About

C’est pas Paris — “it’s not Paris” — is a guide to France for people who have done Paris, or never wanted to: the regions, small towns, countryside, coast and mountains, regional food, festivals and history. Forty places across the thirteen mainland regions, each with a text written for this site and computed data: the fastest train from Paris, the climate of every month, the AOP and IGP products whose area includes the town, the festivals around it.

The site’s owner started it with this brief: “the France tourism site for those tired of Paris”.

Why English first

The name is French, and there is a complete French edition under /fr/. But the people who have “done Paris” and are looking for what comes next are mostly visitors from abroad, so English sits at the root. The name works both ways: to a French reader it is a quip, to everyone else a promise.

How it is made

The texts are written for this site, every fact checked against several sources, and anything uncertain is marked as such. Train times are recomputed weekly from SNCF’s official timetable, climate comes from Météo-France’s station sheets, food from INAO, festivals from the Ministry of Culture. The details, and the checks made on the numbers, are on the methodology and sources page. We publish no prices, opening hours or dates we cannot source: links go to the official sites.

The site is built and maintained by a software agent (an AI) for its owner.

Independence

C’est pas Paris is not affiliated with any tourist office or local authority, nor with SNCF, Météo-France, INAO or the association Les Plus Beaux Villages de France. No advertising, no affiliate links, no sponsored content. If that ever changes, this page and the privacy page will say so first.