. From Monte Carlo's casino and Nice's Promenade des Anglais to the Cannes film festival and St-Tropez's yacht harbour, the Côte d'Azur is home to some of the most iconic spots in Europe's collective consciousness. Beyond the coast, the region is also home to some spectacular hilltop villages and mountain scenery, along with vineyards, flower farms that feed the French perfume industry and more than its fair share of great art museums.

Côte d'Azur

Literary buffs, antique collectors and fashionistas flock to this legendary part of Paris, where the former presence of writers such as Sartre, de Beauvoir and Hemingway still lingers in historic cafes, and exquisite window displays entice shoppers into tiny specialist stores and chic boutiques.

St-Germain & Les Invalides

An intoxicating cocktail of 18th-century savoir-faire, millennial hi-tech and urban street life, France's sixth largest city is among Europe's most exciting and gutsy players. Art & Architecture This is the world's largest urban World Heritage Site, cradling half the city (18 sq km) in its Unesco-listed treasure chest. From the elegant symmetry of place de la Bourse, palaces strung with stone-sculpted mascarons (faces), to tree-shaded boulevards laced with hôtels particuliers (mansions) built for 18th-century wine merchants, Bordeaux architecture is world-class. Contemporary architects continue the trend for excellence, with breathtakingly wild and beautiful creations resembling giant wine decanters, gleaming white pebbles, all sorts. An interesting portfolio of art museums embracing all periods and genres is the icing on the cake to this magnificent architectural heritage. Riverside Riches Striding through Bordeaux on its leggy route north past traditional wine-producing chateaux to the Atlantic Ocean, the River Garonne is never far away. From this Gallo-Roman city's golden past as medieval wine trader and key port in Europe during the Age of Enlightenment, to the prestigious vineyards and vibrant quayside culture the river fuels today, the Garonne has been the city's lifeline since birth. Be it strolling, jogging or cycling along the silky-smooth water's edge in a loop from Left to Right Bank, lounging over drinks on a riverside terrace or cruising along the water, Bordeaux's riverside riches merit your full attention. Gastronomy & Fine Wine This is a wine capital hemmed in by green, sun-drenched vineyards. Viticulture here is an ancient art and tradition bearing its own unique trademarks and no other vineyards in the world produce as much fine wine. Best up, from celebrated premiers crus aged for years to the very first vin nouveau cracked open at festivals after the autumnal harvest, dégustation (tasting) is an intrinsic part of daily life. Paired with the city's exceptional dining scene – a sassy mix of traditional French kitchens, experimental neobistros, creative fusion restaurants, food trucks and barista-run coffee shops – there is no tastier marriage. Santé! Bordelais Art de Vivre It's hard to believe that this was a city that fell under British rule for three hundred years (from the coronation of Henry of Aquitaine as King Henry II of England in 1152). Staunchly Bordelais to the last breath, Bordeaux enjoys an overwhelming sense of local pride and savoir faire. Innovation is her middle name and a high-spirited, university-student population bolsters the compelling undercurrent of creativity rippling through the city. Peppering a tramline with monumental pieces of contemporary art, partying in a WWII submarine bunker, and dancing on a barge at the industrial wet docks is all second nature to this natural bon vivant.

Bordeaux

With quiet country roads winding through vine-striped hills and wild stretches of coastal sand interspersed with misty islands, the Atlantic coast is where France gets back to nature. Much more laid-back than the Med (but with almost as much sunshine), this is the place to slow the pace right down.

But the Atlantic coast can do cities and culture as well. There's bourgeois Bordeaux with its wonderful old centre, extraordinary wine culture and dynamic dining scene; studenty Nantes with its wealth of fascinating museums; and seafaring La Rochelle with its breathtaking aquarium, beautiful old port and bucolic offshore islands.

A love of the finer things in life unites people in this region, a part of France where art de vivre means appreciating exceptional wine, famous worldwide, and feasting on an ocean of oysters and other fresh, salt-of-the-earth seafood.

Atlantic Coast

The Dordogne, Limousin and the Lot are the heart and soul of la belle France, a land of dense oak forests, winding rivers, emerald-green fields and famously rich country cooking. It’s the stuff of which French dreams are made: turreted châteaux and medieval villages line the riverbanks, wooden-hulled gabarres (traditional flat-bottomed, wooden boats) ply the waterways, and market stalls overflow with pâté, truffles, walnuts, cheeses and fine wines. The Dordogne département has a bevy of bastides (fortified towns) and fantastic medieval castles, as well as Europe’s most spectacular cave paintings, and probably the best cuisine. To the northeast, Limousin – now part of the larger Nouvelle Aquitaine région – is the most rural, strewn with farms and hamlets, as well as the porcelain centre, Limoges. To the south, the Lot département is ribboned with rivers to cruise and caverns to explore, plus dramatic hilltop villages and medieval settlements.

The Dordogne, Limousin & the Lot

High up in the French Alps, it's enthralling to imagine the forces that shaped these colossal peaks. The African and Eurasian tectonic plates collided some 35 million years ago, forcing the land skyward into a 1000km chain of saw-edged mountains.

Rumbling across seven European countries, the Alps reach their maximum height in France, at Mont Blanc (4810m). Buckling northwest along the Swiss border are the less mighty Jura Mountains, where life unfolds along slower rhythms: winemaking, cross-country skiing and tinkling cow bells.

Routes into the Alps’ otherworldly realms are many: aboard cable cars that fly to knee-trembling heights, or in the company of mountain guides who set out into wintry oblivion. Europe's biggest, and arguably most prestigious, ski resorts are here, melting into meadow-draped hiking country each summer. Winter or summer, this forbidding terrain commands respect: the French Alps’ mirror lakes, ice-cold rivers and crevasse-scarred glaciers form one of Europe’s true epics.

French Alps & the Jura Mountains

Montmartre’s lofty views, wine-producing vines and hidden village squares have lured painters from the 19th century onwards. Crowned by the Sacré-Cœur basilica, Montmartre is the city’s steepest quartier (quarter), and its slinking streets lined with crooked ivy-clad buildings retain a fairy-tale charm. The grittier neighbourhoods of Pigalle and Canal St-Martin are hotbeds of creativity with a trove of hip drinking, dining and shopping addresses.