Trip report: France
Visited in: unknown… 1988 or 1989 maybe
With almost 89 million tourists every year, France is the most visited country in the world. I live just a few kilometers from the French border, so it’s no surprise that La Grande Nation was one of the first countries I have been to. Since then I have traveled to France several times and have seen some of the biggest cities as well as some rural parts.
I don’t think that an introduction to France is necessary, because anyone who reads this text hasmost likely been there before. So, let’s get straight to my travel experiences in the country that gave the world the metric system, refrigerators, cans, Napoleon Bonaparte, hot air balloons, Sophie Marceau, strikes and the guillotine.
Overrated Paris?
Is there any other way but NOT to start a France trip report with Paris? I do not think so. And Paris is not even the first city I have seen in France…
It took me relatively long until I finally visited Paris. Although Paris is only three hours by train from my hometown, I didn’t manage to travel to the French capital until two years ago in 2017. Why? Good question. For some must see destinations it took me much longer than for some off the beaten path destinations. For example, I also saw Berlin the first time in 2016.
People either love or hate Paris. The capital of France is not only one of the most visited cities in the world, it is also one of the most polarizing. I know many people personally who hate Paris. S0me even call the city a dirty, criminal and highly overrated shithole. Besides, I regularly find rankings online with the most disappointing cities in the world among travelers. Guess which city usually takes the first place…
My first and only trip to Paris was with my boss and a work colleague. I arrived later than the two and we agreed that we would meet near our hotels in a bar. First of all, I checked into the Best Western near the Louvre that offered me a tiny but expensive room. In the room there was only space for the bed and you could hear almost every step in the hallway outside. It was terrible and I believe I rarely had less value for money than there. I’ll come back to the hotels in France later…
I skip the details of the evening, but we visited several bars and I was back at the hotel at 6AM. Just about six hours later I stood in front of the Louvre again. It had approx. 6-7°C, it was foggy, it rained and I had an ugly hangover. So it was pretty much the worst combination you could wish for when you want to explore a city. The start of the day didn’t get any better with a coffee, because the café next to the Louvre demanded a hefty 15€ for an espresso and a coke. Welcome to Paris.
On this rainy Saturday we did the usual tourist program: we strolled from the Louvre to the Champs d’Elysées, walked around the Arc de Triomphe and went from there to the Eiffel Tower. Due to the enormous queue at the entrances, however, we did not go up. Afterwards we walked a little along the Seine and visited some more sights before the afternoon was over.
The next day I was without company, because the other two went back home around noon. I used this second day to see other sights of the city, e.g. the Moulin Rouge, the Basilica Sacré-Cœur, the Jardin du Luxembourg and the Notre-Dame Cathedral. In relation to the weather, this second day was fortunately not as bad as the first. It was still foggy, but it didn’t rain at least.
Well, what can I say after two days in Paris? I definitely cannot share all the negative opinions I heard from people about the city. For me, Paris is a sensational city that offers everything I desire. Perhaps, my judgement is also due to my rather low expectations after what my friends said. But let’s be honest, when it comes to sightseeing in Europe, only Rome and London are in the same league with the French capital.
Paris is not a city I would like to live in, but I am sure I will visit it many more times. If I had to criticize anything about Paris, then it would be the crazy prices. Paris is definitely one of the most expensive travel destination in Europe. But quality has its price.
Underrated Lyon?
Contrary to the opinions about Paris, I have not heard anyone say anything bad about Lyon. To be honest, I have never heard anyone say anything about Lyon at all. The third most populous city in France does not seem to be a tourist magnet. I mean, I really do not know a lot of people who add Lyon to their France-itinerary.
My journey to Lyon in 2016 started with great frustration. Lyon is like Paris only a bit more than three hours away from my home, so I bought tickets for a train ride with the TGV. The day before my departure I realized that the train ride would not happen. There was a strike in France.
It is more than likely that every European will sooner or later become the victim of a French strike. I know quite a few people who have already been affected. If you then learn about the in some cases (from a subjective point of view) ridiculous reasons for the strike, the frustration as an affected person is even bigger. In my case, I was lucky in my misfortune, because I still found plane tickets at quite humane prices and the French railway refunded my ticket.
Nevertheless, a long journey to Lyon and an even longer way back (flight: Lyon to Munich, Munich to Zurich, train: Zurich to Basel) remain in my memory. But it was worth it, because I liked Lyon very much.
Funnily enough, Lyon is rarely suggested as a destination for a city trip. In my opinion, this is a mistake. The third largest city in France is beautiful and has everything other great European cities have as well. Not the sea though. But Lyon has a river, the Rhône, where you can relax. Plus a very beautiful old town.
If that’s not enough, then I don’t know either. In my opinion, Lyon is a very underrated destination and definitely worth a weekend trip. Even if the city doesn’t look as pompous as the French capital, it still has at least as much charm. And as a further argument: Lyon is by far not as overrun by tourists as other French cities.
Nice and the Côte d’Azur
Overrun by tourists, however, was the French city that I visited only two months after Lyon: Nice.
In the summer of 2016 I already started counting countries. When choosing a destination for a short summer holiday trip, it was therefore crucial for me to increase my country count from 38 to 39. Since I had not been to Monaco, the choice fell on Nice. However, we didn’t only stay in Nice but also explored other parts of the French Riviera.
Nice is all in all a cool city. It is not too big, so you can explore it in a short time and it also offers some fun things. The stone beach of the city is unfortunately not one of them. I also think that there are definitely better value for money destinations in Europe than the French Riviera. But this should not make a wrong impression, Nice is and remains worthwhile.
Worthwhile are also many places you can visit around Nice. We had four full days at the Côte d’Azur, of which one day was reserved for Nice and one for a trip to Monaco. With the other two we thought long and hard and at the end we chose Aix-en-Provence and Antibes. Alternatives would have been among others Cannes and St. Tropez.
The French Riviera and Nice are absolutely worth a trip, but as I already said, such a trip also costs relatively much compared to other European summer holidays destinations. Cheaper, but just as good alternatives are in my opinion e.g. Montenegro or the Adria coast in Croatia. Also the south coast of Spain offers a clearly better value for money. However, I still want to revisit the Côte d’Azur someday. The next time I would like to see Eze and Menton as well as Cannes. Meanwhile, I can easily forego St. Tropez.
Bordeaux
Believe it or not, another strike almost ruined my trip to Bordeaux as well. The air traffic controllers in Bordeaux went on strike for 36 hours, and the strike ended only half a day before my arrival. In my case trips to France turn out to be more and more a gamble.
Fortunately, I made it to Bordeaux anyway. Bordeaux is the fifth big city I have seen in France. And if I leave out Aix-en-Provence, I would also call it the least spectacular of these cities. This does not mean that Bordeaux is not worthwhile, as the city has its charm and offers everything you need for a good weekend trip. But the city is clearly smaller than for example Lyon and you have seen the attractions relatively fast. Thus, I describe Bordeaux as a good city, but not one that blows your mind.
However, there are some interesting places worth visiting near Bordeaux. That’s why we spent a day at the Dune du Pilat, the biggest sand dune of Europe. This dune is spectacular and unique in Europe, and therefore absolutely recommendable. With one million visitors a year, it is also one of the most visited tourist attractions in France.
The trip to Bordeaux was good and fun, but I don’t think I’ll be visiting the city again soon. After this first trip I have the feeling that I have seen the city and that I should focus on new French cities. Or I visit the other three I have been to before again.
Nantes
Three years after Bordeaux, another short trip to the west of France was on the agenda, namely to Nantes. Although there are direct flights between my hometown Basel and Nantes for a long time, Nantes has somehow never really appealed to me. I did some research online to see what fun things you can do in this city. The result of my research always let me come to the conclusion that a trip to Nantes is probably not worth it.
In 2022, I flew to Nantes anyway. The main reason for my trip was Mont Saint-Michel, which is two and a half hours away from Nantes. So Nantes was basically just my base. However, I ended up spending a whole day there and was still pleasantly surprised by the city. Nantes is quite a charming and lively city. The city is also compact, so you can reach everything on foot. Whether Nantes is better than Bordeaux in the end is probably a question of personal taste and expectations.
On the other hand, there should be no two opinions about the fact that Mont Saint-Michel is an incredible attraction. We rented a car and drove from Nantes to the Atlantic coast to visit the famous island with the abbey on it. Since the trip took place in a November, we prepared for rain or fog or maybe even both together. The reality was different: it was almost 20°C and the sky was blue.
In my opinion, the biggest highlight of Mont Saint-Michel is when you first see the island in the distance from the car and when you walk on the bridge to the island. The view of this sight is then just awesome.
The world looks a little different on the island. Although it was November, Mont Saint-Michel was crowded. Additionally, it was a challenge to buy something to drink or eat somewhere, as the lines in front of the stalls were long and the restaurants were full. Needless to say, such a sight attracts a lot of people. But that doesn’t change the fact that Mont Saint-Michel is in my humble opinion more fun from the outside than from the inside.
Alsace
Alsace is just a few kilometers from home. It is also a slightly underrated region, but it has also gained popularity thanks to Social Media. The old, colorful houses, typical of Alsatian villages, make a good photo subject and are worth the trip on their own.
In addition to the Alsatian capital Strasbourg, the tourist magnets are above all the many small, picturesque villages and the wine regions. I have been to Colmar, Éguisheim, Riquewihr and Kaysersberg. All four cities are worthwhile, whereby all except for Colmar are actually super small villages that can be fully explored around in less than ten minutes.
Alsace has the advantage for me that it borders directly on my hometown. In addition, Alsace used to belong to Germany, which means that many locals still speak German, which removes the language barrier for me. 🙂
For me, Alsace is more a place for a Sunday trip than a holiday destination. But for those who don’t live in my region, Alsace certainly offers enough for a pleasant week with beautiful scenery, pretty architecture and lots of wine.
Belfort
Last but not least, I did a short trip to Belfort in 2022, as it is only an hour from where I live. Belfort is a small city by French standards and I would be lying if I said that this city is a must-see.
The reason for my day trip was that I wanted to see the citadel of the city. The most important landmark of the city is a lion sculpture, the Lion de Bartholdi, which was created by the same man who designed the Statue of Liberty.
Belfort was certainly not a bad trip, but I would recommend the city only to those who live nearby or are otherwise in the area. To undertake an extra trip there is otherwise probably less worthwhile.
What I like about France
What I appreciate most about France is its diversity. The country has interesting cities, islands, beaches, forests, mountains… yes, even dunes can be found in France. Of course, this is not surprising because of the size of the country, but the country still offers more diversity than countries with a similar area.
Then the food, of course. Although some food (snails or frogs) reminds more of a test of courage on Khao San Road after three buckets of whisky cola, France has one of the best cuisines in the world.
The French cuisine offers a lot: excellent meat with wine sauce, ratatouille, flamiche, quiche lorraine, cheese, croissants and baguettes and obviously world class desserts. Food is always a matter of taste, but I can’t imagine that there are people for whom French cuisine has nothing to offer.
I always associate France with lightness, coziness and relaxation, while in Spain, for example, I always think of lively, long and wild nights. For me, France is calming down, strolling through a beautiful city and enjoying good food. I wish I knew the rural areas better, because they are definitely highlights too.
What I don’t like about France
In France, there are two things in particular that annoy me: hotel prices and let’s call it the French unreliability.
I haven’t seen a French city yet where hotels offered good value for money. We don’t need to talk about Paris in this respect anyway, but even in Nice or Bordeaux hotels in good locations are massively above the European average. And what one gets for 200-250 Euro per night are mostly rooms that are 15m2 small.
France is generally not a cheap country, but in countries with similar price levels, e.g. Germany, the hotel offer is clearly better. A worse value for money for hotels than in France is in Europe probably only in Switzerland.
The second annoyance is the French unreliability, which is regularly caused by strikes or delays. As I mentioned before, I missed a train ride and almost a flight once due to a strike. Generally, delays of trains or flights can be massive in France. As a consequence, I always find it extremely risky to book a flight with changing planes at Charles de Gaulle airport, as late arrivals are rather the rule than the exception. And for trips to many African countries there are hardly any alternatives but to fly over Paris. Fortunately, the connecting flights from Paris are usually delayed too, so that the first delay becomes irrelevant.
My opinion about France as a travel destination
As I wrote in the introduction, France is the most visited country in the world, so there is no need to ask whether the country is worth seeing or not. There is no doubt that France is one of the best tourist destinations in Europe. The diversity, the food, the history, the nature and the good infrastructure are only some of the reasons why France is worthwhile.
For me personally, France is currently a country that I like to visit from time to time, but which is not a top priority when planning further trips. There are certainly bigger France experts than me. Having been to France only seven times (without the day trips to Alsace) is for a Swiss who travels below average, I guess. In comparison: I have already been to Germany between 30-40 times. And I don’t even count the day trips to Freiburg or the villages right next to the Swiss border.
However, this is probably because I tell myself that I can still go on holiday in Corsica in twenty years. At this age I probably don’t feel like traveling back and forth between Guinea and Sierra Leone for 19 hours. At the moment, however, France offers me too little action for a two-week holiday there. But this also applies to almost all other European countries.
Nevertheless, it is 100% certain that I will visit France a few more times before I am through with the 197 countries. France has many destinations that are ideal for a weekend trip. For example, I can fly to Toulouse, Montpellier or Biarritz directly from my hometown Basel. And Alsace is only a stone’s throw away.
Find the trip reports of the 140+ other countries I’ve visited here!
