This article contains affiliate links, which may earn us revenue. From here, catch the train down to Lyons, culinary hotspot, and finish up in Marseilles, via the olive groves and lavender fields of Provence.
In Paris, search out cheaper arrondissements for accommodation in the east of the city. Hotel Dame des Arts looks right over Notre-Dame Cathedral and greets guests with the heady smell of its own signature scent. This is the place to pay your respects to fallen soldiers and learn more about the Second World War. Around the five D-Day beaches — Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword — are museums, memorials and cemeteries that mark the day in June when , Allied troops came ashore in an operation that led to the liberation of France.
Mont Saint-Michel, a pilgrimage site since the 8th century, is also worth a visit. Some champagne houses are sited near the River Marne, alongside which bikers, kayakers and drivers can pedal, paddle and putter. Champagne wines are matured in cavernous cellars that can be toured by torch, with tastings by candlelight. Les Suites du 33 has self-catered apartments and is surrounded by vineyards.
The best way to appreciate the space and variety of the French countryside is by taking to the open road and Burgundy is classic touring country. Stop in its charming medieval towns and visit some of the finest wine producers in the country. With its lavender fields, art galleries and perfumeries, few rural regions are as effortlessly elegant as Provence. Or as beautiful. Menton overflows with exotic gardens, and the old town feels properly other-world Med: a vertiginous tangle of ochre houses, baroque churches and Mediterranean cooking aromas, as well as fine-sand beaches and sumptuous seaside buildings from the wedding-cake school of architecture.
The rocky coastal walk, beneath the poshest possible headland villas round the Cap Martin, is even more rewarding. It also happens to be home to one of the best restaurants in the world, three-Michelin-star Mirazur. The Best Western was previously used by the guards of the Prince of Monaco, and has been a hotel since The Mercure Valence is perfectly positioned for cyclists tackling the ViaRhona and is just a five-minute drive from Maison Pic. Festivities are full-tilt.
