France
France is the most visited country in the world. This is a statement that everybody is familiar with. But what France has to offer to tourists? Coming to France is to immerse into history, arts, gastronomy, architectural treasures, beautiful landscapes, and in its enchanting capital Paris. France knows how to promote its charm. In fact, tourism is an important activity of the country’s economy, so a lot of facilities, accommodations, and excursions are offered to visitors.
What makes France a unique destination is that it will fit everybody’s taste. For sportive visitors, they will be thrilled skiing and hiking the French Alps. For food addicts, they will discover a different type of cuisine in every region they will stop by, like the Dordogne region known for foie gras and truffles. For the ones that want to relax on the beach, the French Riviera is a beauty and the Atlantic Coast is pure nature and wild. For the artistic ones, France has an dense art collection in its museums, and in the streets of villages or bigger towns like Bordeaux, Starsbourg, Nantes or Avignon, that you won’t get tired of. And for a wellness holiday trip, France comprises very well equipped spa resorts in nice environments using water cure and wine treatments.
France has developed three different types of water treatments. Seawater is used for thalassotherapy, thermal spring water for hydrotherapy and fresh water for balneotherapy and spa treatments. France is known for having invented thalassotherapy. In 2006, France offered well-equipped resorts for 350,000 clients and registered 47 international leading centers. It makes France the number one for well-being destination. There are more than 50 Spa towns, the famous ones are Vichy, Aix-les-Bains, Bagnoles-de-l’Orne and Enghien-les-Bains, Evian-les-Bains, and Dax.
Thalassotherapy treatments are mainly located along the Atlantic coast while the thermal spring water resort are in a major part in the southern half part of the country and a lot of them are located in zones of medium mountains. In France, water treatments are recognized by the Social Security and is part of medical care for specific diseases such as knee oste-arthritis, overweight and obesity, cuff tendinitis, metabolic syndromes, and it is well recognized for therapeutic purposes and general anxiety. It is also used as a preventive medication. Doctors have the right to prescribe spa treatments according to the regulation of the Health Ministry of France.
In addition to water treatments, France has developed a technique using the virtues of grapes, recognized for having high antioxidant properties. It is called wine therapy and it was born in the Graves region, known for their Bordeaux vineyards. This technique was then developed in Italy, Spain, Argentina and South Africa. Wine therapy is known for facial and body skin beauty treatment such as reducing wrinkles and abdomen, and making muscle, skin and breast look younger. The famous wine therapy center is Les Sources de Caudalies located in the middle of Bordeaux vineyards.