France – Travel Guide with tips for your holiday

France (officially République Française), country in Western Europe. It is bordered in the north to the English Channel, the Strait of Dover and the North Sea, in north-east Belgium and Luxembourg, on the east by Germany, Switzerland and Italy, in the south to the Mediterranean, Monaco, Andorra and Spain and in the west to the Atlantic Ocean. Both the north-south extension as well as the extension from west to east amount to a maximum of about 1 000 kilometers. The capital of France is Paris. On the territory of France also includes the four overseas departments (Departement d’Outre-Mer, DOM) French Guiana in South America, Martinique and Guadeloupe in the Caribbean and Reunion in the Indian Ocean, the two local authorities (territorial collectivité, CT) St-Pierre-et Miquelon, and Mayotte in the North Atlantic off the East African coast and the four overseas territories (Territoires d’Outre-Mer, TOM) with limited self-determination, are no longer as part of the mother country are: New Caledonia, French Polynesia, Australs and Antarctic Territories (southern and French Antarctic Territory) and the islands of Wallis and Futuna. France, including the island of Corsica an area of 543 965 square kilometers, so it is Russia and Ukraine the third largest country in Europe.

The landscape of France is the biggest part of three natural areas determined. It includes funds mountains, landscapes and Beck in the south emergent high mountains. The highest elevations of the country are located in the French Alps, it runs through the southeast of the country’s border with Italy. Many of the mountain peaks along the French border are about 4 000 meters high. France and the highest mountain in the Alps is the Mont Blanc (4 810 meters). Northeast of Lyon to the area of Montbéliard rises the French Jura. It reaches heights of about 1 700 meters and forms the eastern border of France to Switzerland. The Burgundian gate – a broad valley between Belfort and Montbéliard – connects the grave zones of the Rhine and the Saône. The north of the Burgundian gate located Vosges formed as a counterpart to the Black Forest to the east by the natural border of the Rhine valley to the west. Broadly Belchen reached this means mountains with 1 424 meters, its greatest height. The Pyrenees stretch along the Spanish-French border from the Mediterranean to the Gulf of Biscay off and form a more natural border of France. The small number of passports previously hampered trade between France and Spain, while the Alps has always been good crossing opportunities, such as the Saint Bernard Pass, offered. In the southern part of the country lies the Massif Central, which is west of the Rhone valley rises steeply. Here, in the Auvergne, there are extinct volcanoes from the tertiary. South of the Massif Central are heavily karstified Causses and then the Cevennes. In the north-east of the country soar foothills of the mountains flattened by erosion of the Ardennes on French territory.