Frankrike

Paris sägs vara romantikens stad och brukar förknippas med lyx och flärd. Men staden har många sidor och vi har listat 13 saker för dig som ska åka dit på en liten budget.

Gastronomy and good living are the passions underpinning this sun-kissed corner of southwestern France.

The Côte d'Or département is named after one of the world's foremost winegrowing regions, which stretches from Dijon, bursting with cultural riches, south to the wine town of Beaune and beyond. West of Dijon, other worthwhile destinations include the walled, hilltop town of Semur-en-Auxois, the idyllic Cistercian monastic site Abbaye de Fontenay and the historic Alésia battlefield where Julius Caesar finally vanquished the Gauls in 52 BC. In the far northwest of the département, on the border with Champagne, Châtillon-sur-Seine displays some stunning Celtic treasures.

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

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.

If it's French splendour, style and gastronomy you seek, the Loire Valley will exceed your expectations, no matter how great. Poised on the crucial frontier between northern and southern France, and just a short train or autoroute ride from Paris, the region was once of immense strategic importance. Kings, queens, dukes and nobles came here to establish feudal castles and, later on, sumptuous pleasure palaces – that's why this fertile river valley is sprinkled with hundreds of France's most opulent aristocratic estates. With crenellated towers, soaring cupolas and glittering banquet halls, the region's châteaux, and the villages and vineyards that surround them, attest to over a thousand years of rich architectural and artistic creativity. The Loire Valley is also known for its outstanding wines (red, white, rosé and sparkling) and lively, sophisticated cities, including Orléans, Blois, Tours and Angers – yet more reasons why the entire area is an enormous Unesco World Heritage Site.

With its mix of real-city life, old-world opulence, year-round sunshine, vibrant street life and stunning seaside location, no place in France compares with Nice.

Champagne arouses the senses: the eyes feast on vines parading up hillsides and vertical processions of tiny, sparkling bubbles; the nose breathes in damp soil and the heavenly bouquet of fermentation; the ears rejoice at the clink of glasses and the barely audible fizz; and the palate tingles with every sip. The imagination and the intellect are engaged as Champagne cellar visits reveal the magical processes – governed by the strictest of rules – that transform the world’s most pampered pinot noir, pinot meunier and chardonnay grapes into this Unesco World Heritage–listed region’s most fabled wines.

Längs floden Deûle, nära gränsen mot Belgien, ligger charmiga Lille. En stad där det franska möter det flamländska – och resultatet är ett fantastiskt hopkok av gastronomi, kultur och arkitektur. Vi guidar dig till godaste maten, mysigaste caféerna och de bästa boendena!

Montmartre’s lofty views, wine-producing vines and hidden village squares have lured painters from the 19th century onwards. Crowned by the Sacré-Cœur basilica, Montmartre is the city’s steepest quartier (quarter), and its slinking streets lined with crooked ivy-clad buildings retain a fairy-tale charm. The grittier neighbourhoods of Pigalle and Canal St-Martin are hotbeds of creativity with a trove of hip drinking, dining and shopping addresses.