Rugged promontories lashed by Atlantic swells, fjord-like estuaries dotted with fishing ports, granite villages where Celtic legends echo in the cobbles-Brittany (Bretagne in French, Breizh in Breton) feels unlike anywhere else in France.

Northern France’s green patchwork of orchards, half-timbered villages and wild headlands has always lured painters and pilgrims, but 2025 is a banner year.

Curved like a glittering crescent between the Alps and the Mediterranean, the French Riviera – or Côte d’Azur – is shorthand for effortless chic: yacht-dotted bays, pastel old towns, and sunsets that inspired Matisse.