One month trip in France: Must see ?

Want me to list every possible tourist attraction in France ??? --- The better question is -- want to you want to see? Not going to suggestion five cathedral and have you say -- Once you have seen one, you have seen them all. Not a completely invalid statement, however. Most must see items in France are covered in any good guide book. A more specific question would be helpful in giving advice.

I would turn the question around and ask 'what made you want to have a month in France?' There must be something that pulled you there?

With a month I would rent a base in 4 areas for a week each and for me the areas would be the Dordogne, Burgundy, Brittany and Paris. I would train to the Dordogne on arrival and pick up a rental car for the first 3 weeks the next day and drop it in Paris on my way there. You might tweek a bit e.g. 10 nights would be better for Paris and so less time elsewhere -- but rentals in rural areas tend to be for a week at a time and so I might just do the 3 weeks and week in Paris and fly home. This all depends of course also on time of year. This plan would be great in Spring or Fall and probably terrible in winter where I'd probably focus on cities and perhaps include the Riviera which might be warmer and perhaps Alsace which is interesting around Christmas.

We were on the RS Loire Valley to the South of France tour this year. Even if you aren't on a tour it's worth looking at the itinerary to get an idea of some blockbuster sites as well as some lesser known sites that are well worth visiting. I've also just finished posting my thoughts and experiences on this trip in the Trip Report section of this forum.

Can this possibly be a question that expects an answer (or answers)? France is a large country with thousands of “natural wonders, cities, attractions”. You will need to be a teensy bit more specific, and even then, are you asking just to be “conversational” or are you planning a visit to France?

In the end, only you can decide where to go and what to see after doing a good amount of research. Getting ideas from people here is a good way to start your research but everybody here will have a different idea of where they think you should go and what to see. A lot depends on if you are open to renting a car for some areas or if you want to use trains for the whole trip.

I can tell you what I did, but that was based on a ton of research into where I wanted to go and what I wanted to do. I spent the whole month of July a few years ago exploring the areas of France that interested me (did not include Paris as I planned to spend the month of August there). I did a combo of trains and rental cars. I flew into CDG and spent 1 night in Paris. From there I took train to Nice, train to Avignon, rental car for 6 days in Provence (Roussillon), train to Annecy, train to Colmar, rental car to explore the north coast (had been to Normandy before so just 1 night in Bayeux), and then 9 days in Brittany in 2 bases (Dol de Bretagne, Plougonven), then 3 days between Carnac and La Rochelle, drove to Azay-le-Rideau for 2 days in Loire Valley, then to Chartres where I dropped the car and then took the train to Paris.

Actually I encountered fewer crowds in July than I had expected, especially in Provence and Nice. I didn't expect hordes in Brittany and that was what I found - my favorite area that I spent time in, loved the coastal areas and the history of the area. Brittany was also not as hot as Provence - it was really hot there. Of course that was over 5 years ago and I know things are much worse now than they were then. I loved using trains between areas but rental cars were more effective for seeing the places I wanted to see in places like Provence and Brittany.

Good luck with your planning and you'll love spending a month in France.

If you need more ideas, there was a thread on this subject in late September:
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/france/one-month-in-france-draft-itinerary

My List of the Top Five things to see in France, not in any particular order:

1. Versailles
2. Eiffel Tower, Paris
3. Basilique Notre-Dame de Fourviere and Roof Top Tour, Lyon
4. Loire Valley Chateaux
5. Maison Carree, Nimes

There you go! :)

Chartres Cathedral - be sure to take the tour with Malcolm Miller or the afternoon English tour.

Angers - loved spending time at the Fortress for both exploring the structure and seeing the Revelation tapestries. And, I really liked the ambiance of this town.

Nice/French Riviera - so much to see & do in this area.

Lake Annecy - beautiful & relaxing. If you're in this area, I would also hop over to Torino, Italy for a few days. Lots of Savoy history and an interesting town that's not overrun with tourists.

Normandy area - for WWII history.

So, what say you, OP? Any comments on the ideas presented to you?

Wow thanks for all those ideas !

I know my question was, to say the least, very vague. It was on purpose to see what are your must. It's always the first thing, but not the only one, I check in a guidebook so I was doing the same with you.

About what we are looking , we are very open minded travelers we already been in Europe 6 times and thought that France could be fun this time even if it was not on our list all the others times. On top of our list would come history and food...I know, not very helping !

Britanny could be nice since it should be less hot than the southern France. Heat it's ok for some days but not for the whole month. Crowd could be lesser too from what i've read here from....cant remember who (damns forum that wont allows us to see the whole thread when answering !)

Brittany and Normandy are both usually pleasant in the summer. One of the 2019 heat waves did hit Brittany, but it was not as hot as Paris, and I think it was only bad for a couple of days. I can tolerate anything for that long (if I have an air conditioned hotel room).

Several days in Paris are a must, then I recommend choosing among the following

1) Normandy-make sure you visit the Normandy beaches and Bayeux, including the famous 900 year old Bayeux Tapestry.
2) Loire Valley, south of Paris. Several magnificent Chateaux. We stayed in Blois, but other places are good.
3) Strassbourg close to the Germany border and Alsace.
4) If you are interested in WWI history spend a day or two in Verdun.
5) Lyon (take the high speed train from Paris) and the Rhone River Valley, including Vienne, Avignon, Arles, Pont du Gard, Aix en Provence and down to Nice and Cannes.

I haven't been to Carassacome area, but I understand it is nice as is the Bordeaux area in SW France.