But you’ll also need to see Nice Old Town

The best places and cities to visit in France and where to stay

An expert guide into the top places and cities to visit in France and the best places to stay, in locations including,, Nice, Cote d’Azur,,, and. nourishes a spectrum of expectations like no other European region. There is the moncler online store sensual promise furnished by olive trees and lavender, the warmth, the light and the drinking of best moncler jackets ros under the stars. This life may be as sweet as a maiden’s smile. Then there’s the vigour. The place is forever sending you up mountains, kayaking along rivers, jumping off rocks, cycling vertically; on the go non stop with barely time for selfies. does relaxation better too. This is the continent’s most cultivated playground and has been since the Romans sprinkled theatres about the place and ‘s medieval popes attracted the world’s greatest artists. Districts moncler outlet store change, old ones get restored, whole new areas go up. There’s always a new bar or restaurant to check out, a new star baker, the latest gallery. Behind its grand palaces and boulevards, you can discover intimate courtyards and gardens; behind historic faades are craft workshops and eminent research institutions. Perhaps the true clue to ‘s appeal is that despite being one of the most visited cities in the world moncler outlet prices it is also intensely lived moncler sale in. This remains the world HQ of wine and chteau owning folk. But there’s also a cracking museum of modern art next door, tapas bars up uk moncler sale the road and fusion food in the restaurants. And there are few more graceful urban sights in France than the miroir d’eau reflecting the splendid Palais de la Bourse. Welcome, in short, to the nouveau. It offers the ancient dignity but with added zest and fruitiness. For immediate drinking. may well be renowned for its wine with villages such as Chablis and Nuits St Georges known throughout the women moncler jackets world moncler womens jackets but rural has a great deal more to offer. Renaissance chateaux, medieval abbeys and fortified villages all stand testimony to the colourful history of this lesser known region of France. ‘s history stretches further into the past. Hilltop villages and market towns are adorned with some of the most magnificent Romanesque structures in Europe. At ‘s rural heart lies the Morvan National Park, dotted with lakes moncler sale outlet and picturesque villages, many of which have family run brasseries in their tree shaded squares. The arrangement of ramparts, pointy roofed towers and bulky moncler sale online buildings is almost Disney perfect. The mind’s eye can’t help filling in the knights, damsels in distress and a dragon or two. Up close, though, the prospect is real enough. The 52 towers and monumental walls battled their way through the Middle Ages. The Carcassonnais make the most of this world class site. Its reputation for glamour is enhanced by an equal reputation for top end discount moncler jackets scandal. The clearest possible light moncler outlet sale spangles the Mediterranean to create a setting for sybarites, and shadows for well dressed decadence. You could spend an entire trip just wandering along the Bay. But you’ll also need to see Nice Old Town, where the real Niois re colonise their city, hosting the south’s finest uk moncler outlet flower market on the Cours Saleya. This is a glorious, and playful, slice of urban greensward. Studenty Montpellier is the buzzing cultural hub, while small town Nmes seduces history fiends with its Roman amphitheatre and the Pont moncler outlet du Gard aqueduct an easy day trip away. Expect to find trestle tables, wedged cheek by jowl beneath colourful cheap moncler coats mens canopies on lovely market squares, groaning with chestnuts, fleshy penny bun mushrooms, knobbly yellow quinces, figs, walnuts and Cabcou goat cheeses. Then there is the undulating landscape, a perfect mirror of quintessential France with its soft green meadows and vineyards wrapped around romantic chateaux, farms and bastides (fortified hilltop villages) built from honey coloured stone by the feuding French and English in the 13th century. Of course, the bay is glorious and there are sandy beaches. But such things aren’t unknown around the Med. What sets apart is the shiny veneer with which it has coated these elements. For the truth is that ‘ visitor population is not entirely made up of movie legends, Russian billionaires and Mid East moguls. Ordinary Joes like you and me are there in our thousands. It is the town’s triumph to pretend that its visitors are all wealthy, beautiful and glam, while catering to the cheap moncler jackets fact that they aren’t. Monte Carlo’s pristine streets are paved with Michelin starred restaurants and designer shops, while the superyacht lined harbour is home to late night bars. The Old Town recalls its medieval roots through its castle, its cobbled streets and its earthy Monegasque cuisine. Carefully monclerdownjacket watched over by the world’s largest police force per capita, this billionaire’s playground is occasionally shady, but usually sunny. is often described as the Devon of northern France, with as the corresponding Cornwall. It’s easy to see why is altogether a gentler place, dotted with cheap moncler jackets mens lush meadows and bucolic farmland, and famed for its cheese and apples. Rather than locked in an endless tussle with a wild ocean, its coastline consists for the most part moncler outlet woodbury of long low dunes, lapped by the Channel. Great beaches are everywhere you look. There’s much more to than beaches, though. For many centuries this was a proudly independent realm, with closer connections to Britain than France; was after all “petite Bretagne”, as opposed to “Grande Bretagne” across the Channel. ‘s most striking towns are the walled medieval citadelles that once guarded its borders with France, but the further west you go, into the Celtic heartland, you’re in wilder territory, where vestiges of ancient forests survive around villages. is one of those destinations where the longer you moncler usa spend in one place, the more there seems to be to discover.

Pays de la Loire

This lush green valley west of is all about chateaux seriously grand, glittering chateaux unlike anywhere else moncler uk outlet in France (the entire valley is Unesco World Heritage listed). Chteau de Chambord, Chenonceau and Cheverny are Renaissance A listers, while Chaumont and Villandry are garden lover essentials. Cycling is the finest means of pairing this dazzling history and architecture with the valley’s glorious food and wine. Old Lyon, a Unesco world heritage site, lies between the hills of Fourvire and Croix Rousse, its narrow streets punctuated with characteristic passageways that were used by the silk merchants to transport their products when the city echoed with the clacking of hundreds of thousands of looms. Today, though, cheap moncler jackets womens a new chapter is in the making, with Lyon gleaming from renovations and urban cheap moncler sale remodelling moncler outlet online.