What are some unusual tourist destinations in France?

Question

There's always the overrated multi-million dollar tourist attractions like the Notre Dame and the Eiffel tower, but I'm looking for something smaller that would give me a taste of the France most people wouldn't see.

I love restaraunts and I hate looking like a tourist, does anyone have any suggestions...preferably from experience.

Answer 1

Carcassonne http://www.carcassonne.org is one of my favorite French cities.  Its got history, charm and is a nice day trip.  You might also enjoy the Bordeaux region because with fine wines goes good food. Its a pretty area of the country as well.  Additionally, if you want to walk off some of that great food you'll be filling up on, you can walk through France miniature in Versailles (its a to-scale version of the whole country of France. The thing I liked about it was that they do a good job of putting the little people in their regional costumes too.  If you started there, you'd get an idea of what part of France most interested you.  Its not too "kiddie" and is actually more cultural.

Each region has its own cuisine and feel.  Many people dont realize that France is just a forced grouping of people with different languages (not dialects), foods and cultures... and of course cheeses ;-)

So, you could safely visit the capital city of any "departement" (county) in France and see a completely different "France".  Each departement has a tourism webpage and you can get started on France's tourism website here: http://www.tourisme.fr/recherche/e_index...

Answer 2

Haut Var ! (gorges du Verdon)

i went there last year for the first time as a french tourist, it's simply wonderful !

a lot of villages like this one:

http://regussinfos.ifrance.com/bauduen.j...

(water is not cold in the summer)

eat there : http://www.bienvenue-a-la-ferme.com/Var/...

and the most unbelievable : very few tourists

Answer 3

Two places I really liked were the Camargue and Megeve:

Megeve is in the French Alps not far from Geneva. People are very nice. great skiing in winter. great hiking in summer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meg%C3%A8ve

http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=...

The Camargue is the salt marshes and beach area south of Provence and west of the Riviera. it is in the Da Vinci Code as the reputed place where Mary Magdalene and Jesus landed in a boat. beaches are great. pink flamingos, white horses, black bulls. known for great honey, salt, salami, wine.

http://images.google.com/images?gbv=2&hl...

http://images.google.com/images?gbv=2&hl...

http://www.provenceweb.fr/e/bouches/stma...

bon voyages!

Answer 4

Amber, you're going to France? When? I'm going to Paris this summer, too.

Oh and I dunno, bout your question.

Answer 5

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bretagne

Answer 6

The Catacombs of Paris

The catacombs (les Catacombes) contain the remains of up to 6 million people, whose bones were transferred from overcrowded cemeteries to the underground caverns in the late 1700s.

Although gîtes are sometimes called 'holiday homes' they actually come in many sizes in France

Answer 7

The Massif Central, the mountain range smack in the middle of France. Foreigners seem to ignore we have more than the Alps and the Pyrenees, not that I am complaining really. There's no other tourists than the French usually. Old volcanoes, lakes, old villages, castles and castle ruins, beautiful sights, nice food, you should rent a car for that.

http://www.massifcentral-tourisme.com/

http://www.massifcentral.worldweb.com/

Answer 8

for me i live in france and i went to normandy and from paris its a 1 and a half hour drive and its realy cool and interesting there are the normandy beaches and the american cemetery where they have the graves of over 20,000 people from world war two and a brand new display.

also a place that i went to for the 3 time just yesterday is the france miniature where theres a map of france thats big and you can see all of the monuments and evreything but its all mini.