Discover France's Scenic Variety
France's Landscape Offers A Wide Range of Breathtaking Scenery
For scenery alone, France is a prime location with such a divergent landscape that it's understandable how rural France has inspired generations of artists.
Many people holiday nowhere else except France but few appreciate the enormous variations in its landscape. France has a life-time's worth of historic towns, cities and other heritage, food and wine that verges on the wonderful, and scenery and architecture of astonishing variety. To top that, France’s rural landscape is one of the most romantic in the world with scenes recognizable from many works of art.
Northern France
In the north-west of France, Normandy is a land of half-timbered farms and graceful old manor houses; vast war cemeteries and numerous rebuilt towns that suffered massive bombing are sobering reminders of the toll inflicted on France during two World Wars. Some breathtaking views of France’s coastline can be gained from the Fort du Roule, which overlooks Cherbourg.
Brittany has the best scenery on France's Atlantic coast, with fishing villages and sweeping sandy bays, and inland lies the Loire valley - scenically unexciting, but remarkable for chateaux that span the ages from France’s feudal era. A notable example is the 13th-century Château d’Angers with its 17 towers that dominate this part of France.
Central and South West France
Despite the impressive legacy of medieval towns and cities (including some superb cathedrals), much of inland northern France is quite humdrum scenically, with endless cornfields and long straight roads. It is in France’s Massif Central, the volcanic upland covering much of southern central France, that the scenery becomes wilder - most strikingly the huge gorges of the region around Cévennes.
Heading south towards the Spanish border down through western France, after the gentle hills of the Dordogne, studded with prehistoric sites and many pretty (if sometimes over-discovered) villages, you reach the Pyrenees which offer an excellent range of walks.
Southern France and the French Alps
Between the Massif Central and the Alps, Provence is distinctly Mediterranean, with red tiled roofs, superb Roman remains, vineyards and cypress trees under the harsh summer sun. Known as the Riviera, the south-east coast of France boasts glamorous resorts (good for people-watching) and fine (but packed) beaches.
North of the Alps, the areas of Burgundy and Alsace - the latter distinctly German in appearance - have attractive landscapes and rewarding territory for pottering round villages and vineyards.
Most visitors to France restrict their visits to one region. This is a pity since, although these destinations are undeniably beautiful, France offers a bewildering array of different scenery and landscapes of contrasting character within a short distance of each other. This quality makes France ideal for touring far and wide.
