What is France known for? France is one of those countries everyone dreams with going. You will sure know about Eiffel Tower or Croissants, but there are many other things France is famous for. Today we are going to tell you all of them, but before we get started, below you can find the most popular french things divided in different cathegories.
This is why we love France
20 Famous things in France

France has been the most visited country in the world for the last 20 years and that´s because they have incredible places, food, festivals and more. As we have just said there are many reasons why France is such a famous country. We are sure you know about some of them, but to make your life easier we have done a list with the top 20 things France is known for.
What are the most famous places in France?
Paris, Marseille, Eiffel Tower, Mont Saint Michel, Bayonne… We could spend an hour telling you about popular places in France and we would still miss many others. Their monuments, landscapes and different destinations are probably the biggest reason why France is famous. Next you will find the top 3 most famous places in France:
🗼 1) The Eiffel Tower

When you think about France, the first thing that comes to your mind is the Eiffel Tower, as it´s one of the most iconic French things.
With around 7 million visitors per year it has become one of the most visited monuments in the world, plus since It´s the symbol of the country, absolutely no one misses it when they travel to France. Being the highest tower in Paris makes it perfect for photographers as they will be able to take amazing pictures of it from many different perspectives.
🌺 2) French lavender fields

Although everyone relates the famous places in France with cities, monuments and cathedrals, there are other regions like Provence,where you will beable to enjoy a more natural atmosphere.
France is famous for its Blue Coast and its olive groves, but what resigns the most are their purple lavender fields. It´s incredible how many travellers visit the country just to admire these beautiful flowers that shine in Provence from May to July.
🕍 3) Notre-Dame Cathedral

We need to go back to Paris to talk about one of the most famous cathedrals in Europe (tight with “La Sagrada Familia).
Notre-Dame is for sure another of the things France is famous for, it´s a medieval Catholic cathedral that represents perfectly the French Gothic architecture.
It´s the third most visited attraction in Paris and probably in France, but unfortunately in 2019 the cathedral caught on fire and now part of it is destroyed and in a process of reconstruction.
France is also famous for its food
We bet many of you have heard about their cheeses, the popular baguettes and of course the tasty macarons. Well, all of these are part of the extremely delicious French cuisine. As you may know, France is popular for its gourmet and classy dishes, plus they are the ones who invented the Michelin guide. Is just impossible to not have your mouth watering when you think about the famous food of France:
🥐 4) Croissant, crepes, and macarons:

Just by saying these names you can already tell that the French desserts are incredible. You can start your day having a croissant, eat macarons after lunch and a crepe in those street markets as a snack in the afternoon.
These French sweets have three things in common: All of them are popular in France, the taste is delicious and all of them are very stylish. French people are so classy that even desserts are dressed in a stylish way.
🥖 5) French cheeses and baguettes

Without any doubt, one of the things France is most known for is their cheese, well, cheeses, as they have more than a thousand varieties of them.
You probably have heard about some very typical like the Camembert, the Brie or the Roquefort cheese, but these are just the famous ones. We find impossible to try them all.
Other than cheeses, the baguettes are also traditional from the French cuisine and now they are so popular that you can see them all over the world.
What wine is most popular in France?
Other than the food, one of the most famous things in France are their wines. It is said that Spain, Italy and France are the countries with better wines in the world, and although the French ones may not be as popular as the Spanish Rioja wine, you will be able to enjoy the Bordeaux, the Burgundy and of course the Champagne, known all over the world.
🍾 6) Champagne

The champagne is also one of those typical french things and it´s the most famous drink in the whole country. You won´t just find it in France, but in most of the countries in the world as it is a very common drink for celebrations like New Year´s eve.
A curious fact about champagne is that although in many areas, any kind of sparkling wine is considered champagne, in some other countries like the US, this one must come from the champagne wine region of France and follow their fermentation rules.
What sports is France famous for?
Definitely France is known for sports, and not just for football, which is trending during the last years as they were the last team to win the World Cup, but they are also famous for other sports like cycling, tennis, rugby and skiing.
⚽ 7) French football national team

As we were saying, the football in France is the most common sport, and many kids play it every day. The national French team was the last one winning the World Cup in 2018, and they also won in 1998. With 2 titles they have become one of the best national football teams in the world.
The football clubs are not as good as the national team, but the French league is still one of the top 10 best leagues in the world. The PSG from Paris is the best team in France.
🚴 8) The Tour de France

Another sport French people is good at is cycling. The Tour de France is the biggest cycling tournament and is celebrated every year during the summer months.
It´s a race of many cyclers who compete during 23 days covering around 3.500 kilometres of the whole country.
Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain are the cyclers who have won the Tour de France more times (5 each)
Fashion in France
France is recognized as one of the most influential countries when talking about fashion. Paris, with New York, London, and Milan, is one of the fashion capitals and where most events take part. Other than the runways, the French fashion is also famous because most of the best designers are originally from the country, including some very popular ones like Dior, Chanel and Louis Vuitton.
💃 9) Paris Fashion Week

It´s true that there are many events related to fashion, and more in France, but the best one without any doubt is the Fashion Week.
The Fashion Week is celebrated in 4 different cities, it starts in New York, then London and Milan and it finishes in Paris. It is celebrated two times per year, one in spring/summer and the other one in autumn/winter and each of the designers presents their different collections.
French art
France has been through the history a country specialized in art, not just because they have the Louvre in Paris, but also because many artists were born in France or have been living in the country at some point of their lives. A very good example is Pablo Picasso, he arrives to Paris in 1900, being just a 19-year-old kid who ends up becoming one of the greatest artists in the history.
Some of the most famous French paintings are “Dance” from Henri Matisse and “Liberty leading the people” from Eugène Delacroix
🏛️ 10) Louvre

The Louvre is one of the most important reasons why France is famous! For the ones who still don´t know about the Louvre (hopefully you all know about it), it´s the most important museum in the world, and over 10 million people visit it every year. Although it´s also known for its exterior shape (a glass pyramid), what truly makes it so popular is the huge amount of paintings you will see there, specially one: The Mona Lisa from Da Vinci.
If you are thinking on going, we advise you to get your tickets with enough time, if not you will have to wait a long queue and sometimes you may not be able to go inside.
🎨 11) Claude Monet

Monet is one of the greatest artists in the history of France. He is considered the founder of Impressionism movement and his most famous work is Impression, Sunrise (a paint that gave name to the movement).
Claude Monet started his journey with a realist style, and he was a very popular artist, but in 1860 he decided to focus on his impressionist paintings. This led him to a hard financial situation, and it was years later when his work started to be appreciated.
What are the French known for?
As it happens with every nationality, French people are known for its stereotypes, but not for who they really are. Next, we will tell you all about the things the french are famous for and about which things are true and which ones are false:
🗣 12) Do French people speak English?

We don´t know why, but one of the things French are known for, is for not speaking a very good English. French people CAN speak English!
Of course, as it happens in Spain, China or in other countries where their language is very popular, they may not be as fluent as in other countries, but the majority will be able to have a conversation with you.
Just so you can have an idea, at the age of 10 years old, they are already studying English at their schools.
🍷 13) Do French drink a lot of wine and eat a lot of cheese?

As we said, another of the famous things of France are their wines and cheeses…Believe it or not, many French people normally have a glass of wine to accompany each of their lunchs, and yes cheese and baguettes are also part of their daily life.
It´s more like a cultural thing and they don´t normally drink it to get drunk.
A curious fact about it, is that French people are allowed to drive after drinking one glass of wine.
France is famous for its history
The history of France is huge and there are many events and historical people who have been important not just in the country, but all over the world. Next you will find some of the most remarkable ones:
💪 14) French Revolution

The French revolution needs to be included on this “What is France most famous for?” list, as it is one of the most important events on the history of the country. It was a 10-year revolution, and it influenced many people from other countries in Europe to ask for more liberties and rights. This war also ended up with the feudalism and took a big part of the church´s power.
⚔ 15) Napoleon Bonaparte

He was one of the greatest military leaders on the history of France. His most important Role was during the French revolution and after it, when he placed himself as the leader of the French government.
His battles and acts were so important that more than 200 places in France are named honouring him or his soldiers.
Other things associated with France
What you have just seen is a list of the most famous ones, but there are many other things that are French. Next, we will tell you some other stuff that you will probably associate with France, but these are less popular than the ones we have already tell you:
👸 16) Famous French people
We have already mentioned some famous characters in the history of France like Monet. There are also famous sport players like Zinedine Zidane, (one of the greatest football players) and also very popular designers like Coco Chanel. See below a list with some very popular people on the French history:

- Nostradamus: He was known for having the ability of predicting the future
- Claude Monet: the founder of French impressionist painting style
- Roman Polanski: one of the best film directors of XX & XXI century (the pianist)
- Coco Chanel: she became famous for its dressing style and now the brand she built is one of the biggest fashion brands in the world
- Zinedine Zidane, who is one of the greatest football players in the history.
🎈 17) The only Disneyland in Europe is in France

Other of the most famous French things is Disneyland Paris. There are six Disneyland Castle parks in the world: California, Tokyo, Florida, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Paris. If anyone from Europe wants to go to Disneyland, the closest option is in France as is the only resort in the old continent.
🚗 18) What is France famous for producing?

The production and industrial development were very good during the years after the war and during the 50´s and 60´s it was a major thing on the French economy. This lasted until mid-70´s when the deindustrialization lowered the production levels to the minimum.
The industry of tourism has ended up being the key of the French economy and almost all the famous products of France are somehow related to tourism now. For Example, the production of wines and cheese is still very effective. Some others like the vehicle industry are still holding and being competitive with other brands from out of France.
📯 19) What music is France famous for?

Although France is a big country with a lot of musicians and many different styles, the French music is best known for its classical music. Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel and Gabriel Fauré are some of the best classical music composers in the history of France.
Nowadays this is starting to change, and other music genres are starting to show up. Hip-Hop, electronic music and pop are some of the styles that are succeeding the most. David Guetta is an international DJ, who is known for being probably the most famous musician in France nowadays.
📽 20) The Cannes Film Festival

To end our list of the top 20 most famous French things, we are going to talk about the Cannes Fil Festival. It´s a film event founded in 1946, where many celebrities from the film industry get together and preview the new films of the time.
This event is also very famous in France because it´s where they give one of the most important film awards: The Palme d´Or.
Hope you enjoyed reading about the famous French things
That´s all you need to know about “What is France best known for?”, hope you have enjoyed reading about it and if you are going to France any time soon, have a wonderful trip!
If you have any other question about the popular things in France, please let us know!
