Situated between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, France is surrounded by 6 countries, including Spain to the south, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy to the east. French is the primary language for its population of 67 million. With more than 90 million tourists a year, France is the most visited country in the world. Paris, its capital, is the world’s second most visited urban center, drawing an average of 40 million annual tourists. With the River Seine as its heart, historic architecture, wide, gracious boulevards, and elegant public parks, Paris is widely considered the most beautiful and romantic city in the world. Famed for its bread, cheese, and pastry, Paris has the world’s greatest concentration of Michelin-starred restaurants, as well as the most visited museum-the Louvre, home of the world’s most famous painting: DaVinci’s Mona Lisa. Directly across from the Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay boasts the world’s most extensive collection of Impressionist art. Centuries of French history are reflected in buildings and statues lining the picturesque streets, including the iconic Eiffel Tower and storied Notre Dame. A byword for style, Paris is also home to the world’s most famous luxury fashion houses, including Chanel and Dior. Integral to Parisian life are the cafés, including those immortalized by writers such as Hugo, Balzac, and Sartre. Yet France has many more cultural and scenic offerings outside its capital, from the gilded 17th-century Palace of Versailles to the thoroughly modern Disneyland Paris. The landscape of France offers skiing and hiking in its northern Alps, picturesque vineyards, fields of lavender, and glamorous Mediterranean beaches in its south. One of four original signatories of the Schengen Agreement in 1985, France joined the Schengen area in 1995. Please note that France’s overseas territories are not considered part of the Schengen area. This means that a Schengen visa will not allow you entry to French overseas territories, which have their own visa regimes.

France