Frankrike

Hauts-de-France (Upper France) is one of the country's least heralded regions, but with dramatic land and sea views, deeply rooted culture, culinary traditions that include freshly caught seafood, age-old Flemish recipes and locally brewed beers, it competes with the best France has to offer.

Once upon a time, everyone called this glamorous stretch of Mediterranean coast the French Riviera; then in 1888 author Stéphen Liégeard dubbed it La Côte d'Azur, the name stuck and the rest is history.

From the Norman invasion of England in 1066 to the D-Day landings of 1944, Normandy has long played an outsized role in European history. This rich and often brutal past is brought vividly to life by the spectacular and iconic island monastery of Mont St-Michel; the incomparable Bayeux Tapestry, world-famous for its cartoon scenes of 11th-century life; and the transfixing cemeteries and memorials along the D-Day beaches, places of solemn pilgrimage.

Lyxigt och otroligt vackert, men diskret och såklart populärt bland kändisarna. Vi kollar in Paris minsta 5-stjärniga hotell med en speciell historia.

The Île-de-France région – the 12,000 sq km ‘Island of France’ shaped by five rivers that encircles the French capital – contains splendid architecture including some of the most monumental châteaux in the country, set amid magnificent gardens.

Burgundy (Bourgogne in French) offers some of France's most gorgeous countryside: rolling green hills dotted with mustard fields and medieval villages. The region's towns and its dashingly handsome capital, Dijon, are heirs to a glorious architectural heritage that goes back to the Renaissance, the Middle Ages and into the mists of Gallo-Roman and Celtic antiquity.

With its rolling pastures and little-visited villages, Limousin might be the most overlooked area of southwestern France. It's not nearly as exciting as the Dordogne to the south or the Loire to the north, but it does offer a chance to get off the beaten path, and aficionados will like Limoges for its porcelain and Aubusson for its tapestries.

Wedged between the plains and vines of Champagne and the hilly, thickly wooded Massif des Vosges, Lorraine is fed by the Meurthe, Moselle and Meuse Rivers – hence the names of three of its four départements (the fourth is Vosges).

So named because international students communicated in Latin here until the French Revolution, the Latin Quarter remains the hub of academic life in Paris. Centred on the Sorbonne’s main university campus, graced by fountains and lime trees, this lively area is also home to some outstanding museums and churches, along with Paris’ beautiful art deco mosque and botanic gardens.