We’ve spent a lot of time in Europe so far in 2018, and France is always one of our absolute favorite countries to travel to! There’s something so elegant and refined about France, not to mention it has the best wine and castles anywhere! This summer, we planned a trip for my family as their Christmas gift! My parents have always wanted to go to Normandy for the WWII monuments, and I think we were all completely blown away by how STUNNING the Normandy region of France is! Here’s a little recap of some recommendations for each region!

Normandy Region:

Monet’s home + gardens in Giverny

Honfleur

Utah Beach

Etretat Cliffs + town

Mont St. Michel

Rouen

Bayeux

I also have to shoutout to our Airbnb we stayed at in Normandy, because it was our favorite of the trip and honestly, one of my favorite home rentals ANYWHERE. It was that amazing. Click HERE to view it 🙂 Perfect home base in Bayeux for exploring the region, and Claudia, the host is absolutely lovely! The cliffs of Etretat were absolutely a highlight for us – we spent July 4th here and the landscapes are just stunning. I can’t believe more people don’t travel here – I had barely heard of it, and added it to the itinerary on a whim – it is so worth it!

Loire Valley:

The famous chateaus are all here! A few of the best ones:

Chateau de Chenonceau

Chateau de Chambord

Chateau de Villandry ( the formal gardens here are worth the trip!)

Amboise is a perfect home base for this region!

Leonardo da Vinci’s home, Close Luce

We also had bikes come with our home rental in Amboise and spent a lot of time biking around the back roads along the Loire River, discovering endless sunflower fields!
Provence Region:

My favorite part of France! We timed our trip to coincide with the blooming lavender fields and it was everything I hoped for! We rented a home just outside of Gordes, which is the perfect home base for the Provence region.

For the best lavender fields:

Sault

Valensole Plateau

Senaque Abbey in Gordes