1176 Best Sights in France

On the north side of the River Isère is Rue Maurice-Gignoux, lined with gardens, cafés, mansions, and a 17th-century convent that contains the Musée Dauphinois, detailing the history of mountaineering and skiing. The Premiers Alpins section explores the evolution of the Alps and its inhabitants.

The vaulted, colonnaded galleries of the Palais des Nobles Douzes house the Musée de Bastia, home to a large collection of medieval artwork, as well as rooms that detail the history of the city. The building itself has been undergoing modifications since the 18th century when it was used as the meeting place for rural commune leaders.

Designed by superstar architect Christian de Portzamparc, this museum occupies a vast three-part space that it shares with the Rennes municipal library and Espaces des Sciences. Portzamparc's layout harmonizes nicely with the organization of the museum's extensive ethnographic and archaeological collection, which depicts the everyday life of Bretons from prehistoric times to the present. There's also a space devoted to the famous Dreyfus Affair; Alfred Dreyfus, an army captain who was wrongly accused of espionage and whose case was championed by Émile Zola, was tried a second time in Rennes in 1899.

Place de Lavalette—on the south side of the river, where most of Grenoble is concentrated—is where you'll find the Musée de Grenoble. Founded in 1796, it's one of France's oldest museums and was the first to concentrate on modern art (Picasso donated his Femme Lisant in 1921). An addition incorporates the medieval Tour de l'Isle (Island Tower), a Grenoble landmark. The collection includes 4,000 paintings and 5,500 drawings, among them works by Impressionists such as Renoir and Monet, and 20th-century masters like Matisse, Signac, Derain, Vlaminck, Magritte, Ernst, Miró, and Dubuffet. Artists from the Italian Renaissance and Flemish School are also represented.

The legacy of the artists who loved St-Tropez—including Signac, Matisse, Braque, Dufy, Vuillard, and Rouault—has been carefully preserved in this extraordinary museum, housed in a 14th-century chapel just inland from the southwest corner of the Vieux Port. Cutting-edge temporary exhibitions feature local talent and up-and-coming international artists, while works—from Impressionism to Expressionism—by established artists line the walls.

The only museum of culinary art in France is a shrine to the great chef Auguste Escoffier (1846–1935). The epitome of 19th-century culinary extravagance and revered by the French as much as Joan of Arc and De Gaulle, Escoffier was the founding father of the school of haute cuisine Calvin Trillin calls "stuff-stuff-with-heavy," where ingredients are stripped, simmered, stuffed, sauced, and generally intervened with, sometimes beyond recognition. His was the school of food as sculpture—the famous pièces montées, wedding-cake spires of spun sugar—and menus of staggering length and complexity. He wowed 'em at the Ritz in Paris and the Savoy and Carlton in London and is a point of reference for every modern chef—if only as a foil for rebellion. In his birthplace, you'll view illustrations of his creations and a collection of fantastical menus, including one featuring the meat of zoo animals killed in the war of 1870. There are paid guided tours, as well as English-language audio guides (€3).

One of the few remaining testaments to Beauvais's glorious past, the old Bishop's Palace is now the Musée de l'Oise. Don't miss Thomas Couture's epic canvas depicting the French Revolution, the 14th-century frescoes of instrument-playing sirens on a section of the palace's vaults, or the 1st-century brass Guerrier Gaulois (Gallic Warrior).

There's more to this museum than the usual assembly of dilapidated statues rescued from the cathedral before they fell off (you'll find those rotting in the Barrage Vauban). Sacred sculptures stand in churchlike settings, and secular exhibits are enhanced by the building's fine old architecture. Subjects include a wealth of Flemish and Upper Rhine paintings, stained glass, gold objects, and massive, heavily carved furniture.

Exhibits at the Musée de la Bataille de Normandie trace the story of the struggle from June 7 to August 29, 1944. Located near the moving British War Cemetery, it contains some impressive war paraphernalia.

Between Arles in the north and Stes-Maries-de-la-Mer in the south, this former sheep ranch is now a museum devoted to the region's history, produce, and people, including the gardians. It's also a good place to pick up information about nature trails.

A superb array of local pottery and European porcelain can be admired at this museum, housed in an elegant mansion near the Musée des Beaux-Arts.

The city’s rich past is brought to life in this labyrinthine museum of archeology, history, and art. Starting with the remains of Roman baths in the basement, visitors are guided through the vast collection in chronological order. Highlights include superbly preserved Gallo-Roman stone pillars, a remarkable 650-year-old painted wooden ceiling from a local house, and the romanticized landscapes of the 19th-century Metz School. Look out for the 3D model of the city circa 1850, complete with city-wide fortifications.

The small but excellent Musée de la Faïence has concise audiovisual explanations of the craft and displays a chronology of fine pieces. It is housed in a pretty 18th-century hôtel particulier (private mansion) with a lovely salle de mariage (wedding hall) lined in painted canvas.

In the mid-18th century Quimper sprang to nationwide attention as a pottery manufacturing center. Normans, whose distinctive Rouennaise faïence was already famous, imported the techniques. But the Quimpérois customized them by replacing the pottery’s usual blue-and-white patterns with brighter Breton scenes depicting local life. Today's colorful designs, based on floral arrangements and marine fauna, are still often hand-painted. To understand Quimper's pottery-making past—and see more than 500 examples of style Quimper—take one of the guided tours at the Musée de la Faïence.

Just south of town, this museum explains everything you ever wanted to know about farming oysters and has a display of 1,500 different types of shells.

A collection of 85,000 miniature soldiers—fashioned of lead, cardboard, and other materials—depicting military uniforms through the ages is on display in the Musée de la Figurine Historique.

Owned by one of the original lavender families, who have cultivated and distilled the flower here for more than five generations, this chic museum sits at the edge of 80 or so acres of prime lavender fields about 3 km (2 miles) outside of Gordes (take the D2 southeast to the outskirts of Coustellet). Not only can you take in well-organized displays (note the impressive collection of scythes and distilling apparatus), see a fascinating movie, and play with interactive screens, but you can also participate in lavender workshops that are fun for adults and kids alike. The boutique sells a top-notch selection of sophisticated lavender-based cosmetics and essential oils.

Another claim to fame for Aubagne: it's the headquarters for the French Foreign Legion. The legion was created in 1831, and accepts recruits from all nations, no questions asked. The discipline and camaraderie instilled among its motley team of adventurers have helped the legion forge a reputation for exceptional valor—a reputation romanticized by songs and films in which sweaty deeds of heroism are performed under the desert sun. The Musée de la Légion Étrangère does its best to polish the image by way of medals, uniforms, weapons, and photographs.

Designed by Claude-Nicolas Ledoux in the late 18th century, this landmark structure was originally built as a customs station for merchandise entering Paris. It's now home to a museum dedicated to the French heroes of the resistance during World War II (including Jean Moulin and General Leclerc) and the liberation of Paris. The museum features a fascinating collection of historic memorabilia, photographs, documents, and video archives.

This complex is famous for reputedly being the prison of the Man in the Iron Mask. Inside, you can see his cell and hear his story. The truth of his captivity is not certain; however, it is true that many Huguenots were confined here during Louis XIV's religious scourges. You'll also find a Roman boat dating from the 1st century BC and a collection of amphorae and pottery recovered from ancient shipwrecks.

This museum explores the science of the Mont's tidal bay and has a vast collection of model ships.

Parc de la Villette’s music museum contains four centuries' worth of instruments from around the world—about 1,000 in total, many of them exquisite works of art. Their sounds and stories are evoked on numerous video screens and via commentary you can follow on headphones (ask for a free audioguide in English). Leave time for the excellent temporary exhibitions. On the plaza adjacent to the museum, the outdoor terrace at Café des Concerts ( 01–42–49–74–74) is an inviting place to have a drink on a sunny day.

Also known as the Salle du 8-Mai-1945 or the \"little red school house,\" this museum is a well-preserved map-covered room used by General Eisenhower as Allied headquarters at the end of World War II. It was here that General Alfred Jodl signed the German surrender at 2:41 am on May 7, 1945. Fighting officially ceased at midnight the next day. The museum also presents a collection of local photos, documents, uniforms, and artifacts recounting the fighting, occupation, and liberation of Reims. Guided tours begin with a short film in English and French. The museum is closed for renovations until spring 2026.

This handsome museum set in a 17th-century priory in the heart of the Parc Royal is dedicated to the art of the hunt, a primary pastime in this once-royal city abutting the forests of Senlis and Chantilly. Paintings and engravings (notably one by Dürer), trophies, china, posters, period costumes, antlers, and taxidermied animals evoke the cultural dimension of this ancient sport. The museum is one of four national museums of the hunt, which includes the superb Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature in Paris.

Housed in the former Cistercian convent, one museum here contains religious art and sculpture; the other has crafts and artifacts from Burgundy—including old storefronts saved from the streets of Dijon that have been reconstituted, in Hollywood-studio style, to form an imaginary street.

A visit to the charming Museum of Romantic Life, dedicated to novelist George Sand (1804–76), will transport you to the countryside. Occupying a pretty 1830s mansion in a tree-lined courtyard, the small permanent collection features drawings by Delacroix and Ingres, among others, though Sand is the undisputed star. Displays include glass cases stuffed with her jewelry and even a mold of the hand of composer Frédéric Chopin—one of her many lovers. The museum, about a five-minute walk from the Musée National Gustave Moreau, is in a picturesque neighborhood once called New Athens, a reflection of the architectural tastes of the writers and artists who lived and worked in the area. There is usually an interesting temporary exhibit here, too. The garden café (open mid-March to mid-October) is a lovely spot for lunch or afternoon tea. Just note that the museum is currently closed for renovations until March 2026.

When President Jacques Chirac’s legacy project (the Musée du Quai Branly, dedicated to the world’s indigenous arts and cultures) pilfered half of this museum's pieces, few thought the rest of Paris’s storied anthropology museum would survive, but it has come roaring back to life. Focused on “science and human societies,” the Musée de l’Homme has 33,368 square feet of sparkling exhibition space in the west wing of the Palais de Chaillot, where it displays more than 700,000 prehistoric artifacts and art objects. It now uses the most modern museum tricks—including interactive displays, 3D projections, and educational games—to help visitors understand the history of the human species. While you’re admiring the 25,000-year-old Venus of Lespugue or comparing the skull of Cro-Magnon man with that of René Descartes, don’t forget to look out the window: the view from the upper floors across to the Eiffel Tower and southern Paris is spectacular.

During its turn-of-the-20th-century heyday, this building—now home to Montmartre's historical museum—was occupied by painters, writers, and cabaret artists. Foremost among them was Pierre-Auguste Renoir, who painted Le Moulin de la Galette (an archetypal scene of sun-drenched revelers) while living here. Recapping the area's colorful past, the museum has a charming permanent collection, which includes many Toulouse-Lautrec posters and original Eric Satie scores. An ambitious renovation, completed in 2014, doubled its space by incorporating both the studio apartment once shared by mother-and-son duo Suzanne Valadon and Maurice Utrillo (now fully restored) and the adjoining Demarne Hotel (which has been redesigned to house temporary exhibitions). The lovely surrounding gardens—named in honor of Renoir—have also been revitalized. An audioguide is included in the ticket price.

Set in a mansion built for the castle governor, this museum is dedicated to regional arts such as ceramics and sculpture, as well as local archaeological finds.