Can anyone recommend good places to go in France?

Question

I will be studying in Paris, France for the Fall Semester..... can you recommend any good places to go to? anything tourism, restaurants, museums, other countries (how to get there), and activities in general

Answer 1

For books and to eat out, go into the Latin Quarter - "le Quartier Latin" .   Make sure you read up on some history of the city, and then go see Notre Dame and Sacre Coeur, and le Conciegerie, the Sainte Chapelle. . . if you read first, you'll appreciate what you are seeing so much more.   Have some idea what life was like in each century, and who was important.  (Read up on Saint Louis, The Gauls, Joan of Arc, Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette)  You'll see the streets of Paris with new eyes.  

Go to the Louvre - but you can't see it all in one day, your feet will fall off.  The place is enormous, and you'll get over-stimulated.  Give yourself 3-4 visits.  And always get there really early, or at unpopular times, otherwise the lines to get in are awful.  

If you can afford to travel and have time, get out to Brittany (Bretagne) - Carnac is amazing, and Quiberon is lovely, and Quimper. . . and Mont St. Michel.  Rather than on the coast,  the interior of Brittany is where you may hear the native (non-French) language, Breton.  (It's related to Welsh.)  You can take a fast train from Paris to Nantes, and then go into Brittany.  Along the way are some of France's most famous castles, along the Loire. . . stop and see them if you can.   If you can, rent a car in Paris and drive, or at least in Nantes...  If you stay in youth hostels, you won't spend as much.  

Or go east from Paris in the Alsace-Lorraine region.  You'll see a culture very different from Brittany's.  Rather than Celtic-French, it will be German-French.  Beautiful mountains.  Pretty villages.

Straight north from Paris, you can see Normandy - also very pretty and a lot of medieval history. . . . read up on the Plantagenet dynasty of England (Eleanor of Aquitaine, Richard the Lionheart, Henry II) - they are buried up there (at Fontevrault?) and were more French than English.  From Normandy you can take the "chunnel" across the channel to England.  

I have travelled a lot in France, and I am sorry never to have seen:  Chartres Cathedral (not far from Paris - you could go on a Saturday or a weekend) ,  Versailles (just outside Paris - take a bus or train) ,   Carcassone  - this is Europe's best-preserved walled city, but it's far south - you'd need several days and take a train down.  

A lot of people talk about the French Riviera, the "south of France" and Provence. . . . but I always found it dry, hot and touristy.   Since you will be closer to the north - vacation where the FRENCH vacation - Alsace and Brittany.  There are beautiful, beautiful places in the north.  

The more of France's history you are aware of the more you will get out of travelling.  Also, spend your summer learning some French - or learn what you have better.  The French are infinitely friendlier to people who make and effort to speak their language, and people who show some good manners - very important to the French . (Americans are "loud" and "pushy" - and frankly, I agree with them.)

Get a few good travel books before you go. . . many list hostels in various towns.  In some places, bed and breakfasts are cheaper than hotels, and can be really economical, since they stuff you at breakfast as part of the price, and you aren't hungry all day until dinner.  But do reserve b&b's far ahead of time.   Know that many don't take credit cards, so if you reserve from the US, you will want to send along a money order/cashier's check, which you can have converted and written in euros.  Make certain to send a little note - any polite gesture or kindness will get you far in France as a traveller.

You may or may not be aware that the French all go on vacation in August through September.  (Yes, all of them at the same time - most workers get 6 weeks.)  So for things in Paris, you may want to wait until Oct to avoid huge crowds.   Go to Brittany in warm weather - early in your trip - so you can enjoy the beaches - you may get chilly with a swimsuit, but walking on the sand is wonderful.  

You learn more about any culture in little towns, little pubs, shops, local hangouts where people who live there go.  That's why having a car is great.   But even by train,  you can stop in a given town and get around a bit.