French Alps & the Jura Mountains

First time France: where to go and what to do

France is the world’s top tourist destination and for good reason. There's a lot packed into just one country – artistic and architectural masterpieces, remarkable museums and natural landscapes, and a history harking back far beyond the Romans. Top it off with fine wine, food and a culinary culture that permeates through every city and small town, and the only hard part is deciding where to go first.

France’s chic, sexy capital has to be experienced at least once. Mix picture-postcard icons with simple Parisian moments and you'll truly fall in love with the city. Scale the Eiffel Tower then walk or cycle along the Seine, or cruise down it on a bateau-mouche (bateaux-mouches.fr). Venerate Notre Dame then grab a post-cathedral café at Café Saint-Régis, ice-cream at Berthillon or super juice at literary café of mythical bookshop Shakespeare & Company. Hit the Louvre then collapse on a bench with a Pierre Hermé macaron in the Tuileries or Palais Royal gardens. Delve into hilltop Montmartre with a local Paris Greeter (greeters.paris). Escape to posh leafy Versailles and come back blown away by France’s most famous chateau.

Nicola Williams

Lonely Planet Writer

Bière de garde: a traveller’s guide to beer in France

Beer. It’s not the first thing most people think of sampling on a trip to France. But France, like many places, is on the cusp of a beer moment.

Breweries across the country are taking a nod from their Belgian neighbours, finding influence in American styles and hops, utilising their fresh and wonderful home-soil ingredients and even reviving a historic and uniquely French style of beer: bière de garde.

Megan Eaves

Lonely Planet Writer

Snow business: 5 alternative winter sports and where to try them

Whether you’re a winter sport daredevil or only in it for the mulled wine, dust off your mittens for these alternative winter sports. Give standard skiing and snowboarding a wide berth with a few frosty favourites perfect for beginners, or test your snowy sport expertise by scaling ice or soaring up high. There’s an avalanche of choice, so wrap up warm and hit the snow.

Feel the fresh air rush past your face as you glide through Scandinavian snowlands, a pack of lively husky dogs towing you at speed. Dog-sledding is a breathtaking thrillride and plenty of tourist boards across Scandinavia arrange day excursions for total beginners. But if you imagine the bounding hound dogs will be doing all the work, think again: make sure you’re in good shape and expect sore arms in the morning.