Toulouse
The fantastic space museum on the city's eastern outskirts brings Toulouse's illustrious aeronautical history to life through hands-on exhibits, including…
Must-see attractions in Southwest France
Toulouse
With its palm tree vaulted ceiling, the Couvent des Jacobins is one of Toulouse’s oldest and most recognizable buildings
The Dordogne
France’s most famous prehistoric cave paintings are at the Grotte de Lascaux, 2km southeast of Montignac. Naturally sealed and protected for millennia, it…
Tarn
Lodged inside the Palais de la Berbie (built in the early Middle Ages for the town's archbishop), this wonderful museum offers an overview of Albi's most…
Gironde
This colossal sand dune (sometimes referred to as the Dune de Pyla because of its location 4km from the small seaside resort town of Pyla-sur-Mer), 8km…
Les Machines de l’Île de Nantes
Nantes
Nantes' quirkiest sight is this fantasy world – a serious and seriously wacky workshop with mechanical contraptions galore displayed in plant-filled…
Tarn
Resembling a castle more than a cathedral, this formidable edifice in orange brick rises above Vieil Albi like an apparition. Its defensive walls hark…
Bordeaux
The complex world of wine is explored in depth at ground-breaking La Cité du Vin, a stunning piece of contemporary architecture resembling a wine decanter…
The Dordogne
This extraordinary cave contains the only original polychrome (as opposed to single-colour) paintings still open to the public. About 14,000 years ago,…
Toulouse
Toulouse’s grandiose main square is the focal point in the heart of France’s "Pink City"
La Rochelle
La Rochelle's state-of-the-art, family-friendly aquarium is home to 12,000 marine animals and 600 different species. Visits begin by descending in a…
Parc Naturel Interrégional du Marais Poitevin
Atlantic Coast
Parc Naturel Interrégional du Marais Poitevin is a tranquil bird-filled wetland dubbed the Venise Verte (Green Venice) due to the duckweed that turns its…
St-Jean Pied de Port
Though modern St-Jean has expanded considerably, during medieval times the entire town was enclosed by defensive ramparts guarding France's southwestern…
The Pyrenees
If the Pyrenees has a mustn’t-miss view, it’s the one from the Pic du Midi de Bigorre (2877m). Once accessible only to mountaineers, since 1878 the Pic du…
The Pyrenees
Most people know about the prehistoric artworks of the Dordogne, but far fewer realise that ancient painters left their mark in caves all across the…
The Dordogne
The massive ramparts and metre-thick crenellated walls of this quintessential medieval fortress (occupied by the English during the Hundred Years War)…
La Rochelle
In a series of boldly coloured, red, blue and yellow canopied hangars at the Bassin à Flot, the Maritime Museum evokes the history of La Rochelle port,…
Toulouse, Gers & Vallée du Tarn
It's something of a surprise to come across a place of such historical wealth in such a remote part of the Gers département, well away from any major…
Bordeaux
A fountain of sorts, the Miroir d'Eau is the world's largest reflecting pool. Covering an area of 3450 sq metres of black granite on the quayside opposite…
Bordeaux
The Cathédrale St-André, a Unesco World Heritage Site prior to the city's classification, lords it over the city. The cathedral's oldest section dates…
Île de Ré
For an overview of the island, follow the crowds to Phare des Baleines, the island's scarlet-tipped, 59m-tall lighthouse on its northwestern tip. Scale…
The Lot
This museum is named after Figeac-born Egyptologist and linguist Jean-François Champollion (1790–1832), whose efforts in deciphering the Rosetta Stone…
Limoges
The city’s wonderful art museum is inside the beautifully restored 18th-century bishops’ palace. Get an overview of the town's history through Roman…
Limousin
Beaulieu’s most celebrated feature is this 12th-century Romanesque abbey church, with a wonderful tympanum (c 1130) depicting incredible scenes from the…
The Pyrenees
Around 12km south of Lourdes, off the D821 near Argelès-Gazost, this fantastic animal park is home to many species that were once commonly sighted across…
The Lot
High on a hilltop 150m above a hairpin bend in the River Aveyron, Najac’s fortress looks as if it's fallen from the pages of a fairy tale: slender towers…
La Rochelle
Easily mistaken for an ornate church spire, the conical 15th-century Tour de la Lanterne is La Rochelle's beauty queen. It was so named because of its…
Musée et Jardin du Canal du Midi
Toulouse, Gers & Vallée du Tarn
Understand France’s mightiest man-made waterway, the Unesco World Heritage Canal du Midi, through illuminating exhibitions and short films at this museum…
Sanctuaires Notre Dame de Lourdes
Lourdes
The spiritual centre of Lourdes is the subterranean grotto where Bernadette Soubirous is believed to have experienced her visions in 1858. From the Porte…
The Lot
Enter the historic centre of Figeac at place Vival, where the tourist office occupies the Hôtel de la Monnaie, an arcaded 13th-century building where…
The Lot
The Sanctuaires are seven beautiful 12th- to 14th-century chapels built into the rock-face and surrounding a central courtyard. You can see worn stones…
The Dordogne
Hidden in woodland 18km north of Les Eyzies, this tri-level cave is one of the most complex and rewarding to see in the Dordogne. Board an electric train…
The Dordogne
Part of the park that contains the Tour de Vésone, this sleek museum designed by French architect Jean Nouvel encompasses a 1st-century Roman domus …
Nantes
Forget fusty furnishings – light-filled rooms inside the Castle of the Dukes of Brittany house multimedia-rich exhibits detailing the city's history. Look…
The Dordogne
Horticulture fans won’t want to miss these famous manicured gardens, stretching along a rocky bluff overlooking the Dordogne Valley. Signposted paths lead…
The Lot
Discovered in 1889, the spectacular Gouffre de Padirac features some of France’s spangliest underground caverns. The cave’s navigable river, 103m below…
Bordeaux
By far the city's eeriest and most menacing sight, this mammoth hulk of a submarine base (1941–43) was one of five built on the Atlantic Coast by the…
St-Jean de Luz
The plain façade of France’s largest and finest Basque church conceals a splendid interior with a magnificent Baroque altarpiece. It was in front of this…
Bayonne
The twin towers of Bayonne's Gothic cathedral soar above the city. Construction began in the 13th century, and was completed in 1451. Above the north…
Sarlat-la-Canéda
For an introductory French market experience, visit Sarlat’s heavily touristed Saturday market, which takes over the streets around Cathédrale St-Sacerdos…
