The most visited country on earth, and most of it is not Paris. Alps, Atlantic surf, Mediterranean coast and a rail network that gets you between them in an afternoon.
France gets flattened into Paris, and Paris is genuinely one of the great cities, but it is also the most expensive part of the country by a wide margin and the least representative. Two hours south by train, Lyon eats better for half the price. Four hours and you are in Marseille, which feels like a different sea entirely.
The country divides usefully into thirds. The north and west — Normandy, Brittany, the Atlantic coast — is green, cool and full of surf towns nobody outside France talks about. The middle is wine and châteaux, Burgundy through to the Loire. The south is the postcard: Provence, the Riviera, and the Pyrenees or Alps on either shoulder.
A week does Paris and one region. Two weeks does Paris, the south and a stop in between, all by train. Skip Paris entirely on a second visit and you will not regret it.
The TGV network makes this a country of day-apart cities. Book weeks ahead for the fares that make it worth it.
Worth the cliché, and worth more than the three days most people give it. Expensive, walkable, endlessly layered.
A great city with loads of culture and history! Definitely recommended!
A traveller, on Hostelworld
The country's food capital, a Roman city, and half the price of Paris. The most underrated big city in France.
Vibrant, clean, good public transit, charming, not full… Lyon’s amazing. Definitely worth a stop!
A traveller, on Hostelworld
Rough, sunlit and Mediterranean rather than French. The best value city on the south coast.
In Marseille,you get the best of both worlds: a big bustling modern city proud of its long and fascinating history AND the connection to the sea everywhere you go. The ports and the beaches and the islands just off the coast, not forgetting the famous Calanques are all within easy reach of the city, and the mountains form a beautiful backdrop to perfect this idyllic picture. What are you waiting for?!
A traveller, on Hostelworld
The Riviera base: pebble beaches, an old town, and day trips to Monaco and Cannes.
Superb weather. Beautiful beaches and water. Easy access to beaches. Big city without being TOO big.
A traveller, on Hostelworld
Wine country capital with 18th-century streets and a student population keeping prices sane.
The people in Bordeaux are wonderful and extremely helpful!
A traveller, on Hostelworld
The pink city: brick architecture, a huge student population, and the best value of any French city this size.
I would definitely come back in a heart beat, the city has a soul and if you visit the same activities as the locals you will see it!
A traveller, on Hostelworld
German and French at once, with a cathedral, canals and the biggest Christmas market in the country.
Food scene: great and with a lot of variety. Culture: so many things to see and experience. Night life: plenty of bars, restaurants and dive bars.
A traveller, on Hostelworld
Flemish in feel, an hour from Paris and 90 minutes from London, with a student nightlife and cheap beer.
Lille is a very beautiful town with great architecture. Beautiful streets with lots of outdoor cafes.
A traveller, on Hostelworld
A former shipbuilding city turned strange: a mechanical elephant walks the island, and the art trail runs through town.
Southern, young and walkable, ten minutes from the Mediterranean by tram.
Montpellier is a beautiful city. I had a lovely two days here, it took maybe 0.5-1 day to see the main sights and then I spent the rest chilling and people watching (and trying to deal with the heat). Friendly people, very patient with my average French. Public transport was excellent, it was very easy to get to the centre from the Sud de France gare and also easy to get to the beach.
A traveller, on Hostelworld
A papal palace, a famous broken bridge, and the base for Provence and its festival in July.
A canal town on an alpine lake, with the clearest water in Europe and mountains straight up behind it.
Please go!! The view of the lake and mountains are worth it in of itself, the canals and the opportunities for sight seeing were incredible! Don't forget to take a dip in the water :-)
A traveller, on Hostelworld
Under Mont Blanc: skiing in winter, alpinism in summer, and the Aiguille du Midi cable car all year.
Just the best town for snowboarding/ skiing, so much to choose from beautiful views great town with loads going on. My favourite resort to ski at !
A traveller, on Hostelworld
Atlantic surf town on the Spanish border, with the Basque country either side of it.
Very pretty city, with great beaches and nightlife. Great good and markets too.
A traveller, on Hostelworld
France covers every one of these. Pick the one that sounds like your week.
Three or four days, one city, and a lot of walking.
Bouchons, boulangeries and markets that run six mornings a week.
Two coasts, two entirely different holidays.
Alps in the east, Pyrenees in the south, surf in the west.
More museums than you can do, and free on the first Sunday.
Wine bars and terraces more than clubs, outside Paris.
Paris rewards planning. The Louvre, Orsay, Versailles and the Eiffel Tower all sell timed tickets that save hours, and the late-opening evenings at the big museums are the quietest time to see them. State museums are free on the first Sunday of the month, which is either a bargain or a crowd depending on your tolerance.
Outside Paris the attraction is the regions themselves. Normandy's D-Day beaches and Mont-Saint-Michel, the Loire châteaux, Provence's villages and markets, the Calanques between Marseille and Cassis. Most are day trips from a city with a hostel.
The rule that holds everywhere: lunch is the main event, kitchens shut between 14:00 and 19:00, and Mondays close a surprising number of museums and restaurants.
The cheapest good meal in France is the formule at lunch: a main plus a starter or dessert, typically €14 to €20, in the same restaurant that charges twice that in the evening. Every neighbourhood has them and they are how French people eat out.
Lyon is the food city, and its bouchons serve heavy, cheap, offal-leaning cooking that is the opposite of the delicate French food stereotype. Marseille does bouillabaisse and North African cooking better than anywhere. Paris does everything, at Paris prices.
For almost nothing, do what locals do: a boulangerie sandwich or a market picnic. Bread, cheese, charcuterie and a bottle of decent wine come to under €15 for two and beat most restaurant meals.
The French night starts with apéro on a terrace around six and drifts into dinner. Paris drinks in Oberkampf, Belleville and along the Canal Saint-Martin, where people sit on the banks with bottles from the supermarket — legal, cheap and the best free night out in the city.
Outside Paris it is wine bars and student quarters. Lyon and Bordeaux both have large university populations and prices that reflect it. Marseille's Cours Julien is the most alternative scene in the south.
Clubs exist but are not the point, and they are expensive. The exception is the summer south, where beach clubs on the Riviera run at Ibiza prices and Ibiza hours.
The TGV is the reason France is easy: Paris to Lyon in two hours, Marseille in three, Bordeaux in two. Fares swing enormously with booking date, so buy as early as you can and look at Ouigo, SNCF's low-cost service, which sells the same journeys for far less, often from out-of-centre stations.
Under-27s should check the Carte Avantage Jeune, which pays for itself in two or three journeys. BlaBlaCar is heavily used and often cheaper than the train for medium distances.
A car matters in Provence, Brittany, Normandy and the Loire, where the villages and châteaux are spread out and buses are rare. Everywhere else, the train wins.
Paris is the expense, not France. Dorms in the capital start around €35 in season and can be more during fashion weeks and the rugby; in Lyon, Marseille or Bordeaux the same bed is €22 to €28.
Eating is where you can control the damage. Lunch formules, boulangeries and markets keep a day under €60 comfortably. Dinner in restaurants every night pushes it past €90 without much to show for it.
Transport is the other swing. Booked-early TGV tickets are reasonable; the same seat bought on the day can cost three times as much, which is the single most avoidable expense in the country.
France is safe to travel, with the usual big-city qualifications. Pickpocketing is concentrated on the Paris metro lines serving tourist sites, around the Eiffel Tower, Sacré-Cœur and Gare du Nord, and on Marseille's Canebière. The techniques are distraction-based: petition signers, friendship bracelets, the gold ring found at your feet.
Marseille has a reputation that is partly deserved and mostly misapplied — the problems are concentrated in specific northern quarters that visitors have no reason to enter. The old port, Le Panier and Cours Julien are as safe as anywhere.
Strikes are the practical disruption to plan around. Transport strikes are announced days in advance, and SNCF publishes which trains will run, so check before travel days rather than on the morning.
France is in the Schengen area. EU citizens travel on an ID card. UK, US, Canadian and Australian passport holders get 90 days in any 180 across the whole zone, counted together rather than per country.
Passports need three months' validity beyond departure and must have been issued within the last ten years — the second condition catches people out, because a passport can be valid and still too old.
ETIAS, the EU's pre-travel authorisation for visa-free visitors, has been postponed repeatedly. Check the official EU page close to travel rather than relying on any article, including this one.
France has a short, expensive peak and two excellent shoulders. August is when the French themselves go on holiday, so Paris empties and the coast fills.
Average highs for Paris. The Mediterranean south runs six to eight degrees warmer in summer and stays mild in winter.
Pick how you travel and how long for. Per night, for one person. Paris adds roughly a third to the bed and the beer.
Excludes TGV legs. Paris to Marseille is €35–60 booked early, three times that on the day.
These fill the cities they happen in. Both the dates and the prices are worth planning around.
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Join Mickey, Minnie, and all your favorite Disney characters at Disney's Halloween Festival, a spooktacular celebration filled with enchanting parades, thrilling shows, and festive…
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Each winter, Lille transforms into a festive wonderland as the Christmas Market fills the city center with sparkling lights, charming wooden chalets, and the…
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Fête des Lumières in Lyon, France, transforms the city into a glowing canvas as artists from around the world illuminate its streets, squares, and…
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Experience the cultural extravaganza of the Paris Autumn Festival, a prestigious annual event showcasing a diverse range of artistic performances across the city. From…
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La Foire Internationale de Marseille is a vibrant annual event that draws in over 300,000 visitors from around the world. Featuring a diverse array…
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Paris Manga & Sci-Fi Show at Parc des Expositions de Paris Nord Villepinte is a major gathering for fans of anime, manga, and science…
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The Montpellier International Fair is a dynamic gathering that brings together five major themes, offering visitors a rich blend of gastronomy, shopping, lifestyle inspiration,…
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Retour des Alpages in Annecy, France, is a lively celebration marking the return of cattle from their summer pastures. The historic streets of Vieille…
The highest-rated hostels across the country, live from Hostelworld. Paris runs pricier than everywhere else, so look at Lyon and Marseille for value.
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