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Must-include attractions sorted by popularity
Most popular attractions in France
1. Eiffel Tower
Paris
Quick facts: Visitors often marvel at its intricate iron lattice that seems to dance against the sky, creating mesmerizing shadows during sunset. Surprisingly, the structure expands and contracts with temperature changes, causing it to grow by up to 6 inches in the heat.
Highlights: The tower twinkles every hour on the hour after sunset, with exactly 20,000 light bulbs creating a sparkling spectacle that lasts for five minutes. Gustave Eiffel, the engineer behind the design, installed a secret apartment near the top where he hosted famous guests like Thomas Edison and even held private dinner parties with incredible views of the city.
2. Louvre Museum
Paris
Quick facts: Step inside to wander through a labyrinth of over 35,000 artworks, where every corner hides a masterpiece from ancient civilizations to contemporary art. The labyrinth's iconic glass pyramid floods the space with natural light, creating a stunning contrast between modern architecture and historic grandeur.
Highlights: Over 35,000 pieces of art are on display, but one quirky tradition involves a secret underground tunnel once used by kings for discreet comings and goings. A favorite oddity is the barely noticeable 'Idiot's Room', a tiny hidden chamber once meant for guards to keep watch without being seen, offering a ghostly glimpse into the palace's past.
3. Mont Saint-Michel
Mont-Saint-Michel
Quick facts: A tidal island turns into a walkable spit at low tide, with the sea sometimes retreating up to 14 meters and exposing broad sand flats. Narrow cobbled lanes climb steeply past timbered houses toward an abbey that perches like a stone crown on the rock.
Highlights: Local storytellers still warn that the incoming tide can race in faster than a person can run, with water levels swinging by as much as 14 meters and turning miles of sand into a sudden mirror of sea. On September 29th, during the feast of Saint Michael, candlelit processions thread the steep streets, lighting faces and turning the granite alleys into a corridor of low, resonant chants.
Book a FREE walking tour in France
The best way to experience a city with a local tour guide.
Tip: We strongly recommend a free walking tour on your first day to get to know the city with a local guide. They usually cover all main attractions and you can ask for personal recommendations based on your interests for the next days. Book early as spaces fill up fast!
4. Palace of Versailles
Versailles
Quick facts: Lavish gardens stretch over 800 hectares, featuring meticulously manicured lawns, ornate fountains, and hidden groves that seem straight out of a fairy tale. Mirror-clad halls dazzle the eye, reflecting golden chandeliers and intricate ceiling paintings, creating an almost magical ambiance where royalty once wandered.
Highlights: The Hall of Mirrors is lit by 357 crystal chandeliers that reflect sunlight during the day in a dazzling array, creating a magical glow that seems almost unreal. Every year, the grand Neptune Fountain is operated with water from 210 jets, and back in the 17th century, it was said that King Louis XIV would watch the show from his hidden chambers just to keep an eye on his guests.
5. Château de Chambord
Chambord
Quick facts: A flamboyant rooftop bristles with dozens of sculpted chimneys and towers, giving the silhouette the playful complexity of a fantasy skyline. Climb the famous double-helix staircase and you'll find two intertwined spirals that let people move in opposite directions without crossing, producing whispered echoes and surprising sightlines.
Highlights: A contested double-helix staircase often linked to Leonardo da Vinci threads through the central keep, letting two climbers pass without meeting while shafts of light stripe the stone like pale ribbons. Local guides love pointing out a tucked-away hunting ledger bearing 16th-century names and notes about boar and deer served at feasts, a tactile fragment that makes the lost court feel oddly audible and smoky.
6. Pont du Gard
Vers-Pont-du-Gard
Quick facts: A three-tiered stone aqueduct reaches about 49 meters above the river, the tallest surviving Roman aqueduct bridge in the world. You can spot precision-cut limestone blocks fitted without mortar, some weighing up to 6 tons, while the whole structure stretches roughly 275 meters across the valley.
Highlights: Walk into the shelter beneath the highest arch and you can hear the river amplify like a drum, while warm honey-gold limestone glows at sunset so every chisel line and weathered edge pops. A surprisingly exacting Roman engineering feat funneled water along a roughly 50-kilometer channel, and if you look closely you’ll find mason marks—small symbols carved into the stones that identify the crews who set each block.
7. Omaha Beach
Colleville-sur-Mer
Quick facts: Waves still sweep over rusted tank fragments and tangled barbed wire visible at low tide, where more than 34,000 Allied soldiers came ashore on a single morning. You can walk from wide, pebbly sand up into grassy bluffs and run your fingers along concrete bunkers and faded inscriptions, the scale of the effort feeling oddly immediate.
Highlights: A staggering count of 9,387 white crosses stands on the cliff above, and at sunrise the pale stone seems to glow like frost, making the scale of loss visually impossible to ignore. Local fishermen quietly tie tiny hand-written notes to smooth pebbles and roll them into the surf, a private ritual some families have carried out for more than fifty years.
8. Cité de Carcassonne
Carcassonne
Quick facts: Step along the lofty ramparts and you'll count 52 towers punctuating the skyline, their stone profiles cutting a dramatic silhouette against the sky. By night amber lighting traces the battlements and narrow streets, turning the stone into a glowing, storybook panorama.
Highlights: Walk the full loop of outer and inner walls, about 3 kilometers of cobbled passage, and feel the wind carry the distant clink of metal and the tang of wood smoke. A quirky acoustic trick rewards curious ears, a single clap in the narrow interwall passage will often bounce back three or four clear echoes, a startling reminder of how sound lives in stone.
9. Gorges du Verdon
Moustiers-Sainte-Marie
Quick facts: Bright turquoise water snakes through a canyon more than 25 kilometers long, plunging to depths near 700 meters and carving sheer limestone walls. Rock-climbers scale overhanging limestone faces while kayakers thread narrow gorges, and the water can feel startlingly cold enough to make your teeth chatter.
Highlights: Sunlight hitting suspended limestone particles turns the river a milky jade, so from high viewpoints the water looks like a glowing ribbon threaded between cliffs. Paragliders use rising thermals to stay aloft for 60 to 90 minutes as peregrine falcons streak past at speeds over 200 km/h, so you'll often hear high, piercing calls echoing off the rock while watching tiny human figures drift above the canyon.
10. Aiguille du Midi
Chamonix-Mont-Blanc
Quick facts: Cable cars whisk visitors up to 3,842 meters, delivering jaw-dropping panoramas over serrated peaks and shimmering glaciers. Wind nips at your cheeks near the summit, and a maze of platforms and short tunnels lets you step right onto the rock for hands-on alpine vibes.
Highlights: A glass viewing box juts out over the abyss, offering a clear-floor view of roughly a 1,000-meter drop and a stomach-sinking sense of emptiness beneath your boots. Local guides point out route names etched into the stone while the air tastes metallic and thin, each breath sharp with alpine ozone.
Additional popular things to do in France
Curated tours, tickets, and activities recommended by travelers
Popular Cities in France
Traditional Sweet Dishes
Crème brûlée
Crème brûlée is known for its perfectly brittle caramelized sugar top which diners traditionally crack with a spoon, and the dessert's silky custard was popularized in France though versions existed earlier across Europe.
Macaron
The colorful French macaron as a sandwich cookie was popularized in Paris in the 20th century, and Ladurée helped make delicate almond meringue shells and ganache fillings an art form.
Madeleine
The tiny shell-shaped madeleine became a cultural symbol after Marcel Proust described how tasting one unlocked a flood of memories, and bakers still bake them in scalloped molds for that reason.
Traditional Savory Dishes
Coq au vin
Coq au vin was born as a peasant recipe using an old rooster cooked slowly in wine to turn tough meat tender, and the long braise concentrates flavors into a deeply savory sauce.
Bouillabaisse
Bouillabaisse began as a Marseille fisherman's stew, created from the bony fish too humble to sell, and its saffron flavored broth and rouille sauce made it a regional treasure.
Cassoulet
Cassoulet is a slow-cooked bean casserole from southwest France, traditionally simmered for hours so the top forms a prized crust and the meats become meltingly tender.
Traditional Beverages
Red wine
French red wine helped shape the idea of terroir, the belief that soil and place leave a distinct fingerprint on flavor, and some French vineyards keep vines producing for over a century.
Champagne
Only sparkling wine made in the Champagne region can legally be called Champagne, and its celebrated bubbles come from a second fermentation in the bottle that also helps concentrate aromas.
Cider
French cidre from Normandy and Brittany ranges from dry to sweet and was traditionally made by whole-apple pressing, pairing famously well with crepes and salty cheeses.
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Day trips
Loire Valley (Tours/Amboise)
Chateaux, vineyards, scenic river valleys.
Google MapsComments (6)
Two weeks felt right to see Paris, Provence and a quick Loire chateau day. Food is incredible, costs add up fast though.
Paris cafes are unreal, croissants worth the hype. Expect crowds in summer, but the light on the Seine at dusk is magic.
Loved Bordeaux wines, towns are charming but regional trains can be delayed and shops close really early on Sundays.
Book timed tickets for big museums, aim for the first morning slot to beat crowds. Smaller museums often have free entry the first Sunday.
Buy a carnet of metro tickets in Paris, cheaper than singles and easy to share. Avoid taxis in rush hour, traffic kills time and wallet.
Getting there
Airports
Train stations
Eurostar, TGV, regional and suburban lines
TGV to south and east, regional services
TGV to west and southwest, regional services
Take RER B from CDG to central Paris; Orly has Orlyval plus tram or buses; Beauvais uses an airport shuttle.
Click to get eSim for France
The easiest and most affordable way to get mobile internet wherever you travel.
Rent a car in France
Visa & entry
EU/EEA, United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, South Korea
Nationals from many countries outside the visa-free list must obtain a Schengen visa; check with the nearest embassy
Schengen rule: 90 days within any 180-day period; carry proof of onward travel and insurance.