The cliché exists because the raw material does. Paris after dark; a perched village on the Riviera with the whole coast underneath; a Loire château with its own garden festival; Sénanque's lavender in early July; Bréhat's hydrangeas; Menton's lemon microclimate on the Italian border. France also makes it easy logistically — the TGV, small hotels in listed villages, and a restaurant culture that does not rush you.
Start here
If you only do romance once in France.
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Èze A village at 429 m with a cactus garden where the castle was -
Monet's Garden at Giverny The water lilies, the Japanese bridge, and the house he painted them from -
Château de Chenonceau Arched across the Cher on five spans — the Ladies' Château -
The Valensole Plateau Lavender to the horizon for roughly four weeks from late June -
Saint-Paul-de-Vence Walled, hilltop, and full of the galleries Chagall and Matisse drew in -
Jardins de Marqueyssac 150,000 hand-clipped box shrubs on a spur above the Dordogne
Region by region
Île-de-France
Paris, Versailles and the ring of royal forests and cathedral towns around them
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Paris The Louvre, the Eiffel Tower and twenty arrondissements of it -
Versailles Louis XIV's palace and the largest formal garden in Europe -
Eiffel Tower 324 m of wrought iron that was meant to come down after twenty years -
Sacré-Cœur & Montmartre White travertine on the highest hill in Paris, over the old artists' quarter -
Palace of Versailles The Hall of Mirrors, and 800 hectares of Le Nôtre's geometry
Grand Est
Champagne cellars, the Alsace wine road and Strasbourg's Christmas markets
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Strasbourg A pink sandstone cathedral, La Petite France and the European Parliament -
Colmar Little Venice, the Isenheim Altarpiece and the wine road's capital -
Champagne The chalk, the cellars and the cathedral where French kings were crowned -
Alsace 170 km of wine road, half-timbered villages and the oldest Christmas market in France -
La Petite France Tanners' houses over the canals, on a UNESCO-listed island -
Riquewihr Inside its medieval walls, essentially unchanged since the 1500s
Normandy
The D-Day beaches, Mont-Saint-Michel, Monet's Giverny and the alabaster cliffs
Brittany
2,700 km of granite coast, standing stones older than the pyramids, and a Celtic language
Centre-Val de Loire
The château valley — Chambord, Chenonceau and 280 km of UNESCO river
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Loire Valley 280 km of UNESCO river and the densest run of Renaissance châteaux in Europe -
Château de Villandry Renaissance gardens laid out as geometry, including an edible one -
Château de Chaumont-sur-Loire A river fortress that runs an international garden festival every summer -
Château d'Azay-le-Rideau Built on an island in the Indre, and reflected in it
Occitanie
Carcassonne and the Cathar castles, the Canal du Midi, the Pyrenees and the Camargue's edge
Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Mont Blanc, the world's largest linked ski areas, Lyon's kitchens and a chain of volcanoes
Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
Lavender and Roman arenas inland, the Riviera on the coast, and the Alps behind both
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Cannes The Croisette, the festival, and two islands ten minutes offshore -
Saint-Tropez Still a fishing port under the yachts, with Pampelonne round the point -
Antibes Ramparts, the biggest marina on the Med, and Picasso's castle studio -
Menton A lemon microclimate on the Italian border, and Cocteau's museum -
Gordes Dry stone stacked up a Luberon hillside, with Sénanque abbey below -
Provence Lavender plateaus, Roman arenas, perched villages and the light Van Gogh came for -
The French Riviera Nice to Saint-Tropez — the coast that invented the seaside holiday
Martinique
The flower island — Mount Pelée, black-sand north, white-sand south and agricole rum
Overseas collectivities
French, but outside the region geography.
Other things to do
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Culture & heritage 53 UNESCO World Heritage sites, and the cathedrals that invented Gothic -
Food & wine Seventeen wine regions, 1,600 cheeses, and the gastronomic meal on the UNESCO list -
Nature & outdoors Glaciers, gorges, volcanoes and 180,000 km of waymarked footpath -
Sport & adventure Skiing, surfing, climbing, paddling — and the Tour, Roland-Garros and Le Mans -
Cycling Over 25,000 km of signed cycle route, most of it flat and away from traffic -
Remembrance The Somme, Verdun and the Normandy beaches — two wars written into the landscape -
Pilgrimage & spirituality Four Camino routes, Lourdes, Mont-Saint-Michel and the Romanesque abbeys -
Spa & wellness Around 90 working thermal spa towns, and the coastline that invented thalassotherapy -
Shopping & savoir-faire Perfume in Grasse, porcelain in Limoges, crystal in Lorraine, couture in Paris -
Nightlife & entertainment Festival season, cabaret, beach clubs and the theme parks