France
Tourism
VACATION
Located in the western part of Europe, France,
presents itself as the undisputed leader in the tourism sector, offering the visitor a great variety of
monuments, entertainment, attractions and sites of notable historical interest.
It represents one of the most visited countries in the world by number of international arrivals in terms of
tourist presences, Paris is the first city for the number of visitors for tourism purposes
and the Eiffel Tower is the most visited monument in the world.
Attractions
MONUMENTS AND MUSEUMS
The major sites of interest for tourism visited in France are, the
Eiffel Tower , Louvre Museum , Palace of Versailles , Orsay Museum , Arc de Triomphe , Center Pompidou ,
Mont Saint-Michel, Chambord Castle, Sainte-Chapelle,
Haut-Kœnigsbourg Castle Puy de Dôme , Musée Picasso and Carcassonne .
Airports
Major airports in France are , Ajaccio , Bastia, Beauvais Tille, Bordeaux, Calvi St. Catherine , Carcassone, Charleroi , Grenoble, Lyon , Marseille-Provence, Nice-Côte d'Azur, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Paris-Orly, Pau-Pyrenees, Toulon-Hyères, Toulouse-Blagnac, Montpellier-Méditerranée.
Climate
In general, the climate in France varies according to the geographical position of the territory, with temperate winters and mild summers over most of the territory, especially with reference to the capital Paris . In the Mediterranean area and in the southwest, winters are mild and rainy with hot summers. In the north-west and in Brittany, winters are mild and rainy with cool summers Hot summers and very cold winters along the German border of Alsace. Along the Rhône Valley, there is an occasional strong, cold, dry, north to northwest wind known as mistral. In the mountainous regions of the Alps, Pyrenees and Auvergne harsh winters with lots of snow.
Main cities
Given the high rate of urbanization of France, its main cities by population are, Paris, Marseille, Lyon, Toulouse, Nice, Nantes, Montpellier, Strasbourg, Bordeaux, Lille and Rennes, to visit during your stay in france.
One of the most popular tourist cities is undoubtedly Paris, the capital of France, rich in history, monuments and museums. Located in the north-central part of France, Paris has a city center divided into two parts by the River Seine. North of the river, on the right bank, we find the tree-lined avenue of the Champs-Élysées, the Arc de Triomphe, the imposing Louvre Museum, the Georges Pompidou Center and the Île de la Cité where the Notre Dame cathedral is located. In the area south of the river, called the left bank, we find the Eiffel Tower. and the districts of Saint Germain de Prés and Montparnasse, famous haunts of Paris artists and intellectuals. The best time to visit Paris is spring during the months of March, April and May, or autumn. The month of August, on the other hand, is hot and muggy, and it is preferable to avoid so as not to have long queues in the sun to enter the museums or palaces to visit.
There are two main airports in Paris, the Aéroport d'Orly, located about 16 km south of the city and the Aéroport Charles de Gaulle, located about 27 km north. The TGV high-speed trains are generally cheaper and allow quick and easy travel in a large part of the country.
As for local transport in the city, we remind you that Paris has a highly developed underground network and is currently the most comfortable means of transport cheap to travel.
Other recommended destinations to visit, in addition to those already mentioned are,
Disneyland Paris very visited attraction for the amusement of children and people of a certain age,
Corsica, the country of origin of Napoleon, Côte d'Azur, in the south of France along the Mediterranean coast with numerous seaside resorts equipped with fantastic beaches, entertainment venues and excellent Hotels for stays. Camargue — for the large river delta and wetlands of Europe, French Alps with the highest peak of Mont Blanc in Western Europe, Loire Valley characteristic region famous worldwide for its wines and castles, Luberon with picturesque villages and cheerfulness, Mont Saint Michel second most visited attraction in France, due to the presence of a monastery and a city built on the rock in the sand, whose ground connected to the mainland is submerged at high tide, Gorges du Verdon a beautiful river canyon nestled in a turquoise green, famous for its colorful contrasts of nature and its heights.
Geography
The continental European zone of France is located at one of the western ends of Europe, It is bordered by the North Sea to the north, the English Channel to the northwest, the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the Mediterranean Sea to the southeast. It borders Belgium and Luxembourg to the northeast, Germany and Switzerland to the east, Italy and Monaco to the southeast, Spain and Andorra to the southwest.
Also belong to France numerous territories located outside the European continent, currently called overseas France, which allows it to be present in all oceans of the world, except the Arctic Ocean. These territories possess special status with respect to the territorial administration of France and are located, on the South American continent French Guiana, in the Atlantic Ocean Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, in the Antilles, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint-Martin and Saint-Barthélemy, in the Pacific Ocean French Polynesia, New Caledonia, Wallis-et-Futuna and Clipperton, in the Indian Ocean, Réunion, Mayotte, the Scattered Islands, the Crozet Islands and Saint-Paul and New Amsterdam, on the Kerguelen Plateau the Kerguelen Islands, finally in Antarctica the Adélie Land.
Administratively, France is divided into 18 divisions (Regions), 13 of which are located in metropolitan France, 101 departments including 5 overseas and from districts which are administrative subdivisions of the departments. These districts called arrondissements are divided into cantons and municipalities for local territorial administration. The cantons mostly correspond to complete municipalities, however, some important municipalities are divided into several cantons, which may also include other neighboring municipalities with a small population.
Territory
French territory considering its extension, it has a great variety of landscapes, including large ones coastal plains in the north and west, to the mountain ranges of the Alps which characterize the southeast and to the Pyrenees in the southwest. The French Alps rise to the highest point in Europe western in common with Italy, Mont Blanc, which culminates at 4810 m above sea level. There are also other mountainous regions of more ancient formation, such as the mountains of Corsica, the Massif Central, the Jura, the Vosges, the Armorican massif and the Ardennes which are a very rocky and wooded region. France owns also an extensive river system which is mainly composed of rivers such as the Loire, the Rhone , the Garonne, the Seine, part of the Rhine, the Meuse, the Moselle, of the Somme, of the Vilaine, which constitute their own river basins.