Frankrike

For many people, the pastoral landscapes of Provence are a French fantasy come true. Provence seems to sum up everything enviable about the French lifestyle: fantastic food, hilltop villages, legendary wines, bustling markets and a balmy climate. For decades, it's been a hotspot for holidaymakers and second-homers, inspired by the vision of the rustic good life depicted in Peter Mayle's classic 1989 travelogue, A Year in Provence.

Few regions sum up the attractions of France better than the Dordogne. With its rich food, heady history, château-studded countryside and picturesque villages, the Dordogne has long been a favourite getaway for French families on les grandes vacances. It’s also famous for having some of France’s finest prehistoric cave art, which fill the caverns and rock shelters of the Vézère Valley.

Det finns massor att göra och se i Paris. Men för den som vill göra något speciellt listar Vagabond sju platser och saker där kvinnor står i fokus som ägare, feminister, ikoner och guider.

At the crossroads of central Europe and the Atlantic, the Rhineland and the Mediterranean, grand old Lyon is France's third-largest metropolis and its gastronomic capital. Savouring timeless traditional dishes in checked-tableclothed bouchons (small bistros) creates unforgettable memories – as do the majestic Roman amphitheatres of Fourvière, the cobbled Unesco-listed streets of Vieux Lyon, and the audacious modern architecture of the new Confluence neighbourhood.

Sizzling shoreline hogs the headlines here, and the coast is undeniably magnetic, but there’s so much more to Var than super-yachts and overpriced bouillabaisse. A string of stunning islands, magnificent secluded monasteries, and uplands dotted with memorable villages make this département one of the most varied and enticing in Provence.

Om du älskar konst och vill besöka världens första flytande konstcenter är det Paris du ska åka till. Fluctuart, som konstcentret kallas, är 1 000 kvadratmeter stort och ligger på floden Seine. Bäst av allt? Det är fri entré!

The 'mouths-of-the-Rhône', where one of Europe's great rivers splits before spilling its Swiss-Alpine snowmelt into the Mediterranean, is Provence's most populous département. Its palpitating heart is Marseille, a gritty former Greek colony, France's second-largest city, and a place of real cultural energy. Centred on the bristling masts and bluff forts of the Vieux Port, it has a strong Maghrebian flavour – imported from nearby Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco – and the idiosyncratic pride of a long-established seafaring city, which runs counterpoint to the restless energy of its arts, dining and cultural scenes. Spreading out from Marseille's concrete margins are pine-swaddled coastal uplands cut by ravishingly beautiful calanques (coves), while inland is the still-thriving Roman spa town of Aix-en-Provence, reposing handsomely in the Pays d’Aix (Aix Country) so beloved of Cézanne.

At the lower edge of the Atlantic Coast, the Gironde département extends to the Dordogne in the east and the Basque Country in the south. The gateway to its wealth of attractions, set amid glorious vine-ribboned countryside, is the capital city of Bordeaux.

Ingen huvudstad är väl så romantisk som Paris och vill man förena den känslan med en vidunderlig utsikt – då är det till varuhuset Galeries Lafayette man ska bege sig.