Places vmhenshaw Wants to Go

The famous winding walk at Chartres is surrounded in mystery and myth.

A Gothic cathedral created from volcanic rocks.

One of the last umbrella repair shops in Paris upholds the nostalgic art of umbrella making.

The only remaining collection of flayed figures made by French "madman" Honoré Fragonard.

The mental institution where Van Gogh created some of his most famous work now allows guests to walk in the artist's footsteps.

The largest underground church in Europe.

This salt marsh in Southern France is as pink as the flamingos that inhabit it.

Do these monsters look familiar? The gargoyles on this church are all from pop culture.

The water-powered carriages are long gone, but for over a century this funicular railway has been the fastest route to the highest point in Paris.

This natural French spring has been turned into a magical grotto by Roman and medieval constructions.

An icy lake tucked among jaw-dropping alpine panoramas.

This historic island prison holds one of the dungeons from the Count of Monte Cristo even though it is a work of fiction.

A 14th century bridge built as a fortress, where the devil lurks on one of its towers.

A cave dwelling that was started by the Celts, expanded by monks, and finished by knights.

Ancient paintings known as the "Sistine Chapel of Cave Art."

A unrivaled and rather horrifying collection of wax dermatological models.

Sacked by Vikings, blessed by William the Conqueror, dealt a fatal blow during the French Revolution—these ruins have seen it all.

One of the greatest maze designer’s greatest mazes.

In the best of all possible worlds, everyone will get a chance to see this statue in which Voltaire's heart is interred.

How did a French journalist’s grave become the sexiest statue in the cemetery?

Exquisite wall sculptures carved in secret by an early quarryman in an obscure corner of the Paris Catacombs.

A grotto-like lodge decorated with gilded mosaics, rocks and a noisy waterfall was the setting for the most sumptuous pleasure house of 1900s Europe.

The ruins of a Duke's bucolic dream, where camels once roamed alongside "Dutch" windmills and faux-Italian vineyards.

A majestic lion statue guards this Parisian botanical garden, and feeds on an unsettling item.