1. Wander contemporary art and historical sites in Nantes, Pays de la Loire

Explore the history and culture of the handsome city of Nantes, the Breton capital until 1532, by taking a 19km urban walk, following a pea-green line painted underfoot.

Known as Le Voyage à Nantes, this whimsical trail zips up staircases and alongside the Loire river, crossing café terraces and squares, wandering courtyards and the walls of Nantes’ mighty Château des Ducs de Bretagne, and even pays a visit to a heritage biscuit factory.

Join the dots to explore 120 outdoor art works and dozens more ephemeral installations while dipping a toe in local history. To get started, pick up trail maps at the tourist office, go online or just look for the green line.

Also try… Keep an eye out for urban walks in Lille, Grenoble and Clermont-Ferrand

2. Speed ride in the Chamonix Valley, French Alps

Well-seasoned skiers know the hamlet of Vallorcine, a half-hour ride on the Mont-Blanc Express mountain train from Chamonix, for its cult vintage ski fest in March, when those dressed in retro onesies race down the slopes on wooden skis. But it is the fairly new winter sport of speed riding (or speed flying) that is currently turning heads here – a daring cross between skiing and paragliding.

Book lessons at the Maison des Guides de Vallorcine to learn the basics. Needless to say, this is for experienced skiers only, but the chance to fly across undulating snow fields in Vallorcine’s Le Tour–Balme ski area is rather special indeed.

Also try… Speed-riding classes are found across the Savoie in Valfréjus, Tigne and Les Arc.

3. Try coasteering on Brittany’s Presqu’île de Crozon

Head-spinning sea views, dramatic rock formations and the odd sea cave or seal sighting are the rewards for scrambling the cliffs of the Crozon peninsula on coasteering trips.

This craggy headland was once a nefarious place, and the route that customs officers used to patrol, searching for smugglers and ensuring shipwrecks washed up from the Iroise Sea weren’t picked clean, has been made into a hardy trail (GR34). Coasteering leaves that far behind, as you get a closer look at an area known for being a sanctuary to nesting red-billed choughs and geological curiosities.

Wetsuit, helmet and a qualified guide are coasteering essentials, so pay a visit to Dizolo Nature in seaside village Morgat first, which organises half-day outings. The post-activity refuel on moules-frites and crêpes soaked in warm salted caramel is all part of the experience.

Also try… There’s great coasteering to be found on Brittany’s Plouha cliffs on the Côtes-d’Amor, Normandy’s Cotentin Peninsula and south of Marseille in Les Calanques.

4. Cruise through the vineyards of the Loire Valley on a vintage moped

Purring past vines on the back of an old Solex is exhilarating. At the Domaine de Pied Flond winery, near Angers, seventh-generation winegrowers Franck and Catherine Gourdon run moped tours of their estate. With no licence required to join, they’re open to anyone.

Solex bikes were built between 1946 and 1988 in Normandy, and gained a certain cinematic cool in the ’70s when they were ridden by the likes of Brigitte Bardot and Steve McQueen. It’s a stylish way to explore the vineyard, with stops explaining how overripened chenin blanc grapes are made into naturally fermented AOC Coteaux du Layon wines, culminating in an all-important tasting session at the end.

Also try… Head to the hilly Lubéron area of Provence for vineyard tours by Citroën 2CV or hot air balloon.

5. Take to the water and explore by stand-up paddleboard in Lyon

The city of Lyon, where the waters of the Rhône meet the Saône, was built on two hills: a ‘hill of work’ (the now hipster Croix-Rousse area) and a ‘hill of prayer’ (basilica-capped Fourvière, above the Old Town). Both bob tantalisingly on the horizon during SUP river paddles led by Lyon Canoë.

Gliding into the water at Parc Saint-Clair on the Rhône’s right bank, a 7km-long route meanders through Lyon’s heart, offering glimpses of its 17th-century city hall and the glass-domed roof of its Neoclassical opera house. Paddle past péniche (houseboat) bars moored between the Passerelle du Collège and Pont Wilson bridges, the monumental Palais de la Bourse and the riverside sweep of Hôtel-Grand Dieu, a 12th-century hospital now filled with boutiques. End at the nautical base in La Confluence, where the rivers meet.

Also try… Bordeaux, Strasbourg and Paris are all excellent for touring by water.

6. Surf with legends in Biarritz, Basque Coast

Late last year, a sculpture by Basque artist Joël Roux feting Biarritz’s pioneering ‘tontons surfeurs’ (the first surfers in Europe) was moved from an inconspicuous spot by the Côte des Basques beach to centre stage beside its historic baths. It’s a reminder that it was on this runway of golden sand that surfing finally crashed onto the European scene in 1956.

For beginners and intermediates, the surf schools on the beach where it all began make for a worthy pilgrimage. Book lessons and board hire with Jo Moraiz Surf School, which was the very first in France, set up by surfing legend Jo Moraiz in 1966 and now run by his son, Christophe.

Also try… You’ll find good surfing all along the Atlantic coast at Hossegor, Seignosse, Anglet and Cap Ferret, as well as at Plouharnel on Brittany’s Quiberon peninsula.

7. Boat along Burgundy’s Canal de Bourgogne

Few outdoor activities are so well aligned with the traditional vision of France’s unharried lifestyle as canal boating. And for those looking to lessen the impact of their travels, it also makes for the perfect slow adventure.

In Burgundy, you can trundle a section of the Canal de Bourgogne, passing through architecturally dashing provincial capital Dijon and the abbeys, chateaux, vineyards and medieval towns that bead the 242km course between Laroche-Migennes and St-Jean-de-Losne.

This is France’s most bucolic waterway, and no boating experience is required to captain a self-drive vessel rented from France Afloat or Locaboat in Joigny. Along the way, be sure to stop and cycle tree-shaded towpaths, stock up at local wineries and collect baguettes from the harbour master.

Also try… Pair boating with wine tasting on the Canal de la Marne au Rhine, Alsace, or try piloting a barge around Angers or Le Mans.

8. Go landsailing on the Côte d’Opale, Hauts-de-France

The sight of sandyachts wafting down the beach is synonymous with the Opal Coast of northern France, where the seaside resort of Le Touquet is a great spot for beginners.

The first sandyachts, or char à voile, appeared on the sands here in the early 20th century, complete with wooden wheels and a stubby sail. Soon these rudimentary carts developed lightweight chassis and bicycle wheels better suited to hurtling the wet sand flats. But while modern sandyachts fly four times faster than the wind, amateur pilots at the Centre Nautique de la Manche Bertrand Lambert on Le Touquet’s chic Paris-Plage will be lucky to top 65kph.

Also try… Other landsailing hubs can be found in Berck-sur-Mer on the Côte d’Opale, and just south of there in Fort-Mahon and Quend.

9. Stargaze from the top of Pic du Midi de Bigorre, Pyrénées

One of France’s true authentic wildernesses spans the country’s border with Spain in the Pyrénées. This rugged mountain range is as old as 100 million years, and its star-studded dark skies were dazzling astronomers long before the world’s oldest high-mountain observatory was built on the summit of Pic du Midi de Bigorre (2,877m) in 1878.

Guided evening ascents (13km; 750m elevation gain) shine a light on the infinity of starry constellations that make the Pyrenean night sky above Pic du Midi a designated Dark Sky Reserve.

Alternatively, non-hikers can summit Pic du Midi by cable car in just 15 minutes and stay overnight. Hole up for an evening of stargazing preceded by a gourmet sunset dinner at the observatory hotel.

Also try… Both Mercantour and Cévennes national parks and Vercors Regional Park are all International Dark Sky Reserves.

10. Snorkel the seas around Port-Cros, Côte d’Azur

Posidonia seagrass meadows – some as deep as 40m – provide a lush habitat for the 180 fish species that thrive within Port-Cros National Park, Europe’s oldest marine park.

To reach them, join any of the ferries that yo-yo between the Riviera seaside towns of Hyères and Le Lavandou and Île de Port-Cros. On reaching this green dot of an isle, head for La Palud beach, where you can don snorkel gear and plunge beneath the waves to discover an aquatic world of sea bream and groupers, green wrasses, spiky red scorpion fish, sea urchins and secretive anemones. There is also an offshore underwater trail to explore, delineated by six yellow buoys that extend as far as the tiny isle of Rocher du Rascas.

Also try… Check out the snorkelling trail at nearby Domaine du Rayol, east of Le Lavandou.

11. Climb like a pro in Forêt de Fontainebleau, Île de France

With sport-climbing making its Olympic debut at this year’s Summer Games in Paris, it’s only fitting that a bouldering mecca lies just 65km from the capital. Climbers from all over the world congregate in the thick oak, beech and chestnut forests west of Fontainebleau’s emblematic chateau to tackle thousands of boulders formed from white sand deposited 35 million years ago.

French kings hunted game here for centuries; now climbers can pick their way along 20,000 bouldering problems (sequences of holds) of all grades. Breadcrumb trails painted in coloured numbers on the rocks ease the way for beginners cutting their teeth on yellow, orange and blue circuits. And if you don’t know where to start, try booking a Sunday-morning initiation session with a bouldering instructor at Fontainebleau tourist office (fontainebleau-tourisme.com); these are run between April and October.

Also try… The climbing routes and via ferrata in Dentelles de Montmirail, Provence, make fine use of its chain of limestone mountains.

13. Take a bog walk in the Jura mountains of eastern France

A side to France that few travellers encounter are its wild and green tourbières (peat bogs). These humid wetlands teem with wildlife and include some great rambles, frequently accessed via wooden boardwalks built above the fragile bog.

In Haut-Jura, a green haven in the east protected by its own regional nature park, trails through peat bog surround the highest lake in the region, Lamoura (1,155m), and offer the chance to spy carnivorous sundews that trap insects with the hairs on their leaves. There’s more rare flora and fauna to be enjoyed in the peat bogs of Frasne, a reserve less than an hour’s drive north, where you can follow a 4.5km discovery trail.

Also try… The south-west also has many bog walks, with Mées in Les Landes, Vendoire and Dordogne serving up incredible variety.

14. Snowshoe in La Plagne, French Alps

For those who want to flee the slog of the pistes and head into nature, snowshoeing is the perfect retort. In the downhill ski resort of La Plagne, a child of France’s radical 1960s Plan Neige, which saw a flurry of resorts built ever higher in the mountains, snowshoeing in the little-known protected area of La Cembraie offers a lesson in alpine flora, fauna and slowing down.

Its rollercoaster landscape of snow-covered sink holes interspersed with gypsum rock needles, stone pines and larch trees is ideal for a more thoughtful trek – and if you get the chance to playfully tumble off snowy hillock tops into heaps of fresh powder, then so much the better. The occasional call of a nutcracker, the reserve’s natural forester who hoards away pine seeds here each autumn, only heightens the mystique of this unique snowshoeing landscape.

Also try… Vanoise, Mercantour and Écrins national parks are all snowshoeing idylls.

15. Explore Toulouse by bike

Trade the crowds and cacophony of the capital for Toulouse in the south-west, where a vibrant café life, epicurean dining and romantic flânerie abound on the riverbanks. It also has more cycling paths than you can shake a baguette at: you could even be forgiven for thinking France’s fourth-largest city (by population) is a Paris in miniature as you pedal its scenic towpaths.

Slow, two-wheel exploration suits Toulouse’s easy-going nature. The city’s public-sharing bike scheme, VélÔToulouse, makes light work of getting around, letting you glimpse the Romanesque St-Sernin basilica, the Old Town’s recently reopened Fondation Bemberg and the 400-year-old Pont Neuf bridge with ease. Lengthier routes ribbon through the leafy voie vertes (greenways) by the Garonne river or alongside the UNESCO-listed Canal du Midi – perfect for cyclists keen to make a day of it. You could even pedal the 270km of canal paths between Toulouse and Bordeaux.

Also try… Bike-friendly Strasbourg, Nantes and Grenoble are great for cyclists too.

16. Trek the tricky sands of Baie du Mont-St-Michel, Normandy

To soak up the powerful magnetism of France’s most famous abbey, Mont-St-Michel, try walking in the footsteps of the medieval pilgrims who risked hell and high water to cross the treacherous sands that encircle it. It’s a trek you won’t soon forget.

The tidal variations in the bay are the biggest in Europe. It’s no wonder that during the Hundred Years War (1337–1453), this abbey-island was the only bit of Norman land not to fall into English hands. Now tales of 14th-century pilgrims being swallowed by quicksand are meat and drink for the guides that lead shoeless walkers across the bay from St-Léonard.

This 14km barefoot trek through salt meadows, rivers up to 80cm deep and rippled sandflats is a memorable one, but it’s the hands-on lesson in squirming out of gloopy quicksand that will forever stick with you.

Also try… You can explore more shifting sands barefoot at Dune du Pilat, Europe’s highest sand dune, which lies near Arcachon on the Atlantic coast.

17. Canoe or kayak in the Gorges du Tarn, Languedoc

Motoring or biking the sinuous D907 balcony road through the precipitous gorges carved by the Tarn river is thrilling enough, but on a hot day in the south-west, there’s only one place you want to be. The descent by canoe or kayak into the Gorges du Tarn thrusts you into the heart of a primeval stone wonder – and it’s a great way to cool off.
Kayaks can be rented in Sainte-Enimie, a medieval village clamped improbably onto the cliffs at the gorge’s northern end. One-way paddles to La Malène (13km) and the Cirque des Baumes (21km) include a lift back to the village. Do also remember to look up occasionally while on the water – griffon vultures can be spotted riding the warm thermals that bubble up from this stone abyss.

Also try… Canoeing trips along the Gorges du Verdon in Provence and Auvergne’s Gorges de l’Ardèche are just as wondrous.

18. Go horse riding in the bird-rich delta of the Camargue, Provence

Splashing through the wetlands of the Camargue, Europe’s largest river delta, on horseback is a quintessential experience, but you don’t need to be a seasoned equestrian to saddle up. The estate of Domaine de la Palissade runs trekking tours of the delta for all abilities from its remote perch on the right bank of the Rhône river.

From here, riders forge out amid the salt lagoons, marshes, reed beds and swatches of soft-blue sea lavender, offering a glorious way to take in the wildlife of the delta, including its 400-plus bird species. Mount handsome white Camargue horses for treks along the beach or scenic rides through salt meadows speckled pink by the resident flamingo colony – the only regular nesting site for these birds in Western Europe.

Also try… Ride donkey tracks ridden by 19th-century novelist Robert Louis Stevenson in Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes in Languedoc.

19. Fly with the birds over Lake Annecy, Haute-Savoie

No technical knowledge or expertise is required for tandem paragliding over the glittering blue of Annecy’s eponymous lake. On clear days, views from the air of the surrounding medieval villages, peaks, chateaux and ornately canopied boat jetties are sublime. And because you’ve got someone with you taking care of all the technical aspects, you’re free to soak it all in as a passenger.

Paragliding schools operate from huts in the field beside the Doussard landing zone on Lake Annecy’s southern tip. It’s worth it for the perspective alone: alpine views from the panoramic Col de la Forclaz (1,150m), where the flights take off, are truly celestial.

Also try… Fly above St-André-les-Alpes, Haute-Provence, or float over the volcanic hills of the Chaîne des Puys in rural Auvergne.

20. Learn to sail in the Golfe du Morbihan, Brittany

With its confetti-like scattering of 40-plus islands and granite-rock inlets, southern Brittany’s Golfe du Morbihan is a sailing idyll where you can sample a bygone France.

‘Mor bihan’ in Breton means ‘small sea’, and the gulf’s sheltered waters are perfect for novice sailors. Learning the ropes on a day cruise aboard the elegant Fleur de Lampaul, a twin-masted oak schooner with rust-red sails that was built in 1948, makes for a fantastic introduction.

Across the water from port town Vannes, in the fishing village of Séné, trips in sinagots (small boats) once used by fishermen are the preferred method of sailing.

Also try… Yacht charters let you hop Corsica’s pristine coast and islands from the harbours of Ajaccio and Bonifacio.