Destination: France

LONELY PLANET'S OFFICIAL ITINERARY INFORMATION

Itinerary: Venture out of the ordinary

ONE MONTH / PARISIAN SEWER TO BURGUNDIAN BUILDING SITE

It might well follow a predictable route – enabling it to be mixed-and-matched with other itineraries in this chapter – but that’s about it. Covering 2400km in all, one month scarcely does quirky France justice. Take longer if you can.



Forget the Eiffel Tower, St-Tropez and the lavender fields of Provence. This tour ventures out of the ordinary into France’s quirkiest sights and sounds – and smells in the case of the Paris sewer where its starts. Gawp at more skulls than you can imagine in the capital’s catacombes, then venture north to the spot near Compiègne where WWI officially ended. Top off your day with a subterranean dose of V2 rocket technology in a bunker near St-Omer.

A few drops of Christ’s blood in Fécamp on the Normandy coast inspired monks to concoct Bénédictine liqueur: visit the Palais Bénédictine and get a free shot – then tell yourself you’re not drunk as you tour the ‘laboratory of emotions’ in Honfleur’s wacky Les Maisons Satie.

Steering south along the Atlantic Coast, cartwheel down Europe’s highest sand dune near Arcachon. Afterwards, head east to Quercy and set sail on an underground river in Gouffre de Padirac; then nip to Toulouse to tour Space City and see Airbus planes being built.

Learning how silk weavers toiled in the 19th century and walking the tunnels they trod puts Lyon in a different light. Returning north, see brickies in costume at the Chantier Médiéval de Guédelon build a castle using 13th-century tools.