Winter is not reserved for the slopes: France's emblematic sites often gain a unique atmosphere then, with low light, clear air and far fewer visitors than in summer.
This selection brings together high-mountain panoramas accessible without skiing, fortified towns, abbeys and cliffs battered by winter winds.
Hours and access change with the season, and some mountain sites close in difficult weather: always check opening before you travel.
At 3,842 m, in the heart of the massif, you rub shoulders with Mont Blanc. An exceptional viewing area, partly carved into the rock, the product of an insane technological feat.
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The largest glacier in France unrolls its tongue of ice over seven kilometres at the foot of the Mont Blanc massif. From Chamonix, the little Montenvers rack railway leads to the edge of this polar landscape, now upset by the rapid retreat of the ice.
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The ski area of the Chamonix valley is divided into four areas: Les Grands Montets, Brévent/Flégère, Domaine de Balme and Les Houches.
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This exceptional mountain landscape, which spreads on both sides of the present national borders of France and Spain, is centred on the Mont Perdu peak, a limestone massif that peaks at 3,352 metres.
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Lake Annecy, sometimes nicknamed the "blue lake", is a lake in France located in the Alps, in Haute-Savoie.
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On a rocky islet in the middle of immense sands subject to the coming and going of powerful tides, on the border between Normandy and Brittany, rise the "Wonder of the West", a Gothic Benedictine abbey dedicated to the archangel Saint Michael, and the village born in the shelter of its walls.
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The cliffs of Étretat are an exceptional natural site where the spectacle of cliffs cut into arches, needles and pinnacles will take your breath away.
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A fortified medieval town, with the history of the crusade against the Albigensians, the still-inhabited Cité de Carcassonne lies on the right bank of the Aude.
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Located in the centre of Alsace, between the two other major industrial centres of Strasbourg and Mulhouse, Colmar is an essential stop.
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Chambord, which measures 156 m by 117 m and has 440 rooms, is the largest of the Loire castles.
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