Insight Guides France

Insight Guides

• Publisher: Insight
• eBook ISBN: 9781780055497
• Edition: 6
• Topic: Personal Development
• Subtopic: Travel

Insight Guides: Inspiring your next adventure

With its stunning countryside, exquisite architecture, bountiful culture and arguably the best wines and cuisine in the world, France impresses at every corner. Be inspired by the new edition of Insight Guide France, a detailed full-colour guide to this glamorous country. Insight Guides' unrivalled coverage of history and culture provides an essential introduction to the French identity, including its people, its world-renowned cuisine and its contribution to fashion and art.

Inside Insight Guide France:

Consult the Best of France selection for an at-a-glance guide to the country's most evocative attractions, such as Paris's iconic Eiffel Tower, the Loire Valley's exquisite chteaux and Provence's stunning coastline, and the editor's choice of recommendations for the best historical sites, scenery, wine regions and attractions for children, amongst others.
Descriptive accounts of where to go in France, from the war cemeteries of Northern France to the glitzy French Riviera all this washed down with a glass of bubbly Champagne, are enhanced by beautiful photographs, while all major sights are cross-referenced with full-colour maps.
The travel tips section provides a wealth of information on how to plan your trip, plus our selection of the best restaurants.

About Insight Guides: Insight Guides has over 40 years' experience of publishing high-quality, visual travel guides. We produce around 400 full-color print guide books and maps as well as picture-packed eBooks to meet different travelers' needs. Insight Guides' unique combination of beautiful travel photography and focus on history and culture together create a unique visual reference and planning tool to inspire your next adventure.

'Insight Guides has spawned many imitators but is still the best of its type.' - Wanderlust Magazine

Eating Out

Price Categories

Price categories are per person for a three-course meal:

€ = under €30

€€ = €30–60

€€€ = €60–100

€€€€ = more than €100

How to Choose

France is full of wonderful restaurants, from the grand classics to the tiny auberge (inn) serving perhaps only one menu of home-grown food. The French pay very serious attention to their food and fast foods are not so prevalent in French supermarkets; the high streets in large cities though have succumbed to the international burger chains. It may be argued, however, that the French have always enjoyed convenience foods provided by their splendid pâtissiers (bakers), traiteurs (delicatessens) and charcutiers (butchers), where you can pick a selection of their prepared dishes for dinner or a delicious picnic.

Each region has its own specialities: the creamy sauces of Normandy, the traditional confits of duck and goose in the southwest, choucroute (sauerkraut) in the east, coq au vin (chicken in red wine sauce) in Burgundy and wonderful seafood all around the coast. (Click here for help on deciphering French menus.)

Eating out in France is excellent value for money, and it is still difficult to get a bad meal, except occasionally in Paris or on the Côte d’Azur. It is always worth seeking out the local regional food; it is likely to be freshest and most skilfully cooked and is the best way to get the flavour of a region, complemented by the local wine. French regional cooking is in fashion these days and many of the most popular restaurants in Paris specialise in the cuisine of the provinces. Vegetarianism hasn’t really taken off yet in France and non-meat eaters may find their choices limited.

Wine – Reading the Label

Wines are graded according to quality, and this is shown on the label. In 2012 the classification system was changed and reduced to three from four official categories – there is now no category known as VDQS. The grades are as follows:

Vin de France: a table wine category replacing Vin de Table, which allows the consumer to know much more information about the wine.

IGP (Indication Géographique Protégée): an intermediate category replacing Vin de Pays, which offers producers myriad of choices as there are no restrictions on grape varieties.

AOP (Appellation d’Origine Protégée): the highest category basically replacing AOC wines.

Other terms on the label you might come across are:

Mis en bouteille au château: bottled at the vineyard. Also indicated by the words, récoltant or producteur around the cap.

Négociant: a wine that has been bought by a dealer and usually bottled away from the estate. However, this is not necessarily to the detriment of the wine.

The French are fiercely proud of their wines and keen to educate visitors about their production. In all the regions of wine production you will find roadside signs offering visits to cellars (caves) open to the public for tours, tastings and the sale of wine.

For further information on wine-tastings or visits to châteaux, contact the local tourist office.

Restaurant Listings

The following is a selection of some of the best restaurants in the regions, worth looking out for or even making a special detour. Most specialise in the food of their region, cooking local ingredients with traditional skill and sometimes a more modern twist.

The restaurants below are listed by region in the same order as in the Places section of this book,...

Table of contents

• How To Use This E-Book
• France’s Top 10 Attractions
• Editor’s Choice
• Introduction: Vive La France
• La Belle France
• Decisive Dates
• The Early Years
• The Age of Absolutism
• Revolutions and Republics
• War and Peace
• Postwar France
• Modern France
• The French
• La Cuisine
• Insight: French Cheeses
• Wine
• Art
• Architecture
• Insight: French Design
• Introduction: Places
• Introduction: Paris and Surroundings
• Paris
• Insight: The Louvre
• Around Paris
• Introduction: The North
• Le Nord
• Champagne
• Lorraine
• Alsace
• Insight: France’s Festivals
• Introduction: The West
• Normandy
• Brittany
• Loire Valley
• Insight: Châteaux Country
• Poitou-Charentes
• Introduction: Central France and the Alps
• Burgundy
• Insight: The Golden Age of Canals
• The Rhône Valley
• The French Alps
• Auvergne
• Limousin
• Introduction: The Southwest
• Aquitaine
• Midi-Pyrénées
• Introduction: The South
• Languedoc and Roussillon
• Insight: Wildlife
• Provence
• The Côte d’Azur
• Corsica
• Transport
• Eating Out
• Activities
• A-Z: A Handy Summary of Practical Information
• Understanding the Language
• Further Reading