Adventure World

France

France offers an inexhaustible supply of interest. Within its borders, it has great diversity of art, architecture and cuisine. You can picnic where Monet set up his easel, or walk on the hillside where Bernard of Clairvaux preached the Second Crusade.

Away from the towns and villages, there's the France of quiet country lanes and upland trails, best explored on a cycling or walking holiday. You'll find wild flowers and butterflies in profusion, picturesque old farm buildings, sleepy villages and ancient churches.

Top HIghlights

France, the largest country in Europe and offers a spectacular variety of scenery, from the mountain ranges of the Alps and Pyrénées to the attractive river valleys of the Loire, Rhône and Dordogne and the flatter countryside of Normandy and the Atlantic coast. The country has some 2900km of coastline.

Paris: Paris stimulates the senses, demanding to be seen, heard, touched, tasted and smelt. From romance along the Seine to landscapes on bus-sized canvases to the cafes, Paris is the essence of all things French. Gaze rapturously at its breezy boulevards, impressive monuments, great works of art and magic lights. Savour its gourmet selection of cheese, chocolate, wine and seafood. Feel the wind in your face as you rollerblade through Bastille, or a frisson of fear and pleasure atop the Eiffel Tower.

Corsica: Balzac described Corsica as 'a French island basking in the Italian sun', but the island has a singular character that is entirely its own. This beautiful, wild playground is the ultimate combination destination - physical exertion in the elements by day, French wine and cuisine by evening. Proud, wild, defiantly independent and just a touch old-fashioned, Corsica is in many ways a separate nation to the rest of France. In fact, the island has been French for only 200 of its 4000-year history, and the island's unique culture, music and language have survived intact despite a couple of centuries of French rule.

Toulouse: Located between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic coast, Toulouse is a city of students, a centre of cutting-edge European technology, and the capital of the good life; its taste for celebrations and fine food is attracting a growing number of new inhabitants.

Vezelay: The tiny walled town of VÉzelay, another of France's exhilarating number of heritage spots, is surrounded by some of the most beautiful countryside in Burgundy - a patchwork of vineyards, sunflower fields, brunette furrows of farmland and stacks of hay redolent of Impressionism. Originally built on a hilltop for defence purposes, the town became an important site of pilgrimage in the 10th century and later a gathering place for crowned heads and grandees embarking on the Crusades. Vézelay's focal point is the Basilique Sainte Madeleine, a former 9th-century abbey church.

Fact Sheet

• Country Dialling Code: + 33
• When to Go: Spring offers the best weather to visitors, with beach tourism picking up in May. Temperatures aren't too bad in autumn, although the short days mean limited sunlight and the cold starts to make itself felt towards the end of the season, even along the Côte d'Azur.
• Winter means playing in the snow in France's Alps and Pyrenees, though the Christmas school holidays send hordes of tadpoles in uniform scurrying for the slopes. Mid-July through to the end of August is when most city dwellers take their annual five weeks' vacation to the coasts and mountains, and the half-desolate cities tend to shut down a bit accordingly. The same happens during February and March.
• Weather: France has a predominantly temperate climate, with mild winters, except in mountain areas and the northeast. France's northeast has a classic continental climate, with fairly hot summers and cold winters. Midway between the two, the Paris basin boasts the nation's lowest annual precipitation, but rainfall patterns are erratic.
• Food & Water: Food is a subject of endless rumination. Consider just some of the country's epicurean delights - foie gras, truffles, Roquefort cheese, well-built crustaceans, succulent snails plucked off grape vines, sharp-tasting fruit tarts - and you begin to appreciate the culinary zeal of the French. But one cannot live on escargot and vin de table alone. France's North African and Asian populations have contributed to the pot, bringing spice and colour to many dishes.
• Currency: The Euro is the official currency.
• Changing Your Money:
  The cheapest and most convenient way to change money in France is via ATMs (known as DABs in French); they accept all the major international credit and bank cards. You get the best exchange rate by using a credit card for purchases and a debit card for cash.
• Money Tips: The land of the Euro5.00 café au lait is not exactly Europe's cheapest destination, but that doesn't mean you have to break the bank to visit. Devoted scrimpers can get by on around Euro40.00 per day, though it means a whole lot of brie-and-baguettings in the park. Of course, for the Dom Perignon crowd, those figures might not cover even the day's pourboires - count on dropping Euro200.00 and up if you're really living large. Whatever your budget, figure on everything being up to 50% more expensive in Paris.
• Tipping: Leaving a pourboire (tip) is done at your discretion - restaurants and accommodations add a 10-15% service charge to every bill, making a tip unnecessary.
• Language:
  French (official) French is the official language and spoken by everyone; regionally however you will come across Flemish, Alsacian, Breton, Basque, Catalan, Provençal and Corsican as well.
• Events: The French are a festive bunch, with many cities hosting music, dance, theatre, cinema or art events each year. Rural villages hold fairs and fetes, which celebrate everything from local saints to agricultural progress. Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer in Provence is the venue for a colourful gypsy festival in late May honouring Sarah, patron saint of the gypsies. Enthusiastic singing and dancing characterise this extravaganza.
• Prominent national days off are May Day (1 May), when people trade gifts of muguet (lily of the valley) for good luck; and Bastille Day (14 July), which is celebrated by throwing firecrackers at friends.
• Regional events include the primping and preening prêt à porter fashion show in Paris (early February); the glittering and often-canned Cannes Film Festival (mid-May); the International Music Festival in Strasbourg (first three weeks of June); the mainstream and fringe theatre of the Festival d'Avignon (mid-July to mid-August) and the Jazz Festival in Nancy (mid-Oct).
• Email: Public access is available at Internet cafes and hotels in most towns and cities.
• Electricity: As in Europe, the electric Current is 220 volts, 50 cycles. Wall sockets are the European variety with two, round pins, but there are 2 types in existence.