France Hotels

Real reviews from real travelers

Forums
Deals

Top France hotels

Paris Hotels: 26454 Reviews - 51420 Photos
Nice Hotels: 2177 Reviews - 3594 Photos
Lille Hotels: 462 Reviews - 821 Photos
Cannes Hotels: 527 Reviews - 1097 Photos
Lyon Hotels: 738 Reviews - 1274 Photos
Chamonix-Mont-Blanc Hotels: 363 Reviews - 659 Photos
Lourdes Hotels: 152 Reviews - 229 Photos
Marseille Hotels: 781 Reviews - 1302 Photos
Rouen Hotels: 480 Reviews - 1073 Photos
Annecy Hotels: 226 Reviews - 548 Photos
Aix-en-Provence Hotels: 399 Reviews - 687 Photos
Strasbourg Hotels: 1069 Reviews - 2228 Photos
Reims Hotels: 367 Reviews - 791 Photos
Bordeaux Hotels: 641 Reviews - 1275 Photos
Mont Saint Michel Hotels: 311 Reviews - 834 Photos

France Off The Beaten Path

Abbaye de St Hilaire (France)

by Redang

Previous Next

Abbaye de St Hilaire (France)
by Redang
Pont d'Avignon (France)
by Redang
Chateau de Rully near Beaune
by Beausoleil
Etaples Military Cemetery
by sue_stone
King & Queen Tomb
by balhannah

Most Viewed Off The Beaten Path in France

51.

Montmartre & Sacré Coeur Paris

73 Reviews After our ceremonies we were given a private tour of the Sacre Couer, Place du Tertre, and private places by Mayor Yatt. It was such a lovely and memorable morning. If anyone is interested in doing...

See All 1,968 Off The Beaten Path in Paris

52.

Perouges Lyon

4 Reviews Pérouges is a typical village of the Middle Age located on top of a hill at about 35km of Lyon. A lot of efforts have been made to preserve its medieval character and all the historic buildings have...

See All 36 Off The Beaten Path in Lyon

53.

Chamonix Valley Chamonix-Mont-Blanc

8 Reviews Discover the oldest tramway of the valley! The little rack-train departs from the village of Le Fayet, a few kilometers West of Chamonix, for a journey of over an hour. The panorama is alternating:...

See All 16 Off The Beaten Path in Chamonix-Mont-Blanc

54.

In town Cannes

14 Reviews We hadn't planned our trip to Nice according to the schedule of the world famous Cannes Fílm Festival, we didn't even know what time of the year it is held! Again, like with Formula 1, we seemed to be...

See All 26 Off The Beaten Path in Cannes

55.

Hidden places in Lille Lille

4 Reviews Maison Coilliot looks a little different to the average house in Lille. That is because it was designed by famous Art-Nouveau designer Hector Guimard, best known for the elaborate metro station...

See All 22 Off The Beaten Path in Lille

56.

Outside Toulouse - Excursions Toulouse

24 Reviews the official France walkers assoc site is here with contact info http://www.ffrandonnee.fr/_68/contact.aspx For Toulouse area contact bottom side http://cdrp31.free.fr/rando/ Hope it helps, its a...

See All 53 Off The Beaten Path in Toulouse

57.

Castles Tours

13 Reviews I would have to admit that it's quite a while since I studied French at high school. One of our books was called 'La Belle France' and one of the few things I can recall from it was a photo of...

See All 38 Off The Beaten Path in Tours

58.

Walking Around Paris

121 Reviews Another of the Parisian fountains that brought water to the overcrowded courtyards and alleys of the Popincourt/Bastoche areas. Built by Molinos under King Louis-Philippe in 1846, people could draw...

See All 1,968 Off The Beaten Path in Paris

59.

Palais du Facteur Cheval Lyon

2 Reviews The Palais Idéal du Facteur Cheval in Hauterives in the department of Drôme in central France is my kind of palace. It was built by and for a hard working man as opposed to royalty. This palace was...

See All 36 Off The Beaten Path in Lyon

60.

Outside Chamonix Valley Chamonix-Mont-Blanc

5 Reviews If you travel in the Alps in the Fall, keep a look-out for signs advertising "Bataille des Reines" (Battle of the Queens). These are cow fights, where naturally agressive and territorial cows (yes,...

See All 16 Off The Beaten Path in Chamonix-Mont-Blanc

61.

Islands Cannes

5 Reviews The "Iles de Lerins" are two islands just off the coast of Cannes and a regular boat connection goes to both Ile Sainte-Marguarite as Ile Saint-Honorat. Both island are very worth while to go to in...

See All 26 Off The Beaten Path in Cannes

62.

Wazemmes Market Lille

2 Reviews Another thing to do every Sunday morning is the fantastic Wazemme market which is located off rue Leon Gambetta a major road that cuts through the centre of Lille. Make sure you get to the market by...

See All 22 Off The Beaten Path in Lille

63.

Inside Toulouse Toulouse

16 Reviews The Maison de l’Occitanie is a sort of cultural and activist centre that strives to protect the Occitan language and culture and to encourage their adoption and reinvigoration by the people of...

See All 53 Off The Beaten Path in Toulouse

64.

Museum Tours

2 Reviews Aquarium of Turen is the biggest in Europe aquarium of fresh-water fishes. I visited such a big aquarium for the first time. To tell the truth I chosed an excursion to this aquarium because castles...

See All 38 Off The Beaten Path in Tours

65.

Galleries & Passages Paris

35 Reviews Just a block and a half from the Hôtel Louvre Bons Enfants, between rue Croix-des-Petits-Champs and rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau, there is an elegant nineteenth-century passage called Galerie Véro-Dodat...

See All 1,968 Off The Beaten Path in Paris

66.

Lyon City Lyon

7 Reviews One of the few museums we could find, the Miniatures museum is in old lyon. For a nominal fee (we don't even remember what it was!), you can walk through various rooms that hold tiny exhibits --...

See All 36 Off The Beaten Path in Lyon

67.

Outside Cannes Cannes

3 Reviews It was years before I discovered this most beautiful hidden gem just two miles north of Cannes. It takes a little effort to get there - but its worth it ten times over. Take a bus from Cannes centre...

See All 26 Off The Beaten Path in Cannes

68.

Citadelle Lille

5 Reviews Memorial tombstone for a Leon Trulin at the Citadelle park. The tombstone reads 'Here Leon Trumin, died a hero November 8, 1915 at the age of 18. (In the last letter to his mother he wrote) I forgive...

See All 22 Off The Beaten Path in Lille

69.

Festivals-Celebrations Toulouse

4 Reviews Every year the Garonne invites a stream of the world. After the Ebre, the Nile, the Mekong, the Ganges, the Arno, the Volga, Mississippi, the Rio of the Plata, in June 2003, the Garonne invites the...

See All 53 Off The Beaten Path in Toulouse

70.

Parks, Gardens, and Squares Paris

187 Reviews 200-300 kms is a long radius to travel and see gardens, there is a site that has them all ;its the offical committee site and have descriptions of thousands of toenjoy it, many in big towns too...

See All 1,968 Off The Beaten Path in Paris

71.

La Dombe Lyon

1 Review Take the Dombes Lakes Route Tour (by car). Dombes is about 45 minutes drive north of Lyon. The area has thousands of little ponds used for crop, cattle and fish farming. The local government...

See All 36 Off The Beaten Path in Lyon

72.

Out of Lille Lille

2 Reviews Nord Pas de Calais & Lille do not have to claim to be the crossroads of Europe ! I personally met quite a few persons working in Lille and live in Belgium, or vice-versa. Why not take a nice drive to...

See All 22 Off The Beaten Path in Lille

73.

Views on Toulouse. Toulouse

4 Reviews Voici une particularité qui étonne toujours les visiteurs : Toulouse est constamment survolée par des avions qui atterrissent ou decollent de l'aéroport de Toulouse-Blagnac. Les avions passent au...

See All 53 Off The Beaten Path in Toulouse

74.

Cemeteries & Other Resting Places Paris

129 Reviews Père Lachaise cemetery is well-known for a burial place of communars. We came there in memory of fighters for social justice. The cemetries of Paris absorbed all they could. The victims, placed side...

See All 1,968 Off The Beaten Path in Paris

75.

Movies and Paris Paris

34 Reviews On the corner of rue des Trois Freres and rue Androuet is the well known ( in Montmartre) grocers, familiarly called "La Maison Collignon", now the "Marché de la Butte". This is the site of the...

See All 1,968 Off The Beaten Path in Paris

Great Prices, Great Rooms: hotels.com We Know Hotels Inside And Out. Click or call now: 1-800-914-6835
Find the perfect activity!: Expedia.com Book early before things sell out. Skip long lines and save on tickets!

Reviews from VirtualTourist Members

ROLAND GARROS’ GRAVE

by mtncorg

Tennis aficionados will recognize Roland Garros’ name as it adorns the stadium in Paris where the French Open is held every year. Now, I am guessing, Garros liked to play tennis, but his real claim to fame was for his innovation in aviation warfare. He was involved with seminal attempts to mount guns which could shoot straight through the propeller of the plane. Armoring the propeller made it possible to blast away, though it was very dangerous observers watching from the side of the plane as ricochets killed several. After shooting down three German planes, Garros’ plane was forced down behind German lines and he was taken prisoner. His plane then served as a source of inspiration for Dutch aviation designer Anthony Fokker who designed the first true propeller interrupter which did away with propeller armor and gave the Germans a momentary advantage in the skies. Garros escaped prison...

CZECHOSLOVAK BRIGADE MEMORIAL

by mtncorg

Across the Aisne River from Vouziers is a memorial to the soldiers of the Czechoslovak Brigade which fought alongside the French in WWI. Czehoslovaks had been a part of the French Foreign Legion and had been a part of the fighting since the beginning of the war. An autonomous Czechoslovak army was established by French decree 19 Dec 1917, six months following the establishment of a similar Polish army. Two Czechoslovak Rifle Regiments would be created – the 21st on 18 Jan 1918 and the 22nd on 18 May 1918. These units initially fought as part of a French infantry division. The two regiments were eventually banded together as the Czechoslovak Brigade and saw action near Vouziers in the late fighting of 1918. Some 9,600 soldiers made up the brigade and it is thought that some 650 Czechoslovaks died on the Western Front. Of course, many more died fighting as part of the Austro-Hungarian...

POLISH CEMETERY BOIS DU PUITS

by mtncorg

The so-called ‘International Cemetery’ consists of three adjacent cemeteries: the French Auberiver-sur-Suippe Military Cemetery – 6424 men buried with 2908 in three ossuaries; a German cemetery is behind the French one with some 5359 men buried. On the west side of the French cemetery is the Polish cemetery le Bois du Puits. Polish soldiers fought for the Allied cause in both World Wars and are buried on both sides – some 129 from the First and 266 from the Second. Poles had been an integral part of the French Foreign Legion for years and as such they had been involved in fighting on the Western Front since the beginning of the War. Following a political agreement between France and a resurrected new sovereign nation of Poland, the units of what would become the Blue Army were formed. The men making up this force consisted of Poles serving already in the French army of ex-POW’s from...

RUSSE

by mtncorg

The Russian Expeditionary Force was sent to France in 1916 in exchange for badly-needed munitions that went to Russia. Many of the Russians would claim to have been ‘sold’ as a result of the trade. Four brigades were originally sent – almost 32,000 men – and many in France thought it was just the vanguard of a huge force to come, but developments in Russia negated that idea. As soon as the REF arrived, two of the brigades were sent on to the Allied beach head at Salonika in Greece leaving the 1st and 3rd brigades – just under 20,000 men – in France. Despite foreign food, homesickness, no mail and a belief that the French were using them as cannon fodder, the Russians fought hard and well until early 1917. With the fall of the Czar came elected Soldier’s Councils claiming the right to approve or disapprove Russian troop actions. They did vote to take part in the Nivelle Offensive of April...

GRAVE OF WILFRED OWEN

by mtncorg

Wilfred Owen is considered to be the greatest of the British War Poets. Heavily influenced by another British War Poet, Siegfried Sassoon, Owen is known for his ability to transpose the horrors of war in the modern Industrial Age into poetry replacing the confident patriotism of earlier poets with shocking realism. Most of Owen’s poetry was published post-humously – “Dulce et Decorum Est, Anthem for Doomed Youth, Strange Meeting” for starters – as he died one week before the war’s end having only returned for a second tour of duty in France in July 1918. His initial foray began in January 1917 and ended after being diagnosed with shell shock following an episode in which he was trapped within a shell hole for three days. Sent home to recuperate at the Craiglockhart Medical Hospital in Edinburgh, Owen became acquainted with Sassoon there. Owen is buried with other British troops in the...

MOURMELON-LE-GRANDE

by mtncorg

The large present French military base here at Mourmelon-le-Grande has its roots in the Second Empire of Napoleon III. Created as a summertime parade ground where Napoleon III could escape Paris and watch his troops parade in the dust of the Champagne Plains, the area became one of the first martial exercise training areas, something that continues to this day. During Napoleon’s time the ‘exercises’ took place as basically grand parades, but today’s French army has a more serious mission at hand. The exercise grounds have also been vastly enlarged with the addition of the region north of Suippes being added after WWI left nothing but devastation in its wake. Nearby you will find numerous cemeteries dating to the traumatic fighting of WWI as well as the remains of an ancient military camp dating to Attila - a place that Napoleon III used to like out to, sitting and brooding about the...

HATTONCHATEL

by mtncorg

Looking north from the American Memorial on Mt Sec east of St Mihiel, I spied a little village that magically sat atop a point of the Meuse Heights jutting out above the Woevre Plain. Others have seen the magic in the scene before me. The Duke of Lorraine used to be a constant visitor to the chateau in earlier times. World War I damaged the town significantly as it did many others in the immediate area. Belle Skinner, a rich lady from Philadelphia, also noticed the magic during her visits after the war. She helped to rebuild the town and even bought and restored the chateau. Her efforts are remembered by the town with a plaque within the town Marie in Miss Skinner’s memory and in the naming of one of the two streets in the old town after here – Rue Skinner.If that isn’t enough to make you stop and pay a visit, then there is also the magnificent “Retable” that some ascribe to Ligier...

MOUNT AIME

by mtncorg

A lone hill near the southern end of the Cote des Blanc and just east of the Marshes of St Gond, Mount Aime has a long history. Remains of a castle can be found among the picnic grounds atop the hill. Stories abound, from the 183 Cathars who were burnt at the stake in 1283 to WWI when the Germans occupied the hill during the Battle of the First Marne. Grapes lace the lower slopes as this is the southernmost extension of the Cote des Blanc subdivision of the Champagne appellation.

TRANCHEE DE CALONNE

by mtncorg

A Finance Minister for Louis XVI during the money crisis which support for the American Revolution instigated and would lead directly to the French Revolution, Charles Alexandre de Calonne had a chateau at the base of the eastern Meuse Highlands near Hatttonchatel. In order to better reach an estate he had purchased, he had workers build this road and then line the sides with roses. The chateau did not survive the French Revolution, but the road exists today cutting a straight swath through the forests atop the highlands. Heavy fighting occurred here during WWI and the remains of French novelist Alain Fournier were discovered recently along with 21 of his men just off the road.

JEWISH CEMETERY AT ROSENWILLER

by mtncorg

This cemetery is thought to date to 1366. There exists a registry that lists details for some 5,588 individuals dating from 1753-1980. Many of France’s Jewish population hail from Alsace – former Premier Leon Blum, Captain Alfred Dreyfus, the Marx Brothers, Marcel Marceau are a few . For long periods of time they were not allowed to live in Strasbourg but that has changed with recent times – Strasbourg is sometimes referred to as ‘the Jerusalem of France” due to the contribution made by Jewish Strasboureois. In the mid 19th century most towns in Alsace had a synagogue. The cemetery here at Rosenwiller points to a time when Jewish culture was much different from today.

Top 3 Hotels in France

Four Seasons George V Paris Paris

5 Reviews and 556 Opinions The Four Seasons George V is truly one of the world's great hotels. I really, really love to stay...

Hotels in Paris

Palais de la Mediterranee Nice

3 Reviews and 674 Opinions The hotel was amazing, right on the beach. It was very clean and the rooms were of excellent...

Hotels in Nice

Hotel Gutenberg Strasbourg

1 Review and 183 Opinions I toured Alsace by bicycle in mid-September, 2008. After the group ride was over, I stayed for 3...

Hotels in Strasbourg

14,274 Hotels in France

Explore the World

The Place

Reviews and photos of France attractions posted by real travelers and locals. The best tips for France sightseeing.

Experience France

67,856 Tips and Reviews
145,884 Photos
480 Videos

Off The Beaten Path: Cities in France

More Cities in France

Popular Regions in France

More Regions in France

Questions and Answers

Q: Dear all, Does anyone knows whether it is possible to get a phone sim card in France for use during a short term/traveller stay...

A: get it at any mobile phone provider Bouygues, SFR or Orange. I use Orange. very easy http://agence.orange.fr/search?query=paris&st_like%5BSERVICES%5D%5B%5D=%25 have...

Read 3 Replies

France Members Meetings

Jun 21, 2012: Music Festival in Paris
Jun 22, 2012: Picnic and Dancing by the River in Paris

see all France member meetings

Click here for best deals for France

Great Prices, Great Rooms: hotels.com We Know Hotels Inside And Out. Click or call now: 1-800-914-6835
Great Prices, Great Rooms: hotels.com We Know Hotels Inside And Out. Click or call now: 1-800-914-6835
Save money, Book now !: Booking.com Excellent choice, Low rates
Find the perfect activity!: Expedia.com Book early before things sell out. Skip long lines and save on tickets!