15 Top Rated Tourist Attractions in France

1. The Eiffel Tower

Eiffel Tower in France

The Eiffel Tower is a really cool building that was made a long time ago. It was made by a smart person named Gustave Eiffel. At first, some people didn't like it, but now everyone loves it. It is very tall and it is a special part of the city of Paris.

When you first see the tower, you'll be amazed by how light and airy it looks, even though it's really big. And when you go up to each of the three levels, the views from there will make you feel really amazed and excited.

You can eat with a pretty sight on the first floor or have a fancy meal at a special restaurant on the second floor. The very top floor is really high up, 276 meters high! From there, you can see a big view of the city of Paris and even farther. On a sunny day, you can see up to 70 kilometers away.

2. Musée du Louvre

Musée du Louvre

The Louvre is a really important museum in Paris with lots of famous artwork inside. Some of the most well-known pieces include the Mona Lisa, a painting by Leonardo da Vinci, the Wedding Feast at Cana by Veronese, and a sculpture called Venus de Milo.

The collection has many valuable things because kings who used to live in the Louvre long ago gave them. Some things were also added because France made agreements with the Vatican and Venice, and some were taken by Napoléon I during wars.

The Louvre is a big museum with lots of amazing artwork. There are so many pieces that it would be really hard to see them all in just one day or even in one week. It might be a good idea to have a special guide who can show you the most important artworks or make a list of the ones you really want to see. That way, you can have the best experience and see the most special things.

3. Château de Versailles

Château de Versailles

The Château de Versailles is a very special place in France that helps us learn about the country's kings and queens from a long time ago. It takes us back to a time when there were three kings named Louis who were very important in France. The Palace of Versailles was their fancy home and it was so grand that other countries wanted to be just like it.

The Hall of Mirrors is the most beautiful room in the palace. It is filled with mirrors that reflect the sunlight and make the room sparkle. There are also fancy lights and decorations that make it look even more amazing. People used to wait in this room to see the king.

Versailles is famous for its beautiful gardens called Les Jardins. These gardens have pretty pools, neat bushes, lots of statues, and amazing fountains. A very talented person named André Le Nôtre made these gardens a long time ago in the 17th century. The gardens are surrounded by a big park that is full of green and beautiful nature.

Château de Versailles is a very special place in Franc

Past the pretty gardens, there is a special place called Domaine de Trianon. It has three beautiful buildings: a big palace called Le Grand Trianon, a small castle called Le Petit Trianon, and a cute village called The Queen's Hamlet. The village has small houses near a lake and it was made for Marie-Antoinette to feel like she was in the countryside.

Marie-Antoinette's hamlet buildings were made to look like houses in the countryside of Normandy. They were built to look old and rustic on purpose, even though the inside was fancy and nice.

Marie-Antoinette had a special place called a hamlet that had a farm and a place where they made milk and cheese. It was a fun place for her kids to learn. Marie-Antoinette liked to go there to relax, take walks, and hang out with her friends. It was a special place that showed what Marie-Antoinette's life was like when she wasn't being a queen.

4. Côte d'Azur

Côte d'Azur

The Côte d'Azur is a really trendy and stylish part of France by the sea. It goes from Saint-Tropez to Menton, which is close to Italy. Côte d'Azur means "Coast of Blue" because the water there is a beautiful bright blue color that looks amazing.

English speakers call this beautiful place by the sea the French Riviera. These words sound fancy and make you think of a sunny and luxurious place.

In the summer, beach towns are popular for people who love the beach and the sun. Some fancy and famous people also come here to stay in their big houses and fancy boats.

Nice has beautiful views of the sea and great art museums, but the village of Eze has even better views from the top of a hill. Cannes is known for its fancy film festival and old-fashioned hotels.

Cathedrale Sainte-Reparate in Nice's Old Town

Antibes has really great beaches with soft sand. It also has an old town that feels special and cool museums to visit. Saint-Tropez has amazing beaches that everyone can go to, and it's like a cute village where people go fishing. Monaco is really fancy and has beautiful views that make you feel special.

5. Mont Saint-Michel

Mont Saint-Michel is a really cool island in France

Mont Saint-Michel is a really cool island in France that looks like a giant pyramid in the ocean. It's super high up and has big walls around it to protect it.

The Abbaye du Mont Saint-Michel is a very old building that lots of people like to visit. It has really tall spires and beautiful designs inside. The church inside is very peaceful and pretty, with a big open area and fancy decorations.

The Abbey Church is a really old and special church that was built a long time ago. People from all over the world go there because it's a very important place for Christians to visit. It's like a special city in the sky! Even today, people still like to walk across the beach to get there, just like they did a long time ago.

6. Castles of the Loire Valley

Château de Sully-sur-Loire

Traveling through the Loire Valley feels like entering a magical storybook for kids. There are beautiful castles that look like they came out of a fairy tale, surrounded by lush forests and calm rivers. The whole area, called the "Garden of France," is very special and important, and it's recognized by UNESCO as a special place in the world.

Some of the Loire castles are old forts on hills with walls around them. But the most famous Loire châteaux are fancy palaces from a long time ago. They were made just for fun and having a good time, like an extra place to have fun outside of Paris.

The Château de Chambord was built for a king and is really amazing, the Château de Chenonceau is very pretty and girly, and the Château de Cheverny is like a fancy house with cool stuff inside and pretty gardens outside.

You should also go see some very special old churches in Chartres and Bourges that are important to the whole world. There is also a city called Orléans where a brave girl named Joan of Arc helped beat the English army a long time ago. And don't forget to visit the Château Royal d'Amboise, where French kings lived for a very long time.

7. Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Chartres

Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Chartres

For over 800 years, the beauty of Chartres Cathedral has amazed people who believe in God, and some say it has helped people who were unsure about their faith to believe again.

Chartres Cathedral is a really cool building that people think is amazing because it looks really old and fancy. Inside, there are these special windows made of colored glass that are really big and pretty. When the sunlight shines through them, it makes the whole inside of the building look magical. The windows also have pictures on them that tell stories from a really old book called the Bible. The people who made these windows were really talented and they put a lot of effort into making them look really detailed and beautiful.

The rose windows are really big and have lots of cool pictures on them. There are also other special windows, like the Passion window, which is unique and shows a story, and the Blue Virgin window, which is really old and from a long time ago.

In September, the city of Chartres has a special event called Chartres en Lumières. It happens on the third Saturday of the month and is a celebration of the city's history. There are lots of fun things to do, like looking at cool art on the streets, listening to music, and going on tours. The most exciting part is when they make the Chartres Cathedral light up with colorful lights and play music. They also do this show in July and August every night after 10pm.

8. Provence

Lavender field near Valensole, Provence

Imagine going to a beautiful countryside filled with olive trees, sunny hills, and pretty purple lavender fields. There are also small villages nestled in the valleys and on top of rocky areas. This place is so stunning that many famous artists, like Cézanne, Matisse, Chagall, and Picasso, have been amazed by its beauty.

Provence is a place with beautiful nature, a relaxed feeling, and a countryside charm. People there really know how to live well and enjoy life. The warm weather makes it nice to take slow walks on the streets and spend time outside at cafes.

Provence has really yummy food that comes from the Mediterranean. They use olive oil, veggies, and herbs to make their dishes. You can eat at lots of different places, like small family restaurants or fancy ones that even have special awards.

Aix-en-Provence is a pretty town in France known for its markets and fountains. Arles has old ruins and fun festivals, and Avignon has a famous palace.

Even really small towns, like Saint-Paul-de-Vence, Saint-Rémy, and Gordes, have really cool old places to see, awesome museums, and a super charming feel.

9. Chamonix-Mont-Blanc

Mont Blanc in the French Alps

Mont Blanc in the French Alps is a super cool mountain that is really tall and always covered in snow. It's the highest mountain in Europe and looks amazing!

Underneath the big mountain is a cute town called Chamonix. It has old churches, cozy restaurants, and nice places to stay.

Chamonix is a really cool place to go if you like skiing, hiking, climbing, or just being outside. It's one of the best places in France to see beautiful mountains and stay in cozy cabins. Fancy hotels and cute little houses are there to make you feel welcome and comfortable.

Restaurants in the area serve big meals that are common in the Savoie region and also food from other countries. To try the special foods from Savoie, you can have charcuterie, fondue, and raclette (cheese that is melted and served with boiled potatoes).

10. Alsace Villages

Colorful Riquewihr Village in the Alsace

In a place called Alsace, there are some really beautiful villages in France. They are hidden in the hills and are surrounded by mountains and a big river. These villages have really cute houses that are painted pretty colors and have a special kind of wood called half-timbered. The houses are all close together and there is a little church in the middle. The streets are made of bumpy stones and there are pretty flowers on the balconies.

Some villages in France have won awards for their beautiful flower decorations. These decorations make the villages look even more pretty. Some examples of these villages are Obernai, Ribeauvillé, Guebwiller, and Bergheim.

Autumn in Mittelbergheim,, Alsace

In the fall, the village of Mittelbergheim in Alsace looks very beautiful with lots of flowers. It is one of the most beautiful villages in France, along with other pretty villages like Riquewihr and Eguisheim. Mittelbergheim is famous for its delicious food and lovely countryside, near the green Mont Saint-Odile mountain.

If you want to explore the cute villages and nature trails in Alsace, Colmar is a great place to start your vacation plans.

11. Carcassonne

Carcassonne

Carcassonne looks like a castle from a fairy tale with its tall towers and walls with gaps for shooting arrows. This old city has been kept in good condition and gives you a chance to experience what life was like in the Middle Ages.

Carcassonne is an old town that has walls around it called La Cité. It has small streets and old houses that look like they are from a long time ago. The Château Comtal is a castle in the town that shows the history of the area.

Some amazing places to visit are the big walls with lots of towers and the beautiful church with colorful windows that are hundreds of years old.

Many people come to Carcassonne on July 14th to watch fireworks and celebrate Bastille Day, a special holiday in France. Even though Carcassonne is a small town, it has one of the best fireworks shows in the country on that day.

12. Brittany

Brittany region is full of pretty scenery

In northeastern France, the Brittany region is full of pretty scenery and old-fashioned charm. There are rocky shores, small fishing towns, and old ports to explore. The people there have been celebrating their traditions for a long time and have fun festivals with special outfits.

Brittany is a magical place with stories and traditions from long ago. People there speak a special language and enjoy delicious food made with seafood, like yummy savory pancakes and sweet dessert pancakes.

Saint-Malo is a famous port town with old walls built in the 17th century. Quimper is a pretty town with cute houses and a big cathedral. Nantes has a cool castle and is where a important document was signed in 1598 giving people the right to believe in their own religion.

Brittany has really nice beaches with clean sand, small islands that are far away, and really old castles. Belle-Île-en-Mer is the biggest island in Brittany and it's a great place for people who want to relax by the sea. You can take a ferry boat from Quiberon, Port Navalo, or Vannes to get there.

13. Biarritz

Biarritz

This fancy beach town is very stylish and was loved by a queen named Empress Eugénie, who was married to a king named Napoleon III. She really liked the pretty views and the nice location by the ocean in France.

The fancy palace of the king and queen has been turned into a really fancy hotel called the Hôtel du Palais Biarritz. It has a really fancy restaurant that serves really good food and you can see the beautiful beach from there. Lots of fancy people have been going to this beach for a long time.

There are some really cool things to see in Biarritz that have to do with the ocean. One is the Biarritz Aquarium, where you can see all kinds of fish and sea creatures. Another is the Lighthouse, which is a tall tower that helps guide ships safely to shore. Lastly, there is a big rock called the Rocher de la Vierge that is right by the ocean and gets hit by big waves. It's really amazing to see!

If you want to know what the town used to be like a long time ago, you can go to the fancy Miremont tearoom. It has been making really delicious pastries since 1872.

14. Rocamadour

Rocamadour

Rocamadour is like a magical place that sits on a tall cliff and seems to connect heaven and earth, where amazing things can happen.

In the 11th century, Rocamadour was a very important place for people who believed in Jesus. It was the third most important place to visit, like how Jerusalem and Rome were the most important. People would go to Rocamadour as part of a long journey to a special place called Santiago de Compostela in Spain.

There are seven old special places in the village, but lots of people come to visit the Chapelle Notre-Dame because it has a very important statue of the Virgin Mary. The statue is made from wood and has turned dark over time. People think it can do miracles.

One really cool place to visit is the Basilique Saint-Sauveur in Rocamadour. It's a big church that was built a long time ago in a special style called Romanesque and Gothic. If you're feeling brave, you can climb up a lot of steps with pictures that tell a story about Jesus, and it takes you to the highest point in the village where there's a castle.

Rocamadour is a town that is about 145 kilometers away from Limoges in France. It is surrounded by a beautiful natural park called Parc Naturel Régional des Causses du Quercy in the Dordogne region.

15. Prehistoric Cave Paintings in Lascaux

Prehistoric Cave Paintings in Lascaux

There is a special place called Lascaux where people a long time ago drew pictures on the walls of a cave. These drawings are very old and special, and they are protected by UNESCO. Even though we can't visit the cave anymore, we can still learn about the amazing art that was created there a long time ago.

They made a copy of the cave near the real cave. It's called Lascaux II and it looks exactly the same as the real cave. They even painted the animals on the walls just like the original cave.

In 2016, a really cool new museum called the International Centre for Cave Art opened. It has a copy of a really old cave called Lascaux, and it also has other things that help us understand the art from a long time ago. They have special things like virtual reality and a 3-D movie that make it feel like we are actually back in prehistoric times.

The Lascaux cave paintings are really old and were made by people a long time ago. One part of the cave has drawings of special animals like unicorns and bears, and another part has drawings of bulls, cows, and horses. People have made copies of the cave paintings that look exactly the same as the real ones, so when you visit, it's hard to tell which ones are the originals and which ones are the copies.

What is the Best Time to Visit France 

The best times to visit France 

are in late spring, summer, and early autumn because the weather is nice and there are fewer people. Summer is the most popular time because kids are out of school and it's warm.

If you like pretty gardens, spring and summer are the best times to go to France and Paris. One of the best trips from Paris is to Monet's Garden in Giverny. It looks really beautiful in April when the tulips bloom, in May when the wisterias start growing, and in June when the roses bloom. In July, you can see the famous water lilies from Monet's paintings in the garden's pond.

Summer is the best time to visit because it's warm and the days are long. It's great to go to the beach in July and August, like in the French Riviera or Biarritz. People who like outdoor sports can have fun in places like Provence, Auvergne, and the French Alps. It's nice because the weather is good for hiking and boating.

If you want to save money while traveling, it's a good idea to go to France during winter because hotels are cheaper. But, during December to February, it might be really cold (around 40 to 45 degrees Fahrenheit) and it could rain a lot.

Lots of people like to visit Paris and other cities in France during the holiday season because they have pretty Christmas decorations. There are also Christmas music concerts and special Christmas markets in places like Provence, Annecy, and the Alsace region.