A soft climate tempered by the Atlantic, soft sandy beaches, mouth-watering cuisine, exhilarating coastal scenery; it’s no wonder that Portugal’s Algarve is one of Europe’s favourite holiday destinations. We’ll run our finger over the best things to do in the Algarve, from unwinding on dreamlike beaches to exploring coastal caves, teeing off at some of …
In French Flanders, Hazebrouck is a low key but likeable town that sums up the best things about the region. Hazebrouck’s superb museum is in a gabled 17th-century convent, and in and near the town are churches, open farms, breweries and windmills where you can slow down and get in touch with the old ways. …
The capital of French Guiana is an agreeable town with weathered Creole and colonial architecture. Throw in Cayenne’s museums and a buzzing market and there’s enough here to keep you engaged for a day or two. But the true marvels are offshore at islands that used to be France’s most feared penal colonies, or a …
On a plateau between the Jura Mountains and the Vosges is a city that has been hotly contested for a millennium. Belfort was the only feasible route into France for hundreds of kilometres to the north or south, and many French Kings and leaders did their best to fortify it. Louis XIV ordered the Iron …
The largest town in Haute Provence is embedded in the Luberon Regional Park between steep pine-decked hills. Manosque and its surroundings will live up to your image of Provence, in a region of pine scrub, olive groves, tall ochre-painted houses and river gorges. L’Occitane, the Provençal beauty brand is based here and entertains guests on …
In southwestern France’s Gers department, Auch is a city that will steal your heart the moment you see the old Episcopal quarter, raised impossibly high above the Gers River. The Haute-Ville as it’s called, is so steep that in medieval times special stairways were built to help its citizens get down to the river safely. …
In south central France, the pretty town of Aurillac is the capital of the hilly Cantal Department. The harmless-looking green hills that cushion the town have a more violent history. They’re the remnants of the largest stratovolcano in Europe, measuring 70 by 50 kilometres and towering to 4,000 metres. It’s a far cry from the …
On the Loire, Roanne is a former river port that has been reborn as a tourist getaway. Most people are aware of Raonne for two reasons: The archaeological museum, which has an Egyptology department up there with the best in the country. But also for food, as the restaurant La Maison Troisgros here has held …
Billed as the gateway to Burgundy, Sens is a town that had its glory years in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. At that time the archbishop here exerted serious power; future popes studied in Sens, and Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury spent his exile here. These times are recounted at the town’s museum in …
On a plateau above the Marne River, Chaumont is a neat, understated town not far from the Champagne wine region. Graphic designers may already know Chaumont because it’s home to an annual festival for poster design and in 2016 opened France’s only graphic art museum. The headline sight is the 19th-century railway viaduct that continues …