Frankrike

Vi vänder bort blicken från den franska sommarfavoriten Korsika en stund. Här är fem, mindre kända, men härliga franska öar värda ett besök.

Whether you're cruising the clifftop roads, sunbathing on the beaches or browsing the weekly markets, Provence and the Côte d'Azur are sexy, sun-drenched and seductive.

Fashionable bars and restaurants, emerging designers’ boutiques, the city’s thriving gay and Jewish communities, and some excellent museums all squeeze into Le Marais’ warren of narrow medieval lanes. Neighbouring Ménilmontant has some of the city’s most happening nightlife, while hilly Belleville is a vibrant multicultural neighbourhood with interesting dining and drinking spots and one of Paris' most colourful street markets.

Commanding a strategic spot at the confluence of the Rhône and the Saône Rivers, Lyon has been luring people ever since the Romans named it Lugdunum in 43 BC. Commercial, industrial and banking powerhouse for the past 500 years, Lyon is France's third-largest city, and offers today's urban explorers a wealth of enticing experiences.

The Auvergne’s most exhilarating views are among the volcanic cones, snow-lashed peaks and crater lakes of its Parc Naturel Régional des Volcans (www.parcdesvolcans.fr). One of France’s largest regional natural parks at 3897 sq km, this photogenic section of the Massif Central mountains is a geological jigsaw of granite plateaus and glacier-sculpted valleys, puckered by dozens of sleeping volcanoes.

Vagabonds reporter Helle Kikerpuu tipsar om parken Parc des Buttes-Chaumont i Paris.

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.

Paris är världens mest besökta stad men trots det finns det platser kvar att upptäcka. Erika Holmberg-Dahl listar sina egna pärlor i kärlekens stad.

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.

Camargue i södra Frankrike bjuder på en vild natur och djurliv, oexploaterad från massturism. Vi guidar dig rätt i det vidsträckta floddeltaområdet.