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France

Destination guide

Paris

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Paris destination guide, Traveller.
French countryside, Italian style: why fly from Paris to the Mediterranean coast when you can catch a fast train?

You can take Italy’s ‘red arrow’ fast train even if you’re not in Italy

A business class trip passes in a blur of bucolic French countryside and Italian food and wine.

  • Chrissie McClatchie
The rooms may be on the small side but they evoke a cosy charm.

One block from the Seine, this family-owned hotel oozes period charm

Intimate, chic, colourful – this is a genial and delightfully placed Parisian address.

  • Steve McKenna
Le Bristol’s Lumiere suite, €15,000 a night plus tax.

My hotel charged $100 for a baguette. I’ll just eat a bag of chips, thanks

My hotel suite was so nice I didn’t want to leave the room, but paying exorbitant prices for room service wasn’t in the budget.

  • Lee Tulloch
Stretching 4.5 kilometres on the south-eastern fringes of France’s capital, Cable C1 was built principally for commuters.

The newest tourist attraction in Paris was never supposed to be one

Cable C1 was built principally for commuters. But since opening, it’s become something of a visitor attraction for Parisians and overseas tourists alike.

  • Steve McKenna
Cannes and its waterfront.

Port guide: Cannes, France

Its film festival in May is famous, but you’ll find abundant glamour in Cannes at any time of year. Slip on your designer sunnies and head ashore.

  • Brian Johnston
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Concorde.

It was once the coolest plane in the sky; the reality feels far less glamorous

It’s just over 50 years since the world’s only supersonic passenger jet launch. By today’s standards it doesn’t seem too luxurious – unless you were a Hobbit.

  • David Whitley
They might be French fries – but they didn’t originate in France.

The greatest mystery in food: Where do chips come from?

Here’s the thing about French fries: they’re almost certainly not from France. You know what else is not from France? Potatoes.

  • Ben Groundwater
Mediterranean town Ajaccio, the capital city of the island of Corsica.

The best value mini-cruise in the Med is not on board a cruise ship

An overnight ferry from the mainland to this island is a taster of Mediterranean cruise life for a fraction of the price.

  • Chrissie McClatchie
James Henry and Shaun Kelly at Le Doyenne.

The two Aussie chefs taking on the French at their own game

This place is spectacular, as even the French have had to admit. It’s brilliant. And it’s by two surfer mates from the other side of the world.

  • Ben Groundwater
Nice airport is its own kind of nightmare.

Europe’s new entry system was a nightmare, but I learnt its value later

There were only three immigration officials at their posts for hundreds of passengers.

  • Lee Tulloch