Paris, Flanders and Picardy Guide - Regions of France
Paris, Flanders and Picardy region guide with the best books recommended

Paris, Flanders and Picardy Region Guide

The amazing capital of Paris is surrounded by a mix of  countryside, commerce and busy shipping area of the Pas de Calais.

PARIS 

Paris. The city of lights, a lover's paradise, capital of style and fashion, an active, modern and trendy metropolis that holds up a mirror to France… Paris is all this. 

Try to define Paris in a few words. It can't be done! It is impossible for the French to list its countless characteristics without appearing arrogant. But equally how can they stay humble without doing it an injustice?

It's hard to list all of the city's unique monuments (the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, the Panthéon and others), its charming quarters (Montmartre, the Marais, Saint-Germain-des-Prés), its traditional brasseries and restaurants serving cuisine from all over the world, its famous museums (the Louvre, Musée d'Orsay, Centre Georges Pompidou, the Institut du Monde Arabe) and the lesser-known museums of advertising, fashion or fairground arts, its many different moods… We could go on and we'd still only just scratch the surface. 

ILE DE FRANCE

Surrounding the city of Paris is the region of Ile-de-France, a green land where the living is good – a region full of energy.

It's a charming area with many different aspects. From the Chevreuse, Yvette or Essonne valleys with their pretty villages to the inviting forests at Rambouillet, Saint-Germain or Fontainebleau, Ile-de-France is a natural paradise.

It's also an inspirational region where you walk in the footsteps of famous artists who were charmed by its light and atmosphere: at Barbizon, so dear to landscape painters; at Nogent-sur-Marne or Auvers-sur-Oise, home of the Impressionists… Ile-de-France is a land of heritage with a long list of fascinating cultural sites – Versailles, Vaux-le-Vicomte, the Saint-Denis basilica and more. And ultimately, it's a meeting place which concentrates all the talent of the French lifestyle.

For the children

Whether your children are budding scientists or animal-lovers, artists in the making or would-be pilots, they can make their dreams come true in Ile-de-France. At the Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie in Paris, at the Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace at Le Bourget, at Disneyland® Paris, at the Musée des Antiquités Nationales in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, they can observe, discover, learn, experiment – and have loads of fun.

There are tons of activities for the 3s to 12s!

FLANDERS

A region of festivities and human warmth where joie de vivre is a communal affair.

Because the sun appears less often here than in the south, some people think of Nord-Pas de Calais as a gloomy region. They have clearly never paid it a visit: it's probably one of the jolliest regions in France, and always ready to celebrate. Parades, carnivals, fairs and fanfares – good habits endure in this land of memory, bristling with belfries. To get the right feel for the region's spirit, you need to join the crowd during the great collective celebrations, and share their meals based on seafood – the famous moules-frites, the traditional waterzoï (a court-bouillon of fish and chicken) – washed down with some of the local beer. It's a lively region where tradition is part of daily life – a region open to the major capitals cities of Europe such a short distance away!

PICARDY

France itself was born in this northern province between the Marne and the Somme – for it was here that the Franks – ancestors of the French – set up home.

A land of culture, the cradle of Gothic art and an unspoiled environment: Picardy is a treasure-trove of art and natural beauty. Its cathedrals at Beauvais, Amiens, Senlis, Laon or Noyon illustrate the rise of Gothic art as it spread across France and Europe. The charm of its small Medieval town of Senlis or the riches of the châteaux at Pierrefonds, Coucy, Chantilly, Bagatelle and Compiègne, surrounded by magnificent gardens, parks and forests set a nostalgic mood that’s enhanced during festivals, son et lumières shows and Picardy games. Another pleasure inherited from the past – that of good food – is assiduously cultivated: ficelle picarde, salt meadow lamb, gâteau battu and other abundant products of the generous environment. Picardy produce has what it takes to give the most demanding gourmet an appetite!