TRAVEL || EUROPE > French Region > FRANCE

République Française
Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité: “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity” is the French motto.
Hexagonal-shaped France belongs to both Northern and Southern Europe (see The Travel Guide: Northwestern Europe) and is the only country bordered by the North Sea, Atlantic Ocean, and the Mediterranean Sea on three sides. Centrally-located within Western Europe, two of its sides are bordered by the Alps and the Pyrenees Mountains.
Discover the Regions of France

CAPITAL REGION
♦ Île-de-France
Paris metropolitan area:
Petite Couronne + Grande Couronne +
♦ Paris
20 Arrondissements
CENTRAL FRANCE
♦ Pays de la Loire
♦ Centre-Val de Loire
♦ Bourgogne-Franche-Comté
♦ Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
♦ Nouvelle Aquitaine
Poitou-Charentes + Limousin + Aquitaine
THE NORTH
♦ Normandie
♦ Bretagne
♦ Hauts-de-France
Nord-Pas-de-Calais + Picardy
♦ Grand-Est
Champagne-Ardenne + Lorraine + Alsace
THE SOUTH
♦ Occitanie
Midi-Pyrénées + Languedoc-Roussillon
♦ Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur
MONACO (independent state)
♦ La Corse
OVERSEAS TERRITORIES
♦ Caribbean Islands + South America
Guadeloupe and Martinique (Caribbean islands), Guyane (South America)
♦ African Islands (Indian Ocean)
Mayotte and Réunion (islands)
Explore Places in France
Regions + Cities
Basics of France
Know Before You Go
French
official language
Euro €
currency
18
official regions
Paris
capital of France
Languages + Dialects
French dialects remain from pre-Revolutionary times at which point assimilation of French as a common language became important for communication. Today, locals work to preserve their ancestral language heritage, each with unique traditions, food, music, and architecture.
- Blues: français (French, Gallo-Romance langue d’oil dialects)
- Green: breton (Celtic language from Anglo-Saxons)
- Dark yellow: flamand (Dutch dialect)
- Yellow: francique (German dialect)
- Orange: alsacien (German dialect)
- Purple: franco-provençal (Swiss/Italian Romance dialect)
- Reds: occitan (Romance langue d’oc (lenga d’òc) dialects similar to Catalan)
- Brown: Catalan (language of Catalonia in northeast Spain)
- Gray: basque (language isolate of the Basque region)
Read More