Paris Museums
Paris has 80 museums and 200 art galleries. Visit the Musée d'Orsay (www.musee-orsay.fr), located in a beautifully restored railway station, the Palais du Louvre (www.louvre.fr), the Georges Pompidou Centre of Modern Art (www.centrepompidou.fr) or the new Quai Branly Museum (www.quaibranly.fr).

More museums
The City of Science and Technology (www.cite-sciences.fr) in la Villette or at Futuroscope (www.futuroscope.com) in Poitiers offer a glimpse of the future.

Disneyland Resort Paris
See Mickey Mouse at the Disneyland Resort Paris theme park in Marne la Vallée (www.disneylandparis.com). Or for a more Gallic experience, try the Parc Astérix, 30km (19 miles) north of Paris (www.parcasterix.fr).

Coast
A wide range of watersports are offered along France's 3,000km (1,860 miles) of coastline. Famous resorts include St Enogat and St Jacut on the Emerald coast in Brittany, and Cannes, Nice, St Tropez, Antibes and Menton on the south coast.

Côte d'Azur
The Côte d'Azur has events throughout the year - stroll on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, famous for its Carnival in January, or mingle with celebrities at the Cannes Film Festival held in May.

La Rochelle
A popular sailing port in the Charente Maritime region, the best way to arrive in La Rochelle is by boat. Close by, the islands of Oléron and Ré are connected to the mainland by bridges.

Winter sports
Pack your skis and snowboard and enjoy a wide range of winter sports in the French Alps or the Pyrenees.

Spas
There are spas in Biarritz, Contréxeville and Vittel.

Lourdes
Join a pilgrimage to Lourdes, in the southwest, famous since the visions of Bernadette Soubirous in the mid 19th century.

Camargue
Beautiful Camargue is famed for its wild horses, bull fights, rice fields and salt pans. This is also western Europe's largest river delta, a bird-watchers' paradise, home to 400 species of birds, including the pink flamingo. Beware of mosquitoes in summer.

Casinos
There are casinos in Monaco, Nice and Deauvilled, also famous for its golf course and race track.

Boules
The traditional game of boules (also called pétanque) is played in public squares, especially in the south of France. The game requires as much social skill as manual dexterity.

Vineyards
There are 10 principal wine regions including Alsace, Burgundy, Champagne, Rhône Valley, each with its own identity based on grape varieties and terroir (soil). Many vineyards offer free tours.

Sporting events
Top events throughout the year include the Tour de France cycling race (www.letour.fr), the French Open at Roland Garros (www.fft.fr/rolandgarros) near Paris, the 24-hour motor race at Le Mans (www.lemans.org) and the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (www.prixarcdetriomphe.com).  

See Contact Addresses for further tourist information.