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France is four or five countries that happen to share a flag. A cable car to 3,842 metres, 110 kilometres of champagne cellars beneath one avenue, lavender at Valensole for one fortnight in July, a canoe past four castles on the Dordogne. The ones who stop pick one region and come back for the rest.
FranceFrance in a nutshell
Where to go in France
Turn these stops into a France route
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Routes that work
France itineraries, one week to three
France is loved by culture seekers and backpackers alike. We recommend several routes through this country, here they are in full!
7 nights1 week, Bordeaux and the Dordogne
Bordeaux · Sarlat la Caneda
Bordeaux wineries close for harvest in September; spring and autumn shoulder seasons offer mild weather and open cellars.
7 nights1 week, Paris and Champagne
Paris · Epernay · Reims
Paris and Champagne region's dual peaks: spring blooms and autumn harvest align with shoulder-season pricing and moderate crowds.
10 nights10 days, the south-west
Bordeaux · Saint Emilion · Sarlat la Caneda
Toulouse and Carcassonne avoid August shutdown; Dordogne villages and Bordeaux wine routes thrive in shoulder seasons.
10 nights2 weeks, the Alps in summer
Annecy · Chamonix · Grenoble
Alpine lifts and trails open mid-June; Chamonix and Annecy remain walkable through September before cable-car maintenance.
11 nights10–12 days, Alsace and the Vosges self-drive (NL/BE drive-to)
Strasbourg · Thannenkirch · Colmar
Alsace shines in autumn foliage and Christmas markets; Vosges hiking and forests peak before November flatness.
11 nights12 days, the Riviera coast run
Marseille · Cassis · Saint Tropez
Marseille to Menton avoids July–August heat and crowds; Riviera weather stays warm enough through spring and autumn.
13 nights2 weeks: Nice, Cannes and Marseille
Nice · Cannes · Marseille
Warm sea and everything open, without the August crowds on the coast.
14 nights2 weeks, Corsica
Ajaccio · Propriano · Porto-Vecchio
June opens the season with warm sea and mild hiking; September brings the month's best overall conditions without July–August extremes.
14 nights2 weeks, Provence inland and the Verdon
Marseille · Cassis · Aix-en-Provence
Gordes and Moustiers-Sainte-Marie offer best light and vineyard access outside peak summer; Verdon gorges accessible year-round but crowds thin in shoulder seasons.
15 nights3 weeks, the drive south (NL/BE drive-to)
Lille · Paris · Beaune
Paris to Nice spans multiple climates; spring and autumn balance Alps accessibility, Burgundy vineyards, and Provence warmth without summer crowds.
Updated August 2026 · Written by the Stippl editorsThe numbers below come from 311,000+ planned stops in France on Stippl, and the rest from the guides we cross-check.
France is planned as a country you move through, and most travellers give a stop 2 nights. Paris is the Eiffel Tower sparkling on the hour and a cabaret if you want one. Beyond it the named things are the Aiguille du Midi cable car at Chamonix, the Alsace Route des Vins, the champagne cellars at Épernay and Reims, the Calanques walked from Cassis, the Gorges du Verdon by kayak, the Valensole lavender in July, and the Dordogne canoed past its castles.
France is the country people pass through rather than the one they come for. Only about one French trip in five is about France alone, the lowest of any European country we hold, and a typical trip touches several countries on the way. Paris takes 26% of every French stop planned here, and the second city is a third of its size.
So treat France as a spine and pick your stops along it. A typical trip runs 14 days and carries around eight stops, and nearly one French stop in five is planned with no bed at all, which is the day-trip habit showing up in the data. Skip France if you want cheap, because Paris and the Riviera have hard accommodation floors, and do not plan the Dordogne, Alsace or the Provence hill villages without a car.
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Download the appWho France is for
Food and wine travellers
Over 20 wine regions with distinct grape rules, a cheese per region, and market culture as the default local ritual rather than a tourist activity.
First-time Europe travellers
One country that delivers a capital, a coast, a mountain range and a countryside without changing currency, language or transport mode, and 14 days is the typical trip.
Families
Camping is built for it (pools, sports fields, kids' clubs, rentable tents and bungalows), with Disneyland Paris, Parc Astérix and Europa-Park just over the Alsace border as the wet-weather answer.
Road-trippers and vanlifers
Over 11,000 campgrounds, free aires de camping-car in small villages, and a rental market with campervan pick-up hubs at ten international airports.
Hikers and mountaineers
Chamonix and the Tour du Mont Blanc, the GR network end to end, the Vosges, the crowd-free Pyrenees, and the GR20 as Europe's hardest long-distance trail.
Skiers
High, snow-sure, purpose-built resorts where you step from the accommodation onto the piste, the Trois Vallées at 606 km of linked pistes, and a tech-house après-ski culture unlike Austria's.
Art and history travellers
The Louvre and Orsay, a dense châteaux layer, Roman Provence, and a UNESCO count that turns almost any region into an itinerary.
Maybe not for you: travellers who want cheap (Paris and the Riviera have hard accommodation floors), anyone unwilling to pre-book in July–August, and anyone expecting to reach Provence's hill villages, the Dordogne or the Alsace countryside without a car
The best time to visit France
Spring shoulder
March to early June
Mild, lengthening days, green vineyards and the cheapest rooms outside deep winter. May and June are already busy: European school holidays and three long weekends fall in them.
Summer peak
July and August
Everything open, everything full, everything dearer. Heat waves reach the high thirties in Paris, the lavender is out in Provence, and the whole country moves at once at the turn of the month.
Autumn shoulder
September and October
The strongest all-round window: warm Mediterranean water, alpine trails open into mid-September, harvest in the wine regions and prices dropping hard.
Winter
November to March
Two countries at once: snow-sure skiing in the high Alps, and a grey, cheap, quiet lowland France where November is the weakest month.
- The last weekend of July is the year's worst traffic, when July's holidaymakers drive home as August's set off. The national traffic calendar routinely rates that Saturday black; plan any long drive around it.
- July is the month most travellers plan France for on Stippl, about 72 days ahead. 16.45% of France plans are made inside a fortnight, which works in the shoulders and not on the Riviera in August.
- In August the Parisians leave and a share of the small restaurants and shops close with them. From the 15th the city is visitors rather than locals; it is a planning fact, not a weather one.
- May in Paris is good weather and bad crowds, and both are true. It is also the wettest month, ahead of December, so pack for showers and book ahead for the three long weekends.
- Corsica's shoulder runs the other way from the mainland's. September and October on the island beat April and May, which are noticeably cooler; go after the summer, not before it.
- Campsites work from roughly April to September, and many simply close outside it. A low-season camping trip needs a phone call before it needs a booking.
Add your France dates and we'll flag the weather per stop
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Festivals, and when to avoid them
Chassé-croisé
The changeover when July's holidaymakers drive home as August's set off: the year's worst congestion and routinely a black Saturday on the national traffic calendar. Do not drive south that day.
Bastille Day
The national day: a military parade on the Champs-Élysées in the morning, fireworks nationwide at night and the Louvre free. The metro closes around the parade and the fireworks; the Eiffel Tower crowd needs a spot by afternoon.
May bank holidays
Four public holidays in five weeks make long weekends that change the opening hours of sights and small businesses alike. Check the day before a Monday plan in May.
Cannes Film Festival
The festival fills the hotels along the whole Riviera, Nice included, and doubles the rates. The fortnight either side is the coast's best shoulder.
Avignon Festival
The south's big theatre event takes over the city and its rooms. Time a Provence road trip around it or come for it and book by spring.
Tour de France
The route closes roads for a day at a time wherever it passes, and the finish on the Champs-Élysées shuts central Paris on the last Sunday. Check the stage map before a July drive.
Assumption
The peak of the national holiday month: a share of Paris's small restaurants and shops close for the duration and the coast is at its fullest. The museums and the big brasseries stay open.
Alsace Christmas markets
Strasbourg, Colmar and Kaysersberg are the headline three and the reason December is a genuine second season in the north-east. Rooms are booked by September and prices double.
Menton Lemon Festival
The Riviera's off-season event, a fortnight of citrus floats and parades in a town that is otherwise asleep in winter. Menton's few hotels fill; Nice is twenty minutes away.
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Things to do in France
Photo by Pierre Goiffon via UnsplashThe Eiffel Tower sparkling
Watch the tower flash for five minutes on the hour after dark from the Champ de Mars, Pont Alexandre III or the Rue de l'Université, free. The ascent itself is contested; the sparkle is not.
The Aiguille du Midi
Ride the cable car to 3,842 metres above Chamonix, then the Panoramic Mont-Blanc gondola across the glacier to the Italian border, about €80 for the top. Book several days ahead and go on a clear morning; afternoon storms are routine.
The Alsace Route des Vins
Drive the 170 kilometres of half-timbered wine villages between the Vosges and the Rhine, from Colmar and Eguisheim through Riquewihr and Kaysersberg to the Château du Haut-Kœnigsbourg. Two days, and a designated driver.
The champagne cellars
Taste at one grande maison and one small grower on the same day in Épernay or Reims, about €30 and €15, for two entirely different experiences; the Avenue de Champagne sits above 110 kilometres of cellars. Book the big houses a week ahead.
The Calanques from Cassis
Walk to Calanque d'En-Vau, ninety minutes from the town, through the limestone inlets minutes from Marseille, free. The park closes outright on high wildfire-risk days from June to September; check the evening before.
Kayaking the Gorges du Verdon
Paddle the turquoise water under white limestone from Lac de Sainte-Croix, with boats hired at the lake for about €20 an hour. The birthplace of modern sport climbing, and camping inside the gorge is forbidden.
What to eat in France
the daily bread; press the crust and it should crackle
the morning pastry pair
raw minced beef with capers, onion, parsley, sometimes a raw egg
beef braised in red wine, mid-19th century
chicken slow-cooked in wine, one of the oldest French dishes
the big Provençal fish stew; expensive enough that sharing is advised
the composed summer salad of the coast
potato, Reblochon, lardons and onion, baked
cheese melted and scraped over potatoes and charcuterie; a winter dish
thin oval base with cream, onion and bacon
sauerkraut with sausages and smoked meats; heavy, an evening dish
the savoury buckwheat crêpe
white beans with sausage, duck confit and pork
duck leg cooked and preserved in its own fat
the archetypal savoury tart
rum-and-vanilla custard in a thick caramelised crust
upside-down caramelised apple tart, invented by accident
the two-shell almond meringue sandwich
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French customs and what not to do
Greet before you ask
Bonjour first, every time, in shops, cafés and offices, and bonsoir after dark; skipping it is the thing that earns the gruffness the stereotype is built on.
You have to ask for it
The bill never arrives unasked: l'addition, s'il vous plaît is a required move, and the unhurried service is a design choice rather than neglect.
The toll booth has no English
An attempt at French changes how you are treated, and the practical case is the stronger one: motorway toll assistants and rural staff frequently speak none.
Lunch shuts the town
Closing times are a real constraint: lunch closure from about half past twelve to two outside the big cities, small-town restaurants closed two fixed days a week, and August empties Paris.
Monday or Tuesday, not both
Museum closing days are planning data: the Musée d'Orsay, Rodin and Versailles close on Monday, the Louvre, the Orangerie and the Pompidou on Tuesday.
Round up, and stop there
Tipping is not built into prices; rounding up is the traditional move, five to ten percent in Paris restaurants and taxis is increasingly common, and above ten is very generous.
Do
- Say bonjour on entering anywhere, and bonsoir after dark
- Ask for tap water; a carafe d'eau is free and entirely normal
- Take the set lunch menu instead of paying dinner prices
- Book timed-entry sights before you leave home, and screenshot the tickets
- Bring your own shopping bag; shops do not hand them out
Don't
- Enter a péage's orange T lane without a Télépéage badge
- Drive into a low-emission zone without the Crit'Air sticker; the fine is €68 for a car
- Leave anything visible in a rental car, especially in the south
- Turn up at a June to August campsite without a booking
- Run speed-camera alerts on a sat-nav; they are illegal in France
What a France trip costs
Budget
€40–80
Hostel dorm or campsite pitch, supermarket picnics and the set lunch menu, trains booked months out, free and low-cost sights.
Mid-range
€90–150
Two- to three-star hotel, gîte or chambre d'hôtes, a restaurant dinner, hire car, paid museums and a wine tour.
High-end
€160+
Boutique and château hotels, serious restaurants, guided tastings, private transfers, peak-season coast.
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Visas, SIM cards and getting around
Entry & visa
An ID card does it
EU citizens travel on a national ID card. UK, US, Canadian and Australian passports get 90 days in any 180, and the clock runs across all of Schengen.
Money
Euro, and the bakery wants cash
The euro throughout; cards with PIN and contactless work almost everywhere, and cash survives at markets and small bakeries. Let a machine charge you in euros, never your home currency.
Connectivity
Free for EU, eSIM for others
EU residents roam on their own plan. Everyone else buys an eSIM for about €0.50 to €2.50 a day, and data matters in Paris, where restaurant menus are QR codes.
Getting around
The TGV, booked four months out
High-speed rail beats flying between the big cities, Paris to Bordeaux in two hours. TGV fares open four months ahead and climb; regional TER trains have fixed fares.
Health
Nothing to arrange
No vaccinations are required or advised. EU residents carry the EHIC, UK residents the GHIC, everyone else travel insurance, and the main health message is not to hike alone.
Water
Ask for a carafe d'eau
Tap water is safe nationwide, and asking for a carafe d'eau in a restaurant instead of buying bottled is completely normal. Paris has free fountains in most parks.
Tipping
Round up, service is included
Service is already in the bill by law. Rounding up or leaving a few euros for good service is common in Paris restaurants and taxis, and nothing more is expected.
Power & plugs
Type E, the same as Belgium
Sockets are type C and E at 230 V. A Dutch or German plug fits, UK and US travellers need an adapter, and 112 is the emergency number everywhere.
Language
English thins past the cities
French throughout. English is common in city hospitality and in Paris and thin in rural areas, where a bonjour before any request changes the whole exchange.
French worth knowing
Nobody expects you to speak the language, which is exactly why a handful of words goes so far.
bon-zhoor
Hello, the mandatory opener on entering anywhere · bonjour
bon-swahr
Good evening · bonsoir
mair-see
Thank you · merci
seel voo play
Please · s'il vous plaît
par-lay voo on-glay
Do you speak English? · parlez-vous anglais
la-dee-syon seel voo play
The bill, please, it never arrives unasked · l'addition, s'il vous plaît
oon ka-raf doh
A jug of tap water, free and normal to ask for · une carafe d'eau
luh muh-noo doo zhoor
The set lunch menu, the country's best-value meal · le menu du jour
son plom / ga-zol
Unleaded / diesel, the words on the pump · sans plomb / gazole
zhuh nuh kom-pron pa
I don't understand · je ne comprends pas
France questions, answered
With the shape of it, before you book a train. Pick the two or three regions you actually want, then lay the stops out in Stippl and see what the days allow: a France trip runs 14 days on Stippl, which is shorter than most people picture. Show that route to people who have been, in the France travel subreddits or the Facebook groups.
More than you would expect. 18.46% of stops planned in France on Stippl are same-day visits, a higher share than Italy or Spain, because the TGV turns Reims, Rouen or Lyon into an afternoon. The practical version of that is to pick two or three bases and let the trains do the moving.
Nearly everyone does. Only 21.63% of the France trips planned on Stippl stay inside France, so four in five cross a border into a neighbour, usually on the way to or from somewhere else. Decide which neighbours are in before you fix the French leg, because it changes where you fly in and out.
Yes, if you are driving into a low-emission zone, and that list now covers Paris, Lyon, Grenoble, Strasbourg and a growing number of cities. Order it from the official certificat-air.gouv.fr site weeks ahead, because it arrives by post. Ask the hire company whether the car already carries one before you set off.
The last weekend of July into the first of August. The French call it the chasse-croise: one month's holidaymakers drive home as the next month's set off, and the autoroutes south jam solid for two days. Check the Bison Fute colour calendar before you commit to the dates of a road trip.
About four months for TGV INOUI, on SNCF Connect, and the fare climbs as the date closes, so summer seats typically open in March. Regional TER trains work the other way round: fixed fares, no reservation, buy on the day. Knowing which of the two you are booking is most of the skill.
Every guide is written by the Stippl editors and checked against the trips our travellers actually plan. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.
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