Where to go in France in August?

1 🇫🇷 The Médoc

🌡️ 28 °C in the afternoon, 6 days of rain · 💶 €80-150 a day

The Médoc is a peninsula with two faces. On the estuary side, the route des châteaux links Margaux, Saint-Julien and Pauillac, home to three of the five first growths classified in 1855. On the ocean side, endless beaches from Lacanau to Soulac, the great lakes of Hourtin and Lacanau, and offshore, the Cordouan lighthouse.

2 🇫🇷 Serre-Ponçon and Les Orres

🌡️ 29 °C in the afternoon, 6 days of rain · 💶 €70-130 a day

A 2,800-hectare reservoir of turquoise water under the sun of the Southern Alps: Blue Flag beaches, the Saint-Michel chapel on its islet, the demoiselles coiffées of Théus, Embrun's cathedral. In winter, the Les Orres resort takes over with its slopes, its mountain coaster and a giant zip line.

3 🇫🇷 The Tarn Gorges

🌡️ 27 °C in the afternoon, 6 days of rain · 💶 €60-100 a day

Over 50 kilometres between Ispagnac and Le Rozier, the Tarn has sawn a canyon 400 to 500 metres deep between two limestone plateaus, the Causse Méjean and the Causse de Sauveterre. At the bottom lie green, transparent water and villages of honey-coloured stone set on the river's bends: Sainte-Enimie, Saint-Chély, La Malène, Castelbouc.

4 🇫🇷 The Monts du Lyonnais

🌡️ 27 °C in the afternoon, 6 days of rain · 💶 €60-100 a day

An hour west of Lyon, the Monts du Lyonnais roll out hills of meadows and hedgerows up to 946 metres, dotted with hilltop villages. People come for a Gothic collegiate church crowning a town of cured meats, the smallest commune in the Rhône, the old hat factory in Chazelles and ridge-top trails.

5 🇫🇷 Dordogne and the Périgord

🌡️ 28 °C in the afternoon, 7 days of rain · 💶 €80-130 a day

Between ochre cliffs and a lazy river, the Périgord Noir packs in a staggering heritage: the medieval lanes of Sarlat, the prehistoric masterpieces of Lascaux, the cliff-hugging villages of La Roque-Gageac and Beynac. You canoe down the Dordogne past castle after castle, plunge 103 metres underground at the Gouffre de Padirac in the neighbouring Lot, then resurface for a dinner of ceps and foie gras. Timeless, gourmet France.

6 🇫🇷 Hossegor and Capbreton

🌡️ 29 °C in the afternoon, 7 days of rain · 💶 €80-140 a day

Hossegor means the wave at La Gravière, which draws surfers from all over the world, and a saltwater lake where you eat oysters with your feet in the sand. Next door lie Capbreton and its pier facing the Gouf, the Basque-Landes villas of the 1930s, the beaches of Seignosse and two nature reserves.

7 🇫🇷 The Mercantour

🌡️ 28 °C in the afternoon, 7 days of rain · 💶 €60-110 a day

The Mercantour combines peaks over 3,000 metres, glacial lakes and perched villages bathed in an already Mediterranean light. You hike to the 36,000 or so prehistoric engravings of the Vallée des Merveilles, watch for wolves at Le Boréon, walk up to the Lac d'Allos and cross valleys that are recovering from Storm Alex.

8 🇫🇷 Briançon and La Grave

🌡️ 27 °C in the afternoon, 7 days of rain · 💶 €80-150 a day

France's highest town, ringed by Vauban's World Heritage ramparts and forts, opens onto three worlds: Serre Chevalier and its 250 km of pistes, the Clarée valley, and, over the Col du Lautaret, La Grave, where a cable car climbs to 3,200 metres facing the Meije.

9 🇫🇷 The Écrins (Vallouise)

🌡️ 27 °C in the afternoon, 7 days of rain · 💶 €60-110 a day

The most direct gateway to the Écrins National Park: the Vallouise valley leads to Ailefroide, a mecca of mountaineering, then to the Glacier Blanc, five kilometres of ice beneath the Barre des Écrins. Around it lie Dormillouse, the last inhabited hamlet in the heart of the park, a medieval silver mine and via ferratas from age 4.

10 🇫🇷 Haut-Bugey

🌡️ 26 °C in the afternoon, 7 days of rain · 💶 €60-100 a day

Between Bourg-en-Bresse and Geneva, the Haut-Bugey lines up glacial lakes, fir forests and limestone cluses. Nantua keeps its abbey church and the Ain Resistance museum, Oyonnax tells the story of combs and plastics, the Charabotte falls more than 115 metres and Lac Genin freezes in winter.

11 🇫🇷 Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie

🌡️ 25 °C in the afternoon, 7 days of rain · 💶 €70-120 a day

Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie lives to the rhythm of its sardine port, where boats land Label Rouge sardines a stone's throw from the beaches. To the north, the rocks of the Corniche Vendéenne; to the south, the waves of La Sauzaie at Brétignolles. Inland, the Brem vineyards, Lac du Jaunay and the Marais Breton.

12 🇫🇷 The French Riviera

🌡️ 31 °C in the afternoon, 3 days of rain, sea at 23 °C · 💶 €110-200 a day

From Cassis to Menton, the Côte d'Azur strings together 200 kilometres of turquoise coves, hilltop villages and legendary towns. You dive into the En-Vau calanque in the morning, stroll through Old Nice in the afternoon and dine facing the sunset in Èze in the evening. Between beaches, Porquerolles and its crystal-clear waters play at being the Caribbean, just 15 minutes by boat from the mainland.

13 🇫🇷 Les Deux Alpes

🌡️ 23 °C in the afternoon, 7 days of rain · 💶 €90-160 a day

Two resorts in one: in winter, a ski area climbing to 3,600 metres on the Mont-de-Lans glacier; in summer, morning skiing in May and June, a bike park with 2,300 metres of vertical, an ice cave at 3,400 metres, and below, Venosc and the Vénéon valley, gateway to the Écrins park.

14 🇫🇷 The Sundgau

🌡️ 27 °C in the afternoon, 8 days of rain · 💶 €65-110 a day

South of Mulhouse, up against Switzerland, the Sundgau is the Alsace of hills, ponds and half-timbered farms, far from the crowds of the Wine Route. Three ruined castles guard the Alsatian Jura, the Ill rises in a meadow at Winkel, and fried carp is eaten with your fingers.

15 🇫🇷 Évian and the Chablais

🌡️ 26 °C in the afternoon, 8 days of rain · 💶 €90-160 a day

Évian faces Lausanne, 35 minutes away by boat. You drink the water of the Cachat spring, ride the funicular up to the old grand hotels, then the Chablais takes over: the ramparts of Yvoire, the Château de Ripaille, the Pont du Diable gorge and the Dent d'Oche, towering over the lake from Bernex.