1175 Best Sights in France

You can rent a sunbed at the city's main (and largest) sandy beach, which also has access for people with disabilities. There are lots of cafés nearby, and, from the Old Port, you can take the Bateaux Bleus shuttle to St-Tropez. Amenities: lifeguards; parking (fee); showers; toilets. Best for: sunset; swimming; walking.

Situated in the heart of Juan-les-Pins, this municipal beach operates from June 1 to September 15. It offers sun loungers (limit of two per person) for a daily rate of €11 and has access and amenities for people with mobility issues. Amenities: food and drink; showers; toilets. Best for: swimming.

Here you'll find a sandy beach with calm waters and superb views, all without the hefty price tag of a private beach. Lockers are available, and chairs and umbrellas can be rented at a reduced cost. The beach is right next to the Palais Des Festivals and hosts nightly film screenings during the Cannes Film Festival, when the area is renamed "Salle de Sable." Amenities: lifeguards (in summer) toilets; showers. Best for: swimming; sunsets.

Situated at the east end of La Croisette, close to Port Canto, this municipal sandy beach has around 200 beach chairs, which can be rented by the day (€9) or half-day (€6.50). There is also a ramp and a lift for access. From mid-June to mid-September, you can reserve your beach spot online via the Mairie de Cannes ticket service ( mairiedecannes.tickeasy.com). Amenities: lifeguards (in summer); toilets; showers. Best for: swimming.

Almost at the end of the promenade and in front of Old Town, this basic stony stretch is a popular spot, with a melange of tourists and locals of all ages all day. In summer it has sandy volleyball courts. Keep an eye out for jellyfish. Amenities: lifeguards (seasonal); toilets. Best for: snorkeling; sunrise; sunset; swimming.

Locals come early—with umbrellas, chairs, and coolers in tow—to these two sizable public beaches around the halfway point of the promenade. As both are stone beaches with occasional jellyfish, water shoes are best for getting in and out of the sea. Lenval is a no-smoking beach with pay-to-use underground hot showers, toilets, and lockers, as well as portable toilets in the summer; it has no lifeguards or first aid station. These are, however, provided at neighboring Magnan, which is wider and lower than street level. This area is less touristy, so expect to see topless torsos. Amenities: lifeguards (Magnan, seasonal); showers; toilets. Best for: sunrise; swimming. When the winds pick up, this area can be dangerous, so watch for the warning flags, and avoid swimming for 24 hours after a storm.

The most spectacular scenery along the coast is at the Pointe du Hoc, 13 km (8 miles) west of St-Laurent. Wildly undulating grassland leads past ruined blockhouses to a cliff-top observatory and a German machine-gun post whose intimidating mass of reinforced concrete merits chilly exploration. Despite Spielberg's cinematic genius, it remains hard to imagine just how Colonel Rudder and his 225 Rangers—only 90 survived—managed to scale the jagged cliffs with rope ladders and capture the German defenses in one of the most heroic and dramatic episodes of the war. The American Battle Monuments Commission, which maintains the site, offers a self-guided tour that passes ammunition bunkers, a hospital bunker, antiaircraft positions, and other sites; they also monitor continued erosion of the cliffs and work to preserve the site despite infrequent landslides. 

This well-equipped welcome center provides a solid introduction to the region's important prehistoric sites. Its exhibits, slide shows, and time lines (all free of charge) help you wrap your brain around the immensity of the archaeological riches in the Dordogne.

This turreted wedding-cake extravaganza on the city outskirts was designed by Jeanne-Alexandrine Pommery (1819–1890), a formidable Champagne widow. The 18 km (11 miles) of cellars (about a hundred feet underground) are reached by a grandiose 116-step staircase. The visit continues with either a self-guided or one-hour guided tour of the cellars, which date to Gallo-Roman times. Along the path, contemporary artwork and installations sit next to the stacks of bubbly. The tour ends with a sommelier-guided tasting of either one or two cuvées. Reserve ahead of time for guided tours. Be sure to also visit the Art Nouveau Villa Demoiselle across the street (also owned by Pommery).

For a view of the picturesque quayside, stroll across the Garonne on this bridge, built on the orders of Napoléon between 1810 and 1821—and until 1965, the only bridge across the river. A huge geometric lion figure, made of sky-blue metal and placed here in 2025, guards the Place de Stalingrad at the bridge's eastern end.

Despite its name, the graceful span of the Pont Neuf is hardly new: it opened to traffic in 1632. Remains of the old bridge—one arch and the lighter-color outline on the brick wall of the Hôtel-Dieu (hospital)—are visible across the river. The 16th-century hospital was used for pilgrims on their way to Santiago de Compostela. Just over the bridge, on a clear day in winter, the snowcapped peaks of the Pyrénées can often be seen in the distance.

From the Pont Notre-Dame you can watch the wild trout in the Nive (also an Atlantic salmon stream) as they pluck mayflies off the surface. Note that fishing is forbidden in town. Upstream, along the left bank, is another wooden bridge. Cross it, and then walk around and back through town, returning to the left bank on the main road.

The remarkable single-arch Roman bridge, built in the 1st century, stands firm across the Ouvèze River.

This bridge is the subject of the famous children's song: "Sur le pont d'Avignon on y danse, on y danse..." ("On the bridge of Avignon one dances, one dances... "). Unlike London Bridge, which fell down in another nursery ditty, Pont St-Bénézet still stretches its arches across the river, but only partway: half was washed away in the 17th century. Its first stones allegedly laid with the miraculous strength granted St-Bénézet in the 12th century, it once reached all the way to Villeneuve.

Legend has it that the 12th-century Pont St-Bénezet—featured in the song “Sur le Pont d’Avignon" (l'on y danse, l’on y danse)—was built after a shepherd boy received orders from heaven. There’s less space for dancing today: although this UNESCO World Heritage site once stretched all the way to Villeneuve, less than four of its original 22 arches remain. It's also a bit narrow for dancing "tous en rond" (round and round), and, besides, the traditional place for dance and play was under the arches. You can, however, climb along its high platform for broad views of the Old Town ramparts. The ticket price includes an audio guide or tablet, and the latter (for which you'll need to show your passport or driver’s license) illustrates how the bridge appeared in medieval times.

He immortalized many everyday objects and captured views still seen today, but Van Gogh's famous painting of the Langlois Bridge over the Canal d'Arles à Bouc—on the southern outskirts of Arles, about 3 km (2 miles) from the old town—seems to strike a particular chord among locals. Bombed in World War II, the bridge has been restored to its former glory. It's one of the 10 sites on the city's Van Gogh Circuit.

These three bridges, distinguished by their four stone towers, were once covered with wooden walls and a tiled roof. Part of the 14th-century ramparts that framed Old Strasbourg, they span the Ill as it branches into a quartet of fingerlike canals.

In 1750, the Duke of Savoy ordered a port to be dug to shelter the approach of the city's maritime traffic. It's still a safe harbor for freighters, fishing boats, and yachts, and its redevelopment has made it easier to take in the area's Genoese architecture or peruse the antiques at the Puces de Nice emporium and other shops along Rue Robilant, near the large Port Lympia parking lot. From June to mid-October (daily 10–7), the free shuttle boat Lou Passagin ferries you across the port from the Quai Lunel to Quai d’Entrecasteaux. 

Whether you approach the waterfront from the train station or park along the Avenue de Verdun, you'll first encounter an awesome expanse of luxury yachts in Port Vauban. It has an underground parking lot and an attractive esplanade from which you can admire one of Europe's oldest and largest ports home to 1,642 berths—including 18 for superyachts of up to 525 feet. It's no wonder the antiques fair and sailing show chose this spot for their events every spring. With the tableau of snowy Alps looming in the background and the formidable medieval block towers of the Fort Carré (Square Fort) guarding entry to the port, it's difficult to find a more dramatic spot to anchor.

The superbly symmetrical island fortress was completed in 1565 and restored in 1967, but can only be admired from afar. Across the Quai Rambaud, which juts into the harbor, a tiny crescent of sand called La Gravette beach offers swimmers one of the last soft spots on the coast before the famous Riviera pebble beaches begin on strands farther east.

The unique Port-Musée combines maritime-theme museum displays with open-air exhibits. Along the wharves you can visit the workshops of boatbuilders, sailmakers, and other old-time craftspeople, then go aboard the historic trawlers, lobster boats, and barges anchored beside them. On the first weekend in May you can even sail on an antique fishing boat.

To immerse yourself in the city's history and enjoy a panorama of the river and the rooftops of the old quarter, climb to the uppermost floor of this 115-foot gateway, built in 1494. At the top, an exhibition introduces you to some of Bordeaux's medieval citizens.

Visitors come here to snap pictures of the queen of subway entrances—one of the city's two remaining Art Nouveau canopied originals designed by Hector Guimard (the other is at the Abbesses stop on Line 12). A flamboyant scalloped "crown" of patina-painted panels and runaway metal struts adorns this whimsical 1900 creation. Porte Dauphine is the terminus of Line 2. The entrance is on the Bois de Boulogne side of Avenue Foch, so take the Boulevard de l'Amiral Bruix exit.

A fairy-tale vision out of the late Middle Ages, this 14th- and 15th-century gate is all that remains of Nancy's medieval fortifications. With its twin turrets looming at one end of the Grande-Rue, the arch served as a prison through the Revolution. Above the main portal is the two-barred Lorraine Cross.

Founded in 1903, this is the last bastion of original pottery in Cliouscat and a registered historic monument. You can learn about the manufacturing operations here and purchase some lovely pieces, both traditional and contemporary.

Running behind Old Town, this 50-acre park, known as the Coulée Verte (Green Belt), offers a playground for kids, a refuge for adults enjoying free Wi-Fi, and a venue for the city's annual and one-off events. Nice’s green lung is undergoing a major extension set to complete by the end of 2025, stretching from the Promenade des Anglais to the Palais des Expositions. This urban forest will feature over 1,500 newly planted trees, enhancing biodiversity and reducing atmospheric pollutants by an impressive one tonne (approximately 2,200 pounds) annually.

Across Boulevard Wilson from Le Castillet, this is a cheerful place to stroll among flowers, plane trees, and fountains.

Hugging the seacoast on its way toward the English Channel, the Promenade du Clair de Lune passes in front of the small jetty used by boats crossing to St-Malo. In Dinard, the road weaves along the shore and is adorned with luxuriant palm trees and mimosa blooms, which, from July to the end of September, are illuminated at dusk by spotlights; strollers are serenaded with recorded music. The promenade really hits its stride as it rounds the Pointe du Moulinet and heads toward the sandy Plage du Prieuré, named after a priory that once stood here. River meets sea in a foaming mass of rock-pounding surf: use caution as you walk along the slippery path to the calm shelter of the Plage de l'Écluse, an inviting sandy beach bordered by the casino and numerous stylish hotels. The coastal path picks up on the west side of Plage de l'Écluse, ringing the Pointe de la Malouine and the Pointe des Étêtés before arriving at the Plage de St-Énogat.

Montpellier's grandest avenue was built at the end of the 17th century and dedicated to Louis XIV.