My favorite places in France, that aren’t Paris!
Do you want to visit France and not just Paris and have no idea where to start? I got you! Hi, I’m Eileen and my family and I have lived in France for the past year and a half. In this post, I’ll be sharing…
A round up of my favorite places we have traveled to and why I think they should be on your bucket lists
My best travel tips
Links to our favorite AirBnBs
Slow family travel advice for all of your travels with kiddos
A quick introduction into why we love the concept of slow family travel. When we moved to France for an expat assignment with our 3 young daughters, we knew we were going to take advantage of being in such an amazing location to travel around Europe. But we wanted to do it in a way that worked WITH our family rhythms, and this is why slow family travel works for us. So what is it, exactly? I like to define it as: traveling with an intention of savoring family time and the beauty of your surroundings, while moving at the unique pace of your own family in order to minimize stress and preserve the joy of the experience.
It can look different for every family, but for us it looks like slow sunset picnic dinners in a local park while the kids run around, spending the morning at local swimming holes, moving at a restful pace with plenty of time to recover between excursions, and being okay with not "seeing all the things." One of the benefits of this kind of travel is that you really do get to experience what life might be like in a particular region, instead of feeling like a tourist.
A couple of important notes:
To go along with the blog post, I have created a story highlights for each of these trips on my instagram (@eileenandco_). The story highlight will follow the blog post with more pictures and details for each spot we visited.
Must See Place: Annecy
Annecy is a magical town known as the « Venice of the Alps. » It is a beautiful spot perched on the edge of Lake Annecy and is full of canals to wander, bridges and beautiful flowers everywhere. We LOVED our time here. There is so much to do! You can rent bikes and bike around the lake, which is unbelievably stunning, swim in little coves around the lake edge and wander a wonderful weekend market on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursday (check your travel dates to make sure it is running during your trip!). There is a lot to do in the area and its only 45 minutes from Geneva, Switzerland, which is a good airport to fly into.
We spent 5 days in the area and our favorite things were swimming as much as we could, wandering the main canals and market and having picnics by the lake side.
Also check out the Gorges du Fier nearby. We didn’t end up making it over here but it was on our list! Also if paragliding is on your list, Annecy is famous for it! We had a great time watching all the paragliders.
Lodging:
We stayed about 45 minutes out from Annecy, nestled in a chalet in the Alps ( the drive up the mountains was crazy!) with the most gorgeous surroundings. We met my family there from America so it fit a lot of people and was super affordable which was great but had its quirks for sure. The bathroom situation was… interesting with the saloon doors on the toilet room lol. And we had flies for sure but I think that is normal for a non air conditioned place in the alps surrounded by farmland. The views were stunning and we did have a great time, but just be warned you might want to read the reviews and study the pictures.
NOTE: if we went back with a smaller group I think I would try to find a place closer to the lake, but with a big group like we had this place was great.
Must See Place: Chamonix
Nestled in the Alps pretty close to Annecy is Chamonix, the ski capital of France. The village is tucked into the alps and the views around every corner are breathtaking. It’s a must see and ski if you are a skiing family. We just went for the weekend to soak up the vibes, shop and wander and WOW. We loved our time.
There is a lot to shop and do downtown, cable cars to get to the top of the mountains (note: they said the cable car was a not recommended for our 4 year old (because of her ears popping and a quick elevation change) so maybe check before you book. There is a huge number of outdoor activities like skiing, sledding, rock climbing, paragliding and any other number of fun things to do. There is a great Saturday market as well!
Lodging:
Ok so I booked this Airbnb in the basement of someone’s chalet 2 weeks out before we traveled, and it was great for what we needed. The view out the little kitchen was BANANAS. It has it’s quirks as well so check the listing but Chamonix can be EXTRAORDINARILY expensive (fancy ski town) so this place was amazing for the price. We were about 20 minutes outside of Chamonix and it was a beautiful drive in and close to grocery stores and all we needed.
Must See Place: Arles and Provence
Ok so you could spend months exploring Provence. It is a delight and one of the places I could go back again and again to. We took a week trip and were based in Arles and LOVED it. I picked Arles as our home base because it was close ish to our house in central France, it has a Roman amphitheater and a famous weekend market.
It’s also close to the Camargue National Park with France’s famous wild horses and flamingos. Did you know that France has wild flamingos? Now you do.
You can ride horses, take tours of the park or visit the beach and we loved our day there in the park.
The amphitheater in Arles was a dream and we loved shopping up and down the little streets downtown.
Arles is also famous as the town that Van Gogh left Paris for and cut off his ear in. We enjoyed the Foundation Van Gogh for an afternoon surrounded by art and it was a great size museum for our kiddos. (Their collections on display change so research before you go!)
The market in Arles is HUGE and we had a blast wandering. When we were there the market was every Saturday and Wednesday but check days before you go.
I went a little crazy at the market basket booth, obviously :-)
We had a lot of fun grabbing other specialties of the region like lavender and Herbes de Provence.
Tip: Get to the market as early as possible like the locals! When we were leaving to go to a cafe at 11, you could almost not walk down the street there were so many people!
Lodging:
This place felt like a Nancy Meyers film with all the flowers blooming (we were there in May), quirky paneling all painted white, and cozy furnishings. It was also super affordable, we paid like $100 a night. We had good hot water and a well stocked kitchen. Great quiet location, 5 minutes out of downtown Arles. Quriks: Look at the listing photos and you can see, its quirky. Like the stove is mounted up at the ceiling and I couldn’t reach the controls.The nicest bathtub didn’t have a shower head, just a handheld bath.
Overall we loved it and would 100% stay again.
Nearby Area Must Do’s
Les Baux de Provence is one of our favorite towns in France hands down! A walled village tucked high on a rocky hill with gorgeous views all around, this place is magical. We loved it so much we went twice.
Great for shopping, dining and exploring, we had such a good dinner at Au Porte Mages… don’t miss the Provençale beef stew. This régional specialty is my favorite!
Pont du Gard is another must see. A roman aquaduct spanning a river, its a great stop! We went for swimming and a picnic but apparently there is a great museum as well. Tip: get there early as the parking lot fills up during the day!
We only scratched the surface of Provence, and I’m already planning our next trip back!
We are so thankful to have had time living in this amazing country!
I hope this helps you as you plan your trip to France, and don’t forget I have saved highlights on my instagram (@eileenandco_) with more details on each trip, so check it out for more videos and details on each trip.
Xoxo
Eileen