Europe
France Travel Guide
The land of art, wine, and timeless romance
3 cities12+ attractions€0 to plan
Cities in France
Tap any city to see its attractions and start a day-by-day plan.
Lyon
Lyon is the city the French save for themselves — the country's undisputed gastronomic capital, where the bouchons serve the kind of unfussy, butter-and-offal cooking that built French cuisine. Eat at one, then walk it off across two rivers: Lyon sits at the confluence of the Rhône and the Saône, with a UNESCO-listed Renaissance old town, Vieux Lyon, threaded by traboules — secret covered passageways once used by silk merchants and, later, the Resistance. Above it all, the white basilica of Fourvière crowns the hill with a view across the rooftops to the Alps on a clear day. The former silk-weaving district of Croix-Rousse keeps a creative, bohemian edge, and the whole city feels grand but unhurried. Two hours from Paris by TGV and on the way south to Provence, Lyon is the easiest great French city to underestimate.
Nice
Nice is the capital of the French Riviera and the easiest way to fall for the Côte d'Azur. The Promenade des Anglais curves along a bay of impossible blue, backed by the candy-coloured facades of the Old Town, where the Cours Saleya market spills flowers and produce each morning and socca — chickpea pancake — sizzles on every corner. Climb the Colline du Château for the view that has drawn painters for a century; the light here is why Matisse and Chagall stayed, and both have museums in town. Beyond the city, Nice is the perfect base for the whole coast: Monaco, Èze, Antibes, and Cannes are all a short train ride along the shore, and the hill villages of the hinterland are close behind. Beaches are pebbled, not sandy, but the sea is warm and the pace is pure Mediterranean. Come for the coast, stay for the way the city lives outdoors.
Paris
Paris needs little introduction and somehow still exceeds it. The greatest hits are real — the Louvre and its Mona Lisa, the Eiffel Tower catching the light at dusk, Notre-Dame rising again on its island, the Musée d'Orsay's wall of Impressionists — but the city's genius is the ordinary stuff between them: the zinc-topped café where you read for an hour, the boulangerie queue at eight, the booksellers' green boxes along the Seine. The trick is to pick a quartier and let it be yours for a day. Lose an afternoon in the medieval lanes of the Marais, climb to Sacré-Cœur through the village streets of Montmartre, or drift the Left Bank from Saint-Germain to the Latin Quarter. Walkable, endlessly photogenic, and laced with world-class food at every price, Paris rewards slowing down far more than rushing a checklist — give it days, not hours.
Planning Your France Trip
France is one of Europe's most rewarding destinations. Use EME's free multi-city itinerary builder to combine cities, set your interests (history, food, nature, architecture, and more), and get a personalized day-by-day plan with attractions and travel times built in. Travel for everyone — inclusive, accessible, LGBTQ+ welcoming. No paywall, no sign-up to start.
Currency
EUR
Language
French
Visa
Schengen visa for non-EU citizens. 90 days in 180-day period.
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