Some 500m up the cliff-face from Pont-sur-Loup in the Alpes-Maritimes to Gourdon is the Chemin du Paradis - named not for Paradise but from the Provençal word paradou, which means “near water”.
Cross the Sillon de Talbert, a 3km sliver of land that stretches north from the Côte de Granit Rose in Pleubian, Brittany. It is thought that currents from the rivers Trieux and Jaudy on either side of the 30m-wide strip of sand and pebbles help defend it from Channel storms.
3. Cycle from St Malo to Biarritz on the Voies Vertes
A dedicated cycle route covers nearly all the 500 miles down the west coast of France. Safe routes with plenty of access to villages for accommodation and refreshments.
4. Ski down a slagheap
Snow is usually in short supply in Nord-Pas-de-Calais – except over the festive season - so at Loisinord in Noeux-les-Mines they have covered a slagheap left over from the mining industry with fluorescent green turf that stretches down the 129m artificial ski slope. The site also has a water park.
5. Play petanque for real
Just head out into the country with your boules and play in a forest clearing or a path.
6. Travel the length of the longest river in France
The Loire starts in the Cévennes in the Ardèche and is 1,013km long. Because of its high floods, it is known as the last wild river in France. Much easier to handle is the Dordogne, which is 483km from its source at Puy de Sancy in the Massif Central. It is navigable for much of its length.
7. Visit a graveyard
Tyne Cot near Ypres is the largest Commonwealth War Graves cemetery – filled with rank after rank of white grave stones; the American Cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer, Normandy, has ranks of crosses.
Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, where there are famous, beautiful and unusual gravesSaskia B/Shutterstock
For somewhere less sombre, try the AFRA aeroplane graveyard at Chateauroux, where aircraft are recycled; or Kerhervy, Morbihan, where tuna boats are sinking into the mud after being dumped in the Blavet boat graveyard.
Animal-lovers can head for the Cimetière des Chiens in the Paris suburb of Asnières-sur-Seine.
8. Play golf on the oldest course in France
The course was set up at Pau Golf Club (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) in 1856. In high season (from April-October) a day green fee is €100. For the rest of the year it is €80. Discounted rates are available.
You could also play the second-oldest at Dinard and Biarritz, which were set up in 1887-88.
Paris Plages hosts pop-up beach sites at the Parc Rives de Seine and the Bassin de la VilletteHere Now/Shutterstock
10. Take part in a rescue dig
Archaeologists need help to excavate caves, Roman villas, historical digs, industrial archaeology and many other endangered sites. Amateurs are usually welcome and a list of what is available and where, is on the Ministry of Culture site.
11. Visit the Abbey of St Denis
This site is the burial place of French kings over the centuries. Clovis and nearly every king from the 10th-19th Century are interred at the abbey, now cathedral, on the outskirts of Paris. It is said to be the first Gothic building.
12. Find the Statue of Liberty
There are several versions of the iconic Lady Liberty since the original was presented by France to the US in 1886.
Three are in Paris: on the Pont de Grenelle, near the foundry of creator Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi; another is in the Musée des Arts et Métiers; and the last one, said to be Bartholdi’s working bronze model, is in the Musée d'Orsay, with a replica in the Jardin du Luxembourg.
Bartholdi’s home town of Colmar has one, 50cm taller than the Pont de Grenelle version.
There are others, including those at Saint-Cyrsur-Mer in the Var, Roybon in Isère, Cléguerec, Morbihan and in Bordeaux. A 13.5m version stands in Barentin, Seine-Maritime, after being made as a prop for a film.
13. Take a hot-air balloon flight in Annonay
This is where the Montgolfier brothers started it all with the first flight on June 4, 1783. Each year the Ardèche town celebrates the event with a mass balloon festival with montgolfières of many fantastic designs.
If you want more, head for the balloon museum in Château de Balleroy (Calvados) in Normandy. The museum is open all year and the chateau opens from April to September.
14. Go potholing in the Dordogne, Tarn, Ardèche or Mercantour
See the caves as nature left them, with the stalactites and stalagmites and the brilliant colours left in the calcareous rock by minerals.
The south of France is renowned for its caves but there are caving clubs in Brittany and Normandy exploring locally and the Spéléologie Finistère group is organising trial sessions at Huelgoat this spring.
15. Take a ride on a TGV
The 300kph trains travel from city centre to city centre; special low-fare idTGV services can be booked on the internet. The first trains ran from Paris to Lyon in 1981; in 2007, a TGV set a record speed of 357mph.
Originally using dedicated high-speed lines they were later modified to use ordinary track and now travel all over France.
16. Take a train to the top of a mountain
The Petit Train de la Rhune climbs 736m over its 4.2km journey from Col de Saint-Ignace, near St-Jean-de-Luz, Pyrénées-Atlantiques.
Even higher is the Montenvers Railway, which heads out from Chamonix and makes its way some 850m up the sides of the Aiguilles de Chamonix to an altitude of 1,913m where the station overlooks the Mer de Glace glacier.
17. Trample grapes
During the fête des vendanges, in many areas villagers will set off in the evening and pick grapes by twilight. The grapes are taken back to the village and trampled in the old-fashioned style. Afterwards they drink the fresh bourru grape juice, which is slightly fermented.
In Nuits St Georges, it is known as the Fête du Vin Bourru. The Languedoc village of Chusclan is transformed with costumed villagers parading to the vineyard before the fun starts.
Participate in France's grape harvestpointbreak / Shutterstock
18. Go and see The Ionesco Show
The double bill of The Lesson and The Bald Soprano have been playing between five and six days a week at the Theatre de la Huchette in Paris since 1957. The theatre has only 85 seats, but the shows have been seen by nearly 2 million.
19. Do a stage of the Tour de France
Each year, an Étape du Tour is organised where people can challenge themselves on the exact stage that the tour will cover, with some participants fundraising for charities.
20. Try out your fitness on the Via Ferrata
If you have a head for heights, try out your fitness on the Via Ferrata – the iron roads that were first built by Italian troops to get quickly round the Alps.
Look to the Mercantour, Alps, Pyrenees and Auvergne, or the 200m version at the Chateau de Marqueyssac in the Dordogne. There are many organised trips which supply equipment, including the vital safety line.
21. Head underground and do the Via Souterrata
If you don’t have a head for heights, do the Via Souterrata at Caille, near Castellane in the Alpes-Maritimes. The trail is 350m long and 45m underground, with fixed cables, a monkey bridge and a rope bridge. Temperature is a cool 12C all year round.
22. Walk the Route Napoléon from Golfe Juan to Grenoble
See if you can match the emperor’s trek of six days. It is now a 325km section of the RN85. If you don’t want to walk it, the road is one of Europe’s best motorcycling roads, with spectacular scenery and few of the hairpins that bedevil the Alpine roads.
23. Meet Joan of Arc (although she may be a bit pale)
If you go to the basilica at Le Bois-Chenu Domremy in the Vosges, you may see her ghost. St Joan was born nearby at Domrémy-la-Pucelle and it was where the basilica stands that she heard the voices that sent her to take up arms to defend France in the Hundred Years War.
24. Play the casino at Monaco
Or, if you prefer to stay in France, just over the border in Menton, Beaulieu, Nice or Cannes. The casino at Monte Carlo is not a place to rub shoulders with the locals; native Monégasques have been banned from gambling there since the 1860s.
25. Enjoy yourself at Fest Noz or Fest Dez festivals in Brittany
These traditional festivals were used as a way to batter down the bare earth for a new house. Today they are held in most communes with dancing, dancing and more dancing: gavottes and plinns in lines or in circles. Dancing as a couple, called belly-to-belly or kof-a-kof dancing, was once banned.
There are many places to find gold in France. The Rhine, east of Mulhouse, is a well-known area and you can get gold-panning lessons there and on the “old” Rhine from Bad Bellingen to Efringen. However, the best areas are the Cevennes, Auvezere, Corrèze, and rivers south of there in the Massif Central.
Panning courses are run in the river Cèze in the Gard and on the river Gardon at Boisset Gaujac, near Nîmes. You can find nuggets and flakes in each, though professionals will only find one gram a day.
27. See the oldest cave paintings in the world
Not Lascaux, but further east in the Gorges de l’Ardèche, where the Chauvet-Pont d’Arc cave has been dated back 30,000 years. Although the caves have been closed since 1995, there is an exhibition at Vallon, which has a video with details of Cro-Magnon paintings.
The drawings in the Chauvet caves ‘revolutionised’ paleontologists' understanding of prehistoric artBruno M Photographie/Shutterstock
28. Dive to the underwater village off Golfe Juan at La Fourmigue
Created by artist Nejad Silver, it was originally created in the 1960s for a film project, but was destroyed by souvenir-hunting divers. A new version was built south of the rock known as La Fourmigue.
Nearby is a small grotto known as the Grotte de Miro, which holds the bust of Commandant le Prieur, inventor of what French historians say was the first self-contained underwater air breathing apparatus.
29. See how chateaux were built in the 13th Century
Watch how it is done with the original tools at the chateau of Guédelon in Yonne, Burgundy or join in to learn the skills of a mediaeval builder.
30. Swim the traversée between Iles Ste Marguerite and the Ile de Lerins
Found just off the coast of Cannes, the 1.5km swim is held every year on the first Sunday in September. It is organised by the Amis de l’Ile Sainte Marguerite.
31. Get lost in the largest permanent plant maze in the world
Found in Guéret in the Creuse: it measures 2.2 hectares. The next biggest is at Bouguenais near Nantes, which is 1.5 hectares. The Labyrinthe du Corsaire at Saint-Malo covers 11 hectares, but that includes four mazes and many other activities.
You can’t get lost in the labyrinth in Chartres Cathedral: the flat stone design leads you to the middle and then back out again.
32. See France in miniature at Elancourt, 30km west of Paris
Owned by the same firm as Parc Astérix, France Miniature has 160 1/30-scale models of landmarks scattered over its five hectares. Model trains take you to the different areas of the site. See this Connexion article for more miniature parks across France.
33. Find a little bit of Texas in Paris
From 1836-45, the soon-to-be Lone Star State was an independent republic and had its own embassy on the corner of Place Vendôme and Rue de Castiglione. Today there is a plaque marking the site.
34. Feel small by standing alongside the biggest Gothic cathedral in France
Notre-Dame in Amiens is 112.7m high. Built in a little over 40 years from 1220, it is all in one style and recent research work has revealed traces of the original colourings, which are reproduced in a spectacular evening light show on the west portal in winter.
The city of Amiens is known for its impressive Gothic cathedralandre quinou / Shutterstock
35. Take a train into a mountain
The Grotte de Rouffignac in the Dordogne has 2km of railway for visitors. Or take a train into and up a mountain: the Train des Merveilles from Nice to Tende threads across valleys and through spiral tunnels to climb 1,000m up the Alps.
36. Go deep to find France’s oddest church
The Eglise of St Jean at Aubeterre-sur-Dronne (Charente) was carved out of solid rock from the 7th Century. It was enlarged by 12th Century Benedictine monks and is now 27m by 16m and 20m high.
37. Drive or motorcycle round the French rival to the Grand Canyon
Found in the Gorges du Verdon in Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, approaching across the plains from Comps-sur-Artuby, you reach the Balcons de la Mescla, where it looks as if someone has scooped out a ditch 250m deep. It takes 130km of road to travel the 21km of canyon. The opal-blue water is stunning.
38. Become a WWOOFer
Earn your keep while learning about organic farming. Standing for World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms, it is a chance to live with a family and join in their day-to-day activities and meals around an organic lifestyle.
39. Walk barefoot across the sands to Mont Saint Michel
You’ll need a guide as it is very dangerous to venture alone into the bay, which has the highest tides in continental Europe.
40. Find Spanish land in France
The “city” of Llívia is a Spanish enclave in the Pyrénées 2km inside France. Formerly the ancient capital of Cerdanya, it was excluded from the 1659 Treaty of the Pyrénées, which gave up other villages to France, because it enjoyed the status of a city, and so stayed Catalan and Spanish.
41. Punt along the green Venice of the west coast
The Marais Poitevin is 1,000km² of marsh and canals that extends across Vendée, Deux-Sèvres and Charente-Maritime. Hire a punt-type barque from one of the embarcadères piers and discover the astonishing insect and wildlife – especially the dragonflies.
42. Drink a glass of calvados next to an open campfire and watch the stars
You could also do it among shooting stars if you do it in August, when the Perseid meteor shower hits the atmosphere.
43. Enjoy the best view in Paris
The Institut du Monde Arabe (1 Rue des Fossés-Saint-Bernard) gives a bird’s eye view of Notre Dame Cathedral from its rooftop terrace and cafe. Otherwise, take the funicular to the steps of the Sacre Coeur, sit back and enjoy the panoramic view.
If you head for the Arc de Triomphe after the sun is down, you get a spectacular view of the Eiffel Tower’s five-minute lightshow every hour on the hour.
44. Take a lift with a difference
The Louvre has an open hydraulic lift: once you reach your floor, a slide-out walkway lets you off.
The Eiffel Tower has lifts in each of its four legs. As the pillars are curved, the angle of the lift’s ascent changes.
Try the Tour Montparnasse for Europe’s fastest elevator: 38 seconds to cover the 196 meters (over 640 ft) from bottom to the top.
45. See the Sistine Chapel of the Alps
The 12th-Century chapel of Notre Dame des Fontaines near La Brigue is decorated on every surface with frescoes featuring the Virgin Mary and the Passion of Christ. It was built from donations from pilgrims on the Tende-San Remo road.
46. Admire the Millau viaduct
Standing 270m above the Tarn, this very tall viaduct carries the A75 autoroute.
The 343m central pillar is taller than the Eiffel Tower and four times the height of London’s Big Ben; it is only just lower than the Empire State Building.
Visitors can walk or drive under the viaduct, or take a bus or boat trip to see it from ground level, or fly over it in a helicopter.
Millau Viaduct in the CévennesMowLow / Shutterstock
47. Test yourself on Europe’s toughest trek
The GR20 long-distance trail in Corsica. Expect 180km of hard walking and scrambling, with sheer ascents and descents; 15 days of rising early to beat the heat of the sun; a memory that will never fade.
48. Listen to an organ concert in Chartres Cathedral
Go to Notre Dame de Chartres for the Festival d’Orgue in July and August. It is a spiritual experience for believers and a moving experience for non-believers.
49. Visit Claude Monet’s home in Giverny (Eure)
The house and gardens have been restored to what he would have known. Nearby is the water garden with its famous water lilies.
50. Live in a tree house
Eurocamp have built the “ultimate adventure accommodation”, with tree houses built round the trunks of trees, about four or five metres above ground. There is a large decked terrace for meals and looking down on the people.
51. Find the most beautiful villages in France
Over 180 of them, across 21 regions and 69 departments. The Plus Beaux Villages de France have history as well as beauty: Montréal in Gers was the first Gascon bastide when built in 1255; Angles-sur-l’Anglin in Vienne has been famed for 150 years for its embroidery. Mosset in the Pyrénées-Orientales is perched high above the Castellane Valley.
52. Stroll across the Pont des Arts in Paris
An elegant metal pedestrian bridge with seven arches, it connects the Louvre with the Institut de France across the Seine. However, lovers who have attached padlocks, known as cadenas d’amour, to the grilles will be disappointed as Paris council removes them because they are “disfiguring a monument”.
53. Follow in the final footsteps of Leonardo da Vinci to Clos-Lucé at Amboise, where he spent his final days
He crossed the Alps on a mule via Montgenèvre, then through St Gervais, Grenoble and Lyon – all the while carrying the Mona Lisa in his leather saddlebag.
54. Look closely at the Mona Lisa the next time you are in the Louvre in Paris
Leonardo da Vinci was said to have followed the fashion of the time, and painted La Giaconda with no eyebrows. However, research has uncovered traces of painted eyebrows that may have been lost in a clumsy restoration.
55. Spend midsummer on the Pic du Canigou
It is a Catalan sacred hill and each June 23 groups gather to build a bonfire for the Flama del Canigó, where they light torches and relay them to kindle the feux de St-Jean for Catalan villages. It is noisy, but the view from 2,784m takes in Roussillon, the Mediterranean, Catalonia and the Pyrenees.
56. Drink a coffee on the tree-lined Cours Mirabeau (Aix-en-Provence)
Watch the world go by - a provincial version of sitting in a Champs-Elysée café (but cheaper). Then visit the Quartier Mazarin to see the world as it used to be.
57. Check your watch at the Notre Dame in Dijon and see the Jaquemart
This Jaquemart has a man, woman and two children striking the bells with hammers.
58. Step back 1,000 years in Vezelay (Yonne)
Imagine the massive ranked armies of two crusades gathering in front of the Basilica Ste. Madeleine before heading to the Holy Land.
The village of VezelayclemMtravel/Shutterstock
59. Enjoy wine without the headache in Colmar (Alsace)
This is one of France’s main organic wine-making areas. No chemicals are added, and this is said to mean no headache or allergic reactions. Make it an expedition and cover the 100 miles of wine route between Mulhouse and Strasbourg.
If you are in the south, head for Saint-Remy-de-Provence and its fellow Baux-de-Provence rosé makers, which are almost all exclusively organic.
60. Love Lyon
Its Roman ruins on the Fourvière hill, its original medieval city on the west bank of the Saône (a Unesco World Heritage Site); its luxury silk trade, its antiques markets and, like Paris, its river boats.
On top of all that, Lyon is the gastronomic capital of France. Below are the
Traboules, the name for covered passageways taking you from one street to another via a courtyard and which are typical of the city.
61. Marvel at the multi-coloured tiled roof on the Hôtel-Dieu in Beaune
You can only see it from the interior courtyard, but the former charity hospital is worth a visit for its kitchen museum, apothecary and surgical instrument collection.
62. Go for a dip in Montreuil-sur-Mer and you won’t get wet
The town, with its Vauban-built ramparts is now 20km from the sea, as the river Canche has silted up. It is notable for a short visit by Victor Hugo, which led to it being the setting for Les Misérables.
63. Surf at Hossegor (Landes)
Located about an half an hour north of Biarritz. If you are experienced, the waves are more powerful and challenging near the shore. If you are less experienced, go in the summer, when the waves are smaller.
64. Take to the sandy paths of the Forest of Fontainebleau
See the thousands of naturally sculpted rock formations that litter the area. It is a labyrinth for youngsters and a playground for climbers with many testing, if not huge, ascents.
End your walk at the Palace of Fontainebleau, which is an architectural patchwork of building done by successive kings, who used it as a hunting lodge. The Mona Lisa once hung in a royal bathroom.
65. While at Fontainebleau, visit the village of Barbizon
This is where artists, inspired by Constable, turned away from formal painting and towards a natural style. Théodore Rousseau and Jean-François Millet quit the studio for the open air of the forest and painted the people they found there.
66. Stroll under the Pont du Gard Roman aqueduct
Nearby Nîmes is itself almost a living Roman museum. A key destination in France for two millenia, it is a Unesco World Heritage Site with the amphitheatre at the Place des Arènes, the Temple of Diana and the Roman walls.
67. Walk in the steps of Friedrich Nietzsche
He thought through some of the themes for the book he called the “deepest ever written”, Thus Spake Zarathustra. Starting in Eze Bord de Mer, near Nice, he walked up to Eze village at 427m, along the path now known as Sentier Nietzsche.
68. Rejuvenate yourself with Sir Lancelot at Bagnoles de l’Orne
This Orne spa town has been known for its healthgiving waters since the Middle Ages, but was born with the tourist boom in the 1900s. It is a classic of Belle Epoque styling in the middle of what is said to be the home of Lancelot de Lac.
69. Go to Bordeaux for its wines and its 110,000 of vineyards
It is linked to wine labels such as Margaux, Yquem, Pétrus, Cheval Blanc and Haut Brion, but also has architectural heritage, which is on a scale that is difficult to comprehend – the Unesco World Heritage Site covers 1,810 hectares, or about half the city’s size.
70. Take a strenuous walk on the GR5 or Europe 2
It covers 1,500 miles from the Hook of Holland on the North Sea to Nice on the Mediterranean. Some hikers recommend the alternative GR52, which finishes just along the coast from Nice, at Menton, as it is said to be be a more spectacular ending.
71. Take the 'Sentier Stevenson'
This is the walk that Robert Louis Stevenson turned into Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes, his tales of his adventures with Modestine. Known as the Grand Causses, the limestone tablelands ring with sheep bells, but there are also 1,400 miles of walking routes. You can even hire a donkey.
72. Count the volcanoes from the top of the Puy de Dôme or, farther north, the Plomb du Cantal
Remember to include the one you are standing on. The Auvergne Volcanoes Park sits across two departments and is part of Europe’s largest volcanic range, in the Massif Central. It also features Vulcania, the world’s only volcano theme park.
The view from the Puy de Dômejef77/Shutterstock
73. Cycle a railway line
A Vélo-rail connects two mountain bikes on a frame, with seats for youngsters and you cycle along the tracks. Vélorail is all over the country: the one at the Gare de Médréac in Brittany, for example, has a 14km out-and-return track on the old La Brohinière-Dinan-Dinard route. In Dordogne, the route covers 11km return from Corgnac to Thiviers or St Germain.
74. Take a spin round the Le Mans race track (or at least the section that is open to the public)
The Bugatti track is inside the official Circuit de la Sarthe used for the 24-hour race, but includes the start-finish straight.
75. Skate Paris on a Friday night with the Pari Rollers
The group meets in front of the Paris-Montparnasse station at 21:30 for a three-hour caravan covering 20km of the capital. Police provide security, closing roads to traffic, and there is also an ambulance escort, just in case. You must be an experienced skater, because the route includes cobbles and hills: it is also fast.
76. Cruise the Meuse
Described by canal writer Hugh McKnight as “one of the finest portions of river landscape in Europe”, the Meuse from Charleville-Mezieres to the Belgian border has steeply wooded cliffs over the river and inspiring scenery. It also includes a 500m tunnel.
77. Submerge yourself in Annecy and its lake
Sitting underneath the Alps, Annecy is a perfect antidote to any stress: clean air, uncluttered cobbled streets and the “freshest lake in Europe”, with grassy banks and plenty of space to relax. You can also relax on one of the wooden vedettes, which will take you for a tour of the lake.
78. Eat bouillabaisse in Marseille
Or, if you are a cook, buy the fish in Le Vieux Port. No two versions of the fish stew are the same, but the effect on your stomach is the same every time: very tasty and very satisfying.
79. Explore the Camargue by bicycle, 4x4 or horseback
The wild horses are a distinct breed and turn white at about four years old. If you see prehistoric cave paintings of horses, you will see the similarity. Wear insect repellent; lots of it.
80. Sample French whisky
The French are not big fans of cognac, armagnac or calvados... drinking more whisky in a month than they drink cognac in a year. Now the French are making their own with whisky – but not Scotch – distilleries in Alsace, Brittany, Champagne, Corsica, Lorraine, Nord and Normandy.
81. Take a flying fox ride from the pillars of the Villards d’Héria viaduct in the Jura
Attached by harness to the cables, you fly from pillar to pillar of the bridge at heights varying from 2-72m, and at speeds up to 50kph. All the safety equipment is supplied.
82. Find the emptiest place in France
In Lozère, the Causse Méjean has just 430 people living in 420km2; there really are more sheep than people. The scenery is outstanding and you can hike across a steppes-like limestone plateau. The area has become a breeding ground for Przewalskis, the last wild horses, which are being bred to be released in Mongolia.
83. See a troglodyte artshow
The village of Dénezé-sous-Doué in Maine-et-Loire has an underground marvel in its Cave aux Sculptures where 16th-Century Protestant stonemasons carved more than 400 figures into the walls, floors and ceilings.
84. Climb to the top of France
Provided you are in decent physical condition, a mountain guide will take you up Mt Blanc, at 4,807m the highest peak in Europe. An ascent will normally take two days, with one night in the Refuge du Goûter.
85. Follow the apple route to learn all about cider
The Route du Cidre in the Pays d’Auge is 40km long, and involves cider and calvados producers giving away many of their secrets. There is also, of course, a degustation. Big red apples show the signposted route starting at Cambremer gendarmerie – you do not want to end up back there!
A route for cider loversThirtyPlus / Shutterstock
86. Sleep in an igloo
Discover the Pyrénées National Park with a guide and go on a snowshoe trek over the white paradise, before spending the night in your own igloo.
87. Drive a Formula One car
No, not really. This is a simulator in the hi-tech I-Way centre in Lyon and Paris, which has 18 different driving simulators covering F1, rally and many other races where you feel the Gforces and the other sensations of high-speed racing.
88. Unwind on the LU tower in Nantes for great views
The tower once stood above the Lefèvre-Utile biscuit factory. After the factory closed, the tower was renovated and it now has a self-wind “gyrorama” platform that gives a new look on the city.
89. Learn to sail at 850m up
Lake Aydat in the Massif Central is the largest in the Auvergne and its sailing school and watersports centre thrive on its location, which brings ever-changing winds. It was created by an immense lava flow 8,500 years ago that blocked the river Veyre.
90. Find France’s Easter Island Statues at two sites at opposite ends of the country
Near St Malo are the grotesque sculptures carved by the hermit Abbé Fouré at Rothéneuf towards the end of the 19th Century. He carved around 300 sculptures into the rocks. More than 3,000 years earlier, the inhabitants of the Filitosa archaeological site on Corsica carved their own statues to ward off invaders.
91. Go boating in a volcanic crater on Lac Pavin in Mont-Dore
The crater is so deep and steep-sided that the water at the bottom never mixes with the water at the top. France’s deepest lake is Lac du Bourget in Savoie, which has a maximum depth of 145m. You can take cruises from Le Bourget-du-Lac or Aix-les-Bains.
92. Visit the oldest trees in France
The robinia (false acacia) tree in Square René-Viviani near Nôtre-Dame cathedral in Paris was planted in 1601. Nantes is home to a magnolia that is 219yes years old.
93. Gawp at Art Deco sky-scrapers in Villeurbanne near Lyon
When the two gratte-ciels were built in the 1930s, they were the first in France. Some residents are so proud of the heritage of the buildings that they will let you in to see from the inside out.
94. Breathe fresh air at the top of the world’s tallest traditional lighthouse
It is found on the Ile Vierge lighthouse in Finistère. Standing at 82.5m, it will take you either 400 or 365 steps to the top, depending on who you talk to...
95. Explore Europe’s largest megalithic mausoleum
The Cairn de Barnenez in the Bay of Morlaix is older than the pyramids. It is 75m long and 25m wide.
96. Beat the masses
The Calanque d’En Vau is a magnificent limestone cove between Cassis and Marseille that hides a white pebble beach that is a perfect sun trap. Surrounding pine trees also give plenty of shade. The coves of the Calanques have just been named as one of France’s new national parks.
The Calanques National Park near MarseilleGaspar Janos / Shutterstock
97. Visit France's 'most beautiful harbour'
Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue is found near Cherbourg in the Manche. Louis XIV ordered his naval architect, Vauban, to build two fortified towers along the bay in the late 1600s - now one of 12 sites listed as the Fortifications of Vauban and boasting status as Unesco World Heritage Sites. Vauban called it the “most beautiful harbour in France.”
98. Explore a magical biodiversity theme park near Angers
France has the only theme park in Europe dedicated to biodiversity. The scheme for Terra Botanica was hatched as early as 1998 and the attraction includes 12,000m² of greenhouses displaying a variety of plant communities, from arid zone to tropical rainforest.
99. Sniff your way around the world’s largest perfume archive
The Osmothèque, founded in 1990, includes around 5,000 perfumes dating back 2,000 years. It is currently housed in the basement of the ISIPCA (Institut supérieur international du parfum, de la cosmétique et de l’aromatique alimentaire) in Versailles (Yvelines). It is open to the public by appointment.
100. Sleep in hen, rabbit and snail-shaped houses
If visiting Poitiers (Vienne), book a stay in a nature-based holiday village, DéfiPlanet, and sleep in a holiday home in the form of a supersized hen - just one of several unusual options on the site. Who wouldn’t want to stay in a gigantic chicken at least once in their life?
