What is the "quintessential" french region?

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Hello-Paris

In France, we are lucky to have many kind of differents landscapes : sea, mountain and land.
We have 3 different seas with different kinds of beaches....
So it's impossible to tell that one part is better than the others : each side is worth seing.
But I like Normandy, because I go there often. It's a green part, sometimes rainy, with many cows, good cheeses, good ciders and beautiful landscapes...

Cabal

The problem with your question is that France is made up of regions quite different from each other. Cold sea, warm sea, old mountains, young mountains, volcanic mountains, plains, cold northern weather, warm Mediterranean weather, each with its own sub-culture, typically representative of their own region, and they are all French.
Ask a Southerner if a Normand is a typical representative of France and he will laugh.
The widest spread image abroad seems to be the small villages of the centre of France as well as Paris itself.

Victoria C

no region in France is representative of the country. They all are so different.

lankstar

Well, from my point of view, Normandy is still a little close to Britain... and of course Brittany. Also, you could argue that being one of the more heavily 'touristed' areas of france, Normandy may be a little affected by that.
They say the purest French is spoken in Tours/Loire Valley, so for me its either that, or the Provence hinterland away from the cote d'azur. Two vastly different, yet quintessentially french regions.

Tigerbaby

marseilles is nice. toulouse is a shithole though. rennes is quite a nice city though.

Miamimentvotre

Paris is typically representative of France.
It is supposed to be the most beautifull city in the world...how can any other place in France offer more than Paris herself.
A life time is not enough to see half of Paris.

Mike L

I believe that the Allier in the Auvergne Region is what you could class as a quintessential French area. Being in the very heart of France there have been little in the way of external influences (such as can be seen in departments bordering Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, UK etc).

It has continental weather, lush green rolling hills and valleys and over 450 Chateaux which formed the major part of the Bourbon Dynasty. Also Moulins was at one time the real capitol of france and not Paris.

Eclipsepearl

My vote's for the Loire Valley, which is just next door to Normandy.

I studied there and it has the standard French accent. The food, the landscape, the lifestyle are really what the rest of the world pictures as being France.

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