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Main
towns
Paris is the capital of France.
Other important towns in France are :
Lyon, Marseilles, Lille, Bordeaux,
Toulouse, Nice, Nantes, Toulon, Grenoble,
Strasbourg, Rouen.
Regions
:
Nord-Pas-de-Calais
surface 12 414 km2, population 3 990
200
(departments : Nord,
Pas-de-Calais)
Arras
It used to be a
weaving centre and a cloth manufacturing
town in the Middle Ages, with a busy
industrial sector and bustling trade. In
the 17th and 18th centuries several
prestigious monuments were built, which
are still there : the Grand'Place, the
Place des Héros, the Town Hall
...
Lille
A prosperous
town which first belonged to the counts of
Flanders and then to the dukes of
Bourgogne, and became French in 1667
following a siege by Louis XIV.
In the 19th century it was extremely
active in the manufacture of wool and
cotton.
To see : the Place du General de Gaulle,
the Place Rihour, the Place du
Théâtre.
Dunkirk
Situated on the
English Channel, Dunkirk is the third
biggest port in France.
You can visit the port museum, the
aquarium museum and the Beaux Arts museum
which contains several beautiful works of
art (Flemish, Dutch and French schools),
as well as a magnificent panel of Delft
tiles which represents the bombing of the
port in 1695.
Picardy
surface 19 399 km2, population 1 855
900
(departments : Aisne, Oise,
Somme)
Amiens:
a prosperous town since the Middle Ages,
known for its velvets (12th century)
It was the capital of the region, but
during the Second World War, it was bombed
and 60% was destroyed. It has since been
rebuilt.
Visit the cathedral of Notre Dame (145 x
70 m, 43 meters high) the biggest in
France.
Haute
Normandy
surface 12 318 km2, population 1 780
192
(departments : Eure,
Seine-Maritime)
Dieppe
Situated on the
English Channel, it was prosperous during
the Middle Ages, but then was overtaken by
Le Havre.
It has quays dating from Henry IV and
Dusquesne, the Saint Jacques Church
(13th-16th centuries), the Saint Remy
church (16th - 17th centuries) and a 15th
century castle.
Dieppe was where the landings took place
on 19th August 1942 and where the 15,000
English and Canadians tried to land on a
25km long stretch of beach.
Basse
Normandy
surface 17 589 km2, population 1 420
600
(departments : Calvados, Manche,
Orne)
Alençon
It has been a
lace-making centre since the 16th century.
In 1665 the Alençon factory
perfected a stitch created by Madame de la
Perrière.
The river Sarthe crosses the town, which
has some very beautiful buildings : the
Notre Dame church with its 16th century
porch, and the St Leonard which is gothic
and the Town Hall.
Caen
(capital of
Basse-Normandy)
Destroyed during the war in 1944, it
has been nearly totally rebuilt. There are
still however some ancient parts amongst
which is a 12th century castle and dungeon
as well as the beautiful St Etienne church
(in Norman style, with an 11th century
facade, towers and apse from the 13th
century, and a walking gallery within its
walls).
Champagne
Ardenne
surface 25 606 km2, population 1 341
400
(departments : Ardennes, Aube, Marne,
Haute-Marne)
Reims
Reims was where
Clovis was baptised in 496, he was the
founder of the Frankish dynasty. Charles
VII was also crowned here. To visit : the
place Drouet d'Erlon, surrounded by
pedestrian streets, and full of
cafés, restaurants, cinemas and
shopping malls, the cathedral, the ancient
abbey ...
Lorraine
surface 23 547 km2, population 2 308
100
(departments : Meurthe-et-Moselle, Meuse,
Moselle,
Vosges)
Nancy
The Dukes of
Lorraine made it their capital as it is
the geographical centre of the region.
The centre of Nancy is a beautiful
architectural ensemble dating from the
18th century, created by the architect
Héré, the sculptor Guibal
who made the fountains, and the ironmonger
Jean Lamour who made the iron
railings.
Metz
Situated on the
edge of the industrial basin of
Thionville, Metz is a large commercial
metropole. There is a university there, as
well as a very beautiful theatre, museums,
and an archbishop's palace which was
started in 1785, but never finished.
Alsace
surface 8 280 km2, population 1 720
800
(departments : Bas-Rhin,
Haut-Rhin)
Colmar
It is the town
which is the emblem of Alsace, with its
64,900 inhabitants and its pedestrial
streets.
It is also the local capital of
wine-making, its most prosperous period
was in the 16th century. It has belonged
to France since the treaty of Westphalia
in 1648 and resisted the German armies
between 1870 and 1918. There are beautiful
museums and half-timbered houses.
Strasbourg
Nowadays an
international metropole, although at the
same time an ancient town with its own
provincial charm, managing to harmonise
the past and the present. The Palace of
Europe holds the Council of Europe and the
European Parliament. To visit : the Place
Kleber, the place Gutenberg and the
Chamber of Commerce, in Renaissance style,
the rue Mercière and its
half-timbered houses and Notre Dame
cathedral...
Brittany
surface 27 209 km2, population 2 902
600
(departments : Côtes-d'Armor,
Finistère, Ille-et-Vilaine,
Morbihan)
Saint
Malo was nearly
totally destroyed by the War and entirely
rebuilt absolutely identically - each
stone had been numbered. It has the same
atmosphere as before and the same pureness
in its architecture (Flaubert called it
"this crown of stone posed on the
waves").
It was prosperous in the 17th and 18th
centuries and is once again. The town's
historical museum is in the castle. The
'Renard' (the Fox), an identical replica
of Surcouf's pirate ship, is anchored at
the base of the ramparts which go all
around the historical centre of the
town.
Pays
de la Loire
surface 32 082 km2, population 3 222
000
(departments : Loire-Atlantique,
Maine-et-Loire, Mayenne, Sarthe,
Vendée)
Nantes
was the residence of the Dukes of Brittany
. There is a cathedral, a castle, towers,
and along the river Loire the townhouses
dating from the 17th and 18th centuries
bear witness to the prosperity of Nantes,
when, together with Bordeaux it was the
capital of the triangular trade.
It is the biggest town in the west of
Franceand has a typical Breton character.
According to a study made by the INSEE
concerning the demographic evolution of
the bigger towns in France, Nantes which
has grown by 10.3% has developed the most.
This results partly from the
delocalization of several major
administrative centres and private
organizations to Nantes, but it also comes
from the efficiency of the changes made in
the town, from an economy dominated by
industry to one which is mainly
tertiary.
One of its biggest recent successes has
been the installation of the tramway.
To visit : the Lieu Unique : a cultural
centre where you can find theatre, music,
exhibitions, bookshop, cinema, dance ..
and also a bar and a restaurant.
Centre
surface 39 151 km2, population 2 437
000
(departments : Cher, Eure-et-Loir, Indre,
Indre-et-Loire, Loir-et Cher, Loiret)
Chartres,
capital of the Beauce, is famous for its
Gothic cathedral (1194-1225, 12th century
facade ). A medieval town surrounds it and
lower down the town stretches down and
over the river Eure. To visit : the
cathedral, the high town and the low town.
It is said that the purest French is
spoken in this area.
Bourgogne
surface 31 582, population 1 609
500
(departments : Côte-d'Or,
Nièvre, Saône-et-Loire,
Yonne)
Dijon
was chosen as capital of the region by the
Grand Dukes. It has kept the elegance and
charm of a parliamentary town. To visit :
the rue des Forges, the place de la
Liberation, the central court of the
palace of the Dukes and the States of
Bourgogne, the Beaux Arts museum, the
Notre Dame church, the Natural History
Museum and the ancient Carthusian convent,
where the Dukes are buried.
Franche-Comté
surface 16 202 km2, population 1 117
000
(departments : Doubs, Jura,
Haute-Saône, Territoire de
Belfort)
Besançon,
a clock making town (silent quartz,
precision mechanism) since the 17th
century. Two centuries later, the yearly
production is 300,000 pieces. The
Franche-Comté has given its name to
the clock « the Comtoise ».
In this town, which has been the Comptois
capital since 1678, there are numerous
town houses, giving the town an air of
elegance and nobility. Victor Hugo was
born here in 1802. It was one of the first
towns to arrange its traffic giving
priority to pedestrians and public
transport. To visit : the Grande Rue, the
Beaux Arts and archeological museum, the
Saint Pierre church, the Granvelle palace,
the place Victor Hugo ...
Poitou-Charentes
surface 25 809 km2, population 1 637
200
(departments : Charente,
Charente-Maritime, Deux-Sèvres,
Vienne)
Poitiers
is on a plateau which is nearly an island,
being surrounded by the Clain and the
Boivre which meet under it. The ancient
political, religious and university
capital of Poitou has remained, in its
architecture and its monuments, one of the
most interesting towns in France. To visit
: the Place Marechal Leclerc, the rue
Gambetta, the Notre Dame la Grande church,
the Saint Croix museum ...
Limousin
surface 16 942 km2, population 710
000
(departments : Corrèze, Creuse,
Haute-Vienne)
Limoges
The porcelaine
of Limoges is known worldwide.
To visit : the Adrien Dubouché
museum with its splendid collection of
10,000 pieces of ceramic coming from every
where in the world. Also the Orsay garden,
remains of Roman arenas, the cathedral,
the St Martial crypt, the rue de la
Boucherie, where there are several half
timbered houses...
Auvergne
surface 29 013 km2, population 1 308
656
(departments : Allier, Cantal,
Haute-Loire,
Puy-de-Dôme)
Clermont
Ferrand is an
industrial centre where tourists come to
take the waters in the surrounding areas.
Auvergne is known for its volcanoes and
its thermal waters (Volvic).
Rhône-Alpes
surface 43 698 km2, population 5 645
847
(departments : Ain, Ardèche,
Drôme, Isère, Loire,
Rhône, Savoie,
Haute-Savoie)
Grenoble
where Stendhal was born, is an important
scientific, technical and cultural centre.
To visit : the beautiful museum in a 17th
century convent.
Lyon,
a mysterious town, which is run through
with 'traboules', passages going from one
street to another through the houses. The
centre of the town is on the
Presqu'île, the rue de la Republique
is the central artery and the place
Bellecour has influenced town building
since the 17th century. You can see the
vestiges of the medieval and the
renaissance town on the right bank of the
Saone in Old Lyon. Lyon is proud to have
the biggest urban centre which has been
classified as a historical treasure by
Unesco, bigger than Prague, Venice or
Saint Petersburg. Lyon is a respectable
and a respected city, it was an important
religious centre and had a flourishing
trade (particularly in silk). Two rivers
cross Lyon, the Saone and the Rhone. There
is a big industrial suburb, where two
thirds of the population live.
Lyon is not only a beautiful town, but is
also the French capital of gastronomy.
To visit : the Beaux Arts museum, the
printing museum, the Tissus museum
(materials).
Aquitaine
surface 41 309 km2, population 2 908
350
(departments : Dordogne, Gironde, Landes,
Lot-et-Garonne,
Pyrénées-Atlantiques)
Bordeaux,
maritime and river port, on the Garonne.
The history of Bordeaux is first Roman,
then English. In 1152 Eleanor of Aquitaine
divorced Louis VII and soon afterwards
married Henry Plantagenet. The latter
became King of England in 1154 and
integrated Bordeaux into his kingdom which
stretched from Scotland to the Pyrenees.
From then on trade flourished and Bordeaux
was filled with a wave of English
immigrants, most of whom traded in wine.
In the 18th century an audacious urban
plan was created. The Grand Theatre of
Bordeaux, which was inaugurated on 7th
April 1780, is considered as one of the
most beautiful theatres in the world.
Other beautiful monuments include the
Gallien palace, an ancient Roman
amphitheatre, the Montaigne school, an
ancient Jesuit college with a facade
dating from the 17th and 19th centuries,
the stock exchange, designed by the
architect Gabriel, recently renovated. The
rue Notre-Dame in the Chartrons area is
very pleasant and animated during the
week-ends. There are several terraces on
the squares which have been renovated,
particularly on Parliament square.
Midi-Pyrénées
surface 45 348 km2, population 2 548
500
(departments : Ariège, Aveyron,
Haute-Garonne, Gers, Lot,
Hautes-Pyénées, Tarn,
Tarn-et-Garonne)
Toulouse,
a pleasant, brightly coloured town in all
different shades of pink. It is the fourth
biggest town in France. It has always been
an intellectual and artistic centre and is
now the aeronautical centre of Europe.
It was developed in the Roman period and
occupied by the Visigoths, there are
vestiges from the Middle Ages and the
Renaissance.
The Capitole, the ancient seat of the
Assembly of municipal magistrates, the
Capitouls, today contains the Town Hall
and one of the best known Opera Houses in
France.
With 74,000 students for 390,000
inhabitants, Toulouse is one of the
youngest towns in France.
Languedoc-Roussillon
surface 27 375 km2, population 2 293
400
(departments : Aude, Gard, Hérault,
Lozère,
Pyrénées-Orientales)
Carcassonne,
situated on the left bank of the Aude is a
medieval city, with a rich historical
ambiance. The city is the biggest fortress
in Europe, with 1.1 km of internal walls
and 1.5 kms of external walls. It was
totally restored during the 19th
century.
Montpellier
was originally a stop-over for pilgrims
going from Arles to Saint Jaques de
Compostella in Spain.
As it is on the coast it became a trading
centre and in the 12th century started to
develope its famous school of medicine. In
the 19th century it concentrated on wine
growing, but this failed in the 20th
century. Montpellier's interest resides in
the fact that its futuristic centres :
Polygone (built in the 70s) Antigone (in
the 80s and 90s) and nowadays
Port-Marianne, are a vital extension of
the old centre, the Ecusson district. The
first tram line was put into use in the
summer of 2000.
Provence-Alpes-Côte
d'Azur
surface 31 400 km2, population 4 506
151
(departments : Alpes-de-Haute-Provence,
Hautes-Alpes, Alpes-Maritimes,
Bouches-du-Rhône, Var,
Vauclause)
Aix-en-Provence
In the 17th and
18th centuries Aix, up till then a
medieval town, had magnificent townhouses
built by the aristocrats who came to live
there. The architecture, combined with the
pleasant squares, fountains, as well as
the climate have made it a popular tourist
centre. It was the birth place and home of
Cezanne, with a famous yearly music
festival. It is a cultural and university
centre and the regional court of justice
sits there.
Avignon
is visited by
millions of tourists each year to see its
famous bridge and the papal palace built
when Pope Clement V transfered the papal
court from Rome to Avignon in 1309.The
Palais des Papes is the biggest medieval
palace-fortress in Europe. Avignon is a
cultural centre, full of life, with
pleasant restaurants, sunny squares and
old narrow streets full of ambiance. To
visit : from the Dom rock, backed by the
ramparts you get a wonderful view from the
garden over the Saint Benezet bridge and
the old part of
Villeneuve-lès-Avignon, the Palais
des Papes, the museum of the Petit Palais,
the Calvet museum, the Angladon museum
...
Marseilles,
dominated by
the familiar silhouette of Notre Dame de
la Garde, the Phocean city on the edge of
the Mediterranean has been an important
commercial centre between Asia and Europe
for centuries.
Marseilles is going through an important
period of renovation, changing its image
from the old crime ridden town to a modern
young city full of projects and
activities. The centre of town, with the
Canebiere, is being cleaned up, the docks
have been restored, new companies and
start-ups are setting up regularly. The
arrival of the TGV line (high speed train)
in June 2001 will link Paris to Marseilles
in less than three hours.
To visit : the history museum, the Old
Port, the St Victor basilica, the Panier
which is the oldest part of the
town...
Nice
In the narrow streets of old Nice there is
a perfume of Italy, a souvenir of
centuries of transpalpine influence before
the town was definitely attached to France
in 1860. Nice is the promenade des
Anglais, the flower market and the old
town. From 1929 to 1977 the Palais de la
Mediterranee was one of the most famous
casinos in the world. From Matisse to
Chagall, Arman to Cesar, many artists have
been attracted by the exceptional light
which bathes the town.
Corsica
surface 8 680 km2, population 256
000
(departments : Corse-du-Sud,
Haute-Corse)
Ajaccio
Red
tiles and facades in different shades of
terracotta, the old imperial city hasn't
changed much since Napoleon's childhood
there. Above the roofs however, rise up
tall white buildings in the new areas of
town. To visit : the Place Marechal Foch,
with its palm trees, fountain and
restaurant terraces, two steps away from
the quay, the Town Hall which contains the
Napoleon museum, the market, the Fesch
palace and the Fesch museum, the cathedral
and the Bonaparte house.
Calvi
An old citadelle worn away by time, nearly
deserted, a marina overflowing with life
in summer, Calvi is a mixture of the past
and the present. The sea, palm trees, a
huge beach edged with parasol pine trees,
with the Cinto mountains in the
background, covered in snow nearly up till
the summer. Calvi is one of the most
popular sea resorts in Corsica. To visit :
the Marine, the traditional promenade in
Calvi, the citadelle, the St Jean the
Baptist church ...
Guadeloupe
population 422 496
Pointe-à-Pitre
Guadeloupe is an archipelego where the
main island is divided in two :
Grande-Terre, curiously the smaller and
lower of the two, is the most animated
with its market in Point-à-Pitre,
the capital, and its numerous villages in
between sugarcane fields. The other part,
Basse-Terre, is covered in volcanoes and
forests.
Martinique
surface 1 100 km2, population 381
427
Fort-de-France
The
capital, rather insignificant in itself,
gets its colours from the animation in its
streets and markets. On the island the
village houses are brightly painted and
the countryside is amazingly varied for
such a small territory. In the mountainous
north there are tropical forests : giant
trees, ferns, bamboos, waterfalls ... The
sea on the Atlantic side of the island is
rough, but on the Caribean side it is blue
and calm lapping on sandy beaches edged
with coconut trees.
Guyane
population 157 213
Cayenne
Réunion
population 706 300
Saint-Denis
the
capital, is protected by a battery of
cannons : in the 19th century an
artificial port was built in Saint Denis,
the "Barachois", on which is set a copy of
an ancient battery. The rue de Paris is a
row of old Creole houses. To visit : the
governer's house, the ancient seat of the
Company of the Indies, Place Leconte de
Lisle, the big handicraft market and the
little market.
Reunion offers a multitude of tropical
landscapes, from the waves on the shores
of the Indian Ocean to the peaks of its
mountains. It accomodates a mixture of
races, the people of Reunion are all
immigrants : inhabited since its discovery
at the beginning of the 16th century, the
island has been peopled with a constant
influx of Europeans, Africans, Indians
from the south and the north, Chinese and
Comorians. The halfcastes, born from the
first settlers and their black slaves make
up about a third of the
population.
Climate
The climate in
France is temperate on the whole, without
any extremes.
France has a great diversity of climates,
being exposed at the same time to
continental, oceanic and Mediterranean
influences:
In the west the climate is oceanic.
Frequent rain falls all year round but it
is rarely very heavy. Winters are mild and
wet, especially on the coast in Britanny,
Cotentin and the Basque country. Summers
are quite cool. While the sky is often
grey in the area of the North Sea and on
the coast, it is quite sunny around the
Arcachon basin as well as in the zone of
the Loire estuary (Nantes).
Some islands in Britanny, particularly
Brehat off Paimpol, or Belle-Ile to the
south of Quiberon, enjoy a micro-climate
which is relatively milder, dryer and
sunnier than on the continent (palm trees,
fig trees and mimosa grow
unprotected).
The temperature of the Atlantic Ocean is
never very warm : it can go up to
17°C in June and 20° in August.
On the southern coast of Brittany it is
usually 2° lower and on the coast of
the English Channel in Saint Malo the sea
temperature is 15° and 18° in
June and August respectively.
In the central regions, like the Parisian
basin, the Val de Loire, the Nivernais,
Champagne, etc, the seasons are very
varied : the winters are cold and the
summers are hot. There is less rainfall
than on the Atlantic coast. The coldest
winters have however been recorded in the
north-east of France (not counting the
mountain areas). Spring and autumn are
short, and if summers can be hot and
sometimes stormy, the evenings tend to
still be very cool.
The mountains : Winters are cold in the
Alps, the Pyrenees, the Massif Central,
the Vosges and the Jura and the summers
are hot and stormy. There is an enomous
difference in the day and night time
temperatures.
In some departments like the Jura and the
Doubs record low temperatures have been
noted. At an altitude there is more fog in
summer than in winter.
Best
times to visit the country :
The best
period to visit most of France is June,
July and August.
We don't advise visiting between November
and April, unless you are intending to go
on a skiing holiday. In the south the
weather is usually very pleasant from the
end of April to the end of September.
Average
Temperatures (max/min) :
|
|
Jan.
|
Feb.
|
Mar.
|
April
|
May
|
June
|
July
|
Aug.
|
Sept
|
Oct.
|
Nov.
|
Dec.
|
|
Ajaccio
|
13/4
|
14/4
|
15/5
|
17/7
|
21/10
|
25/14
|
27/16
|
28/16
|
25/14
|
22/11
|
17/7
|
14/5
|
|
Bordeaux
|
9/2
|
11/3
|
14/4
|
16/6
|
20/9
|
23/12
|
24/14
|
24/14
|
23/12
|
18/9
|
13/5
|
10/3
|
|
Brest
|
9/4
|
9/4
|
11/5
|
12/6
|
15/8
|
18/10
|
20/12
|
20/13
|
18/11
|
15/9
|
11/6
|
10/5
|
|
Lille
|
5/0
|
6/0
|
10/2
|
13/4
|
17/8
|
20/10
|
22/12
|
22/12
|
19/10
|
15/7
|
9/3
|
6/1
|
|
Limoges
|
7/0
|
9/0
|
12/2
|
15/4
|
19/7
|
22/10
|
24/12
|
24/12
|
21/9
|
17/6
|
11/3
|
8/1
|
|
Lyon
|
6/0
|
8/1
|
12/3
|
15/5
|
20/9
|
23/13
|
26/15
|
25/14
|
22/12
|
16/8
|
10/3
|
6/1
|
|
Nancy
|
4/-2
|
6/-1
|
10/1
|
14/3
|
18/7
|
22/11
|
23/12
|
23/12
|
20/9
|
15/6
|
8/2
|
5/0
|
|
Nice
|
12/5
|
13/5
|
14/7
|
17/9
|
20/13
|
23/16
|
26/19
|
26/19
|
24/16
|
20/13
|
16/8
|
14/6
|
|
Paris
|
6/2
|
8/2
|
11/4
|
15/7
|
19/10
|
22/13
|
24/15
|
23/15
|
21/12
|
16/9
|
10/5
|
7/3
|
|
Perpignan
|
12/4
|
13/5
|
15/7
|
18/9
|
22/13
|
26/16
|
29/19
|
28/18
|
25/16
|
20/12
|
15/7
|
13/5
|
Insects
and animals
Wolves :
in the Gévaudan park, near the
village of Sainte-Lucie in
Lozère
Przewalski horses (originally from
Mongolia): at 1000m altitude on the
Méjean limestone plateau in
Lozère
Vultures : which had disappeared for 50
years, there are now over 200 in the
gorges of the Jonte
European bison : they had disappeared from
France, now there are 40 bisons near the
village Sainte Eulalie in
Lozère.
Wild boar, deer, birds like the crested
grebe and the heron....
There are white horses, black bulls and
pink flamingoes in the Camargues in the
south - and lots of mosquitoes (but no
risk of malaria).
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