The Best Landmarks in France

Paris

Palais Garnier, opened in 1875, stands at the end of the Avenue de l'Opéra in Paris, with a marble grand staircase, a gilded Grand Foyer and a Chagall mural in the auditorium ceiling. The Alexandre III Bridge spans the Seine, opened in 1900 for the Universal Exposition, and links the Esplanade des Invalides with the Grand Palais.

Squares

Place Stanislas in central Nancy is named after King Stanislas Leszczyński, and visitors walk among its gilded wrought-iron gates, the town hall and the opera house. The central square of Toulouse, Place du Capitole, has been a seat of civic power since the 12th century, with pink brick buildings and arcades around the Occitan Cross set into the ground.

Estuary lighthouse

Cordouan Lighthouse stands in the Gironde estuary, seven kilometers offshore from Le Verdon-sur-Mer, and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Keepers lead tours up around 300 steps, past a chapel and rooms, to a view over the sea.