10 alternatives to France's overcrowded tourist hotspots

Local France

5 days ago

France is popular with tourists - it's the
world's most-visited tourist destination
and has been so since 2018.
But according to the country's tourism ministry, 80 percent of tourists visit the same 20 percent of France - which means that some places are severely over-crowded, but there is also plenty more to explore.
Some sites are now so busy that they have introduced a cap on visitor numbers, while others require advance booking.
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But there are also lots of alternatives to the best-known places, which might not always be the best anyway.
Here are 10 suggestions to get away from the crowds this summer.
Etretat
The famous cliffs on the Normandy coast attract 1.5 million visitors a year (that's an average of 10,000 per day - in a town with a population of 1,200). The cliffs are undoubtedly spectacular and are also famous thanks to featuring in artwork ranging from Impressionist paintings to the Netflix series Lupin, but that stretch of coast has plenty of other cool places to visit.
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Instead
- the nearby towns of Avranches and Granville or Fécamp are all recommended for a visit. They are all cute seaside towns with beach access and plenty to see, while Fécamp has the additional distinction of being the home of Benedictine liquer (which you can go and watch being made, and taste).
Ile de Bréhat
The picturesque Breton island of Bréhat – population 400 – is so popular with visitors that it has now set a daily visitor limit of 4,700 in July and August.
Instead
- Bréhat might be the best known, but it's far from Brittany's only island - there are 42 off the coast of Morbihan alone. Île d'Arz is easily accessible by ferry from the town of Vannes, which is worth a visit in itself, and the island itself is small, pretty and very walkable.
Calanques
Close to Marseille, the Calanques national park is one of the most stunning parts of France and is highly popular with tourists. So popular that visitor numbers are now limited to prevent environmental damage - access to the calanque de Sugiton and the Pierres Tombées, on the Mediterranean coast, has to be pre-booked during the high season, with access limited to 400 visitors per day.
Instead
- the Calanques are east of Marseille, but if you go west instead you will find yourself on the Côte Bleue which is every bit as beautiful – and less busy – than the Calanques. Keep going a little further west and you find yourself in the Camargues, France's largest wetland area famous for its wildlife, haunting beauty, rice fields and herds of wild ponies.
Iles du parc national du Port-Cros
The national park covers three islands off the Var coast; Porquerolles, Port-Cros and Levant. They can get very crowded, up to 1.5 million people were heading to the fragile islands between the beginning of June and the end of August every year, so in 2023, a 6,000-visitor daily limit was imposed.
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Instead
- try the Lérins islands, just off the coast of Cannes - also pretty but a lot more chilled, especially in the peak summer season.
Saint-Malo
The Brittany coastal town is popular with tourists, especially Brits, for its long sandy beach and walled old town. However the old town area can get very crowded in summer.
Instead
- for a change of pace, try Le Havre, further east along the Channel coast. While Saint-Malo is proud of its medieval walled town, Le Havre goes the other way - after being largely destroyed by bombing in WWII, the town was rebuilt in a modernist style by concrete fan Auguste Perret. The result may not be to everyone's taste, but it's very striking and unique within France. Despite being a UNESCO world heritage site, its generally quieter in the summer than Saint-Malo, but its seafront is still set up for tourists.
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The Alps
The Alps are beautiful in both summer and winter and we're not going to try and pretend that the whole mountain range is crowded, although individual ski runs can get very busy at the height of the season, especially as warming temperatures mean fewer and fewer days of good snow. There are also visitor limits on Mont Blanc.
Instead
- don't forget France's second biggest mountain range, there are good alternative ski locations in the Pyrenees or even the micro state of Andorra.
During the summer, you can also enjoy hiking and plenty of sports, like rafting along the Garonne river. If you head to the Ariège area, then you can visit up to six caves with prehistoric artwork still intact. Unlike other ancient caves in France, the ones near Ariège still allow visitors.
Carcassonne
The Medieval cité is likely to be crowded during the summer, due to its UNESCO status - if possible, we recommend visiting in winter. Not only is it much calmer, but frosty or foggy mornings lend a totally different atmosphere to its narrow streets and imposing castle and you'll also be able to take your time at the town's notoriously gory museum of torture.
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Instead
- if a winter trip isn't possible, the Occitanie region has a wide variety of Cathar castles and heritage - try Montségur for a towering mountain citadel or the town of Albi for history, culture and art (it was the birthplace of the artist Henri de Toulouse Lautrec and its museum boasts an impressive collection of his work).
Dune du Pilat
- the largest sand dune in Europe and part of the beautiful stretch of wooded coastline just south of Bordeaux. Its fame has come at a cost, however, as the roughly 1.3 million visitors per year are damaging the dune itself and the fragile ecosystem that surrounds it.
Instead
- if you're looking for truly special beaches, the peninsula known as the Presqu'île de Crozon is a must. Sticking out of the west side of Brittany, the peninsula is hard to access if you don't have a car, but this isolation serves it well when it comes to crowds as the beaches are both spectacular and not over-crowded.
Paris
The French capital is extremely popular with tourists so if you're visiting in summer you will have to reconcile yourself to some level of crowding - it can get hot in summer too, so if you have flexibility in your schedule then visits in spring or autumn might be better.
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Paris isn't France's only city, of course, you could try the 'gastronomy capital' Lyon, the elegant wine capital of Bordeaux or - the personal favourite of the team at The Local - Marseille.
If you are coming to Paris, however, there are some sights that are especially crowded.
Louvre
- Paris' most famous museum can get very crowded, especially in the room that houses the Mona Lisa. The situation is so bad that staff went on strike last week protesting against their impossible working conditions. In the longer term, a €700 million renovation is on the cards, with a separate section for
La joconde
herself, but in the short term Paris has a lot of museums and galleries that are just as good, and a lot less crowded.
Instead
- you're really spoiled for choice, but we like the Musée Carnavalet for the history of Paris, the Orangerie for a perfectly-sized art collection and the Musée Marmottan Monet for a fantastic collection of Monet's waterlily paintings.
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Eiffel Tower
- the iconic tower is widely regarded as a must-see in Paris and is correspondingly crowded. The truth, however, is that most locals would give it a miss.
Instead
- the tower is cool to look at, but you can do that for free from almost anywhere in the city.
Instead we suggest taking a walk along the
quais
of the Seine - you'll get a good look at the tower, but you'll also be able to drink in the view of many more of the city's best-known sites such as Les Invalides, the Conciergerie and Notre-Dame. The
quais
themselves are pretty cool - formerly a highway they were pedestrianised and turned into a public space by the city of Paris and now they are an immensely popular hangout for locals and tourists alike, with bars and restaurants and plenty of spaces to picnic. They also contain one of Paris' best-kept secrets - a 1.3km former road tunnel that now houses a huge and ever changing display of street art.