Rick Steves France

by Rick Steves, Steve Smith

Overview

Now more than ever, you can count on Rick Steves to tell you what you really need to know when traveling through France. Wander the lavender fields of Provence, climb the steps of the Eiffel Tower, and bite into a perfect croissant. Inside Rick Steves France you'll find:

• Fully updated, comprehensive coverage for planning a multi-week trip to France
• Rick's strategic advice on how to get the most out of your time and money, with rankings of his must-see favorites
• Top sights and hidden gems, from the Louvre and the Palace of Versailles to neighborhood cafés and delicate macarons
• How to connect with local culture: Stroll through open-air markets in Paris, bike through rustic villages, and taste wines in Burgundy and Bordeaux
• Beat the crowds, skip the lines, and avoid tourist traps with Rick's candid, humorous insight
• The best places to eat, sleep, and relax with a glass of vin rouge
• Self-guided walking tours of lively neighborhoods and incredible museums
• Vital trip-planning tools, like how to link destinations, build your itinerary, and get from place to place
• Detailed maps, including a fold-out map for exploring on the go
• Over 1,000 bible-thin pages include everything worth seeing without weighing you down
• Coverage of Paris, Chartres, Normandy, Mont St-Michel, Brittany, The Loire, Dordogne, Languedoc-Roussillon, Provence, The French Riviera, Nice, Monaco, The French Alps, Burgundy, Lyon, Alsace, Reims, Verdun, and much more

Make the most of every day and every dollar with Rick Steves France.

Planning a one-week trip? Check out Rick Steves Best of France.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781641716048
Publisher:	Avalon Publishing
Publication date:	06/11/2024
Series:	Rick Steves' Travel Guides Series
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Sales rank:	793,242
File size:	51 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Since 1973, Rick Steves has spent about four months a year exploring Europe. His mission: to empower Americans to have European trips that are fun, affordable, and culturally broadening. Rick produces a best-selling guidebook series, a public television series, and a public radio show, and organizes small-group tours that take over 30,000 travelers to Europe annually. He does all of this with the help of more than 100 well-traveled staff members at Rick Steves' Europe in Edmonds, WA (near Seattle). When not on the road, Rick is active in his church and with advocacy groups focused on economic and social justice, drug policy reform, and ending hunger. To recharge, Rick plays piano, relaxes at his family cabin in the Cascade Mountains, and spends time with his son Andy, daughter Jackie, and his grandson...baby Atlas. Find out more about Rick at www.ricksteves.com and on Facebook.

Connect with Rick:
facebook.com/RickSteves
twitter: @RickSteves
instagram: ricksteveseurope

Steve Smith has had one foot in France and one in the United States for 55 years. He drives a Deux Chevaux car and has restored a farmhouse on the Burgundy canal where he hangs his beret in the spring and summer. Steve managed tour guides for Rick Steves’ Europe for more than two decades but now spends his time researching guidebooks, teaching about France, and exploring every corner of his favorite country. When not in France, Steve loves finding dirt grown backstreets in his VW camper van.

Table of Contents

France 5

France's top Destinations 11

Planning Your Trip 18

Travel Smart 29

Paris 33

Near Paris 185

Versailles 185

Chartres 205

Giverny 216

Disneyland Paris 222

Normandy 225

Rouen 230

Honfleur 249

Bayeux 265

D-Day Beaches 280

Mont St-Michel 318

Brittany 337

Dinan 340

St-Malo 354

Fougères 367

The Loire 369

East of Tours 379

West of Tours 428

Dordogne 452

Sarlat-la-Canéda 461

Dordogne River Valley 474

Cro-Magnon Caves 490

Oradour-sur-Glane 511

St-Emilion 513

Rocamadour 518

Lot River Valley 526

Languedoc-Roussillon 530

Albi 533

Carcassonne 547

Collioure 570

Provence 583

Arles 593

Avignon 624

Pont du Gard 649

Les Baux 653

St-Rémy-de-Provence 660

Orange 665

Cotes du Rhône Villages 671

Hill Towns of the Luberon 689

The French Riviera 702

Nice 713

Villefranche-sur-Mer 752

The Three Corniches 762

Monaco 773

Antibes 785

Inland Riviera 799

The French Alps 806

Annecy 809

Chamonix 825

Burgundy 865

Beaune 870

Burgundy's Wine Villages 891

Between Beaune & Paris 907

Between Burgundy & the Loire 916

Between Burgundy & Lyon 928

Lyon 936

Alsace 974

Colmar 978

Alsace's Route du Vin 1003

Strasbourg 1030

Reims & Verdun 1044

France: Past & Present 1084

Practicalities 1097

Appendix 1171

Index 1189

Map Index 1216

Post-Pandemic Travels: Expect a Warm Welcome…and a Few Changes Research for this guidebook was limited by the COVID-19 outbreak, and the long-term impact of the crisis on our recommended destinations is unclear. Some details in this book will change for post-pandemic travelers. Now more than ever, it's smart to reconfirm specifics as you plan and travel. As always, you can find major updates at RickSteves.com/update.

Editorial Reviews

"The country's foremost expert in European travel for Americans."—Forbes

"Steves is an absolute master at unlocking the hidden gems of the world's greatest cities, towns, and monuments."—USA Today

“Every country-specific travel guidebook from the Rick Steves publishing empire can be counted upon for clear organization, specificity and timeliness."—Society of American Travel Writers

"Pick the best accommodations and restaurants from Rick Steves…and a traveler searching for good values will seldom go wrong or be blindsided."—NBC News

"His guidebooks are approachable, silly, and even subtly provocative in their insistence that Americans show respect for the people and places they are visiting and not the other way around."—The New Yorker

"Travel, to Steves, is not some frivolous luxury—it is an engine for improving humankind, for connecting people and removing their prejudices, for knocking distant cultures together to make unlikely sparks of joy and insight. Given that millions of people have encountered the work of Steves over the last 40 years, on TV or online or in his guidebooks, and that they have carried those lessons to untold other millions of people, it is fair to say that his life’s work has had a real effect on the collective life of our planet."—The New York Times Magazine

"[Rick Steves] laces his guides with short and vivid histories and a scholar's appreciation for Renaissance art yet knows the best place to start an early tapas crawl in Madrid if you have kids. His clear, hand-drawn maps are Pentagon-worthy; his hints about how to go directly to the best stuff at the Uffizi, avoid the crowds at Versailles and save money everywhere are guilt-free."—TIME Magazine

"Steves is a walking, talking European encyclopedia who yearns to inspire Americans to venture 'beyond Orlando.'"—Forbes

“…he’s become the unofficial guide for entire generations of North American travelers, beloved for his earnest attitude and dad jeans."—Outside Magazine

"His books offer the equivalent of a bus tour without the bus, with boiled-down itineraries and step-by-step instructions on where to go and how to get there, but adding a dash of humor and an element of choice that his travelers find empowering."—The New York Times

"His penchant for creating meaningful experiences for travelers to Europe is as passionate as his inclination for making ethical choices his guiding light."—Forbes

"[Rick Steves'] neighborhood walks are always fun and informative. His museum guides, complete with commentary about historic sculpture and storied artworks are wonderful and add another dimension to sometimes stodgy, hard-to-comprehend museums."—NBC News

From the Publisher