A picturesque harbour tightly packed with sailing boats. Rows of tall, thin, slate-fronted houses and stone salt stores. Waterside restaurants with colourful awnings and tables spilling out onto cobbled streets. Honfleur really is as pretty as a painting –…
One of the things I love about France (other than the cheese and wine obviously) is that it keeps surprising me. I thought I knew the Côte d’Azur – millionaires’ coastal villas, exclusive boutiques, casinos, luxury yachts – but…
Less than a year after deciding Strasbourg was my new favourite French spot, I’ve already lost my heart to Annecy. It must be something about the canals as both places are set around a network of waterways.…
Paris is one of the world’s most iconic cities. Its world-famous buildings and attractions are a must-see – the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, the Louvre, Sacré-Cœur Basilica and Montmartre. But once you’ve seen the big names, what…
Located on Paris’ Left Bank, St-Germain-des-Prés is one of the city’s most famous neighbourhoods. Over the years it’s been a meeting place for intellectuals, a centre of the post-war Jazz Age and a bohemian hub for artists and writers.…
Nestled along the border with Germany, the Alsace is one of France’s most unique regions. When I was planning a European rail trip, the region’s capital Strasbourg seemed like the perfect place to start.…
The gorgeous mountain scenery, log cabins fringed with icicles and fir trees laden with snow drifts. The feeling of freedom as I finally mastered parallel turns and made it to the bottom of the piste upright. The sense of…
At ten past midnight on the night of 6 June 1944, Lieutenant Norman Poole became the first allied soldier to set foot on French soil, just inland from Utah Beach. And so began Operation Overlord – the code name…
When you think of ski resorts in the French Alps, it’s probably the big names that come to mind: Courcheval, Val D’Isere, Tignes, Chamonix. But there are hundreds of smaller resorts scattered across the Alps which don’t get the…
When you picture steep white chalk cliffs battered by the Channel seas, you probably think of England’s White Cliffs of Dover. But the French have their own lesser-known version on the other side of the Channel – La Côte…
Paris is one of my favourite European cities – I’ve visited more times than anywhere in the world and even spent an autumn house-sitting there once. But even though I was lucky enough to have somewhere to stay, Paris…
So I know I said I wanted to see some of the more unusual sights of Paris, but aren’t the sewers a step too far? After visiting another of Paris’ underground attractions, the catacombs, I heard that part of the…
If you’re staying in Reims, it’s easy to visit a few of the big-name Champagne producers found around the outskirts, like Pommery or Taittinger. But if you want to discover some of the more unusual small producers and taste…