The Most Beautiful Water Wonders in France
5 places · updated 13 October 2026
In short: By our ranking, the most beautiful water wonders in France are Lake of Sainte-Croix, Lake Annecy and Lavezzi Islands. The list covers 5 lakes, waterfalls, islands and beaches. Last updated 13 October 2026.
France's water wonders stretch far beyond Europe. Its overseas territories in the Pacific and the Caribbean bring volcanic islands ringed by lagoons and some of the largest reef systems on Earth, while the mainland adds Alpine lakes, chalk cliffs on the Channel and granite coasts on the Atlantic and in Corsica. Many of these places also hold a long place in French painting and literature, from Monet's cliffs to the lagoons of Polynesia.
In French Polynesia, Bora Bora and Maupiti are old volcanoes sinking slowly into lagoons enclosed by coral reefs, Moorea rises in jagged green peaks beside Tahiti, and Fakarava is a wide atoll whose lagoon is a UNESCO biosphere reserve. The lagoons of New Caledonia, inscribed on the World Heritage List, are enclosed by one of the longest barrier reefs in the world. In the Caribbean, Diamond Rock rises from the sea off Martinique, and the Carbet Falls drop through rainforest on the slopes of La Soufrière in Guadeloupe.
On the mainland, Lake Annecy is a clear Alpine lake below the mountains of Haute-Savoie, and the Lake of Sainte-Croix, a reservoir at the mouth of the Verdon Gorge, takes on a vivid turquoise. On the Normandy coast, the Aiguille d'Étretat stands as a chalk needle beside a natural arch, and in Brittany, the Aiguilles de Port-Coton on Belle-Île rise from a rough sea. Between Corsica and Sardinia, the Lavezzi Islands are a scatter of granite boulders and clear coves.
In this list
| # | Place | Type | UNESCO |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lake of Sainte-Croix | Reservoir | |
| 2 | Lake Annecy | Lake | |
| 3 | Lavezzi Islands | Island | |
| 4 | Aiguilles de Port-Coton, Belle-Île | Stack | |
| 5 | Aiguille d'Étretat | Stack |
01 Lake of Sainte-Croix
Lac de Sainte-Croix
France43.764° N 6.184° E
Image by ToNic-Pics from Pixabay With a surface of about 22 square kilometres and some 760 million cubic metres of water, it is among the largest bodies of water in metropolitan France. The filling drowned the old village of Les Salles-sur-Verdon, which was rebuilt on higher ground on the new shore; the neighbouring hill villages of Sainte-Croix-du-Verdon and Bauduen were spared after a 1968 decision to lower the planned water level.
Did you know? By surface area it ranks as the fourth-largest reservoir in metropolitan France, behind Der-Chantecoq, Serre-Ponçon and the Lac d'Orient.
02 Lake Annecy
France · 6.8 km from Annecy45.850° N 6.167° E
Image by 1466325 from Pixabay The lake's famous colour — a clear turquoise that turns green and deep blue as the bottom drops away — is not simply a gift of nature but the result of a decision. By the 1950s the lake was choking on sewage and algae; an Annecy physician, Dr Paul-Louis Servettaz, had been sounding the alarm since 1943, and in 1957 eight lakeside municipalities formed a joint syndicate to save it.
Did you know? Paul Cezanne painted Le Lac bleu here in 1896, during a stay on its shores.
03 Lavezzi Islands
Îles Lavezzi
France41.341° N 9.254° E
Image by jackmac34 from Pixabay Of the two main islands, Cavallo, about 112 hectares, is the only inhabited one; Lavezzu, about 66 hectares, gives the group its name and carries a lighthouse first lit in 1874. People came here long before: archaeologists have found Neolithic rock shelters, traces of a Roman harbour and the remains of a 7th-century chapel. The best-known event in the islands' history is a tragedy.
Did you know? According to local tradition, the island's shepherd set fire to his own house to signal the disaster to Bonifacio.
04 Aiguilles de Port-Coton, Belle-Île
Aiguilles de Port-Coton
France47.306° N 3.240° W
Rivière, Henri (1864-1951). Dessinateur · Public domain The rocks owe their fame to Claude Monet. He arrived in Le Palais, the island's main town, on 12 September 1886, intending to stay a fortnight, and left only on 25 November.
Did you know? The critic Gustave Geffroy met Monet by chance on Belle-Île in September 1886 while researching a book on prisons, the start of a lifelong friendship.
05 Aiguille d'Étretat
France · 23.4 km from Le Havre49.707° N 0.193° E
Image by baccus7 from Pixabay The chalk, Turonian and Coniacian in age, shifts colour with the weather and the hour, from bone-white at noon to pink and gold at sunset. Painters came for exactly that: Eugène Boudin, Charles Daubigny, Gustave Courbet and, most persistently, Claude Monet, who painted the arch and the Needle several times in the 1880s.
Did you know? The 1777 oyster beds were set up by the Marquis de Belvert, and two sloops, La Syrène and La Cauchoise, brought the oysters from Cancale.
How this list is ranked
Places are chosen for how they look, not for how famous they are: each one has its own description and a photograph credited to its author. The order is a single world ranking that weighs the beauty of the place in curated photography together with how widely it is documented — the number of language editions of its encyclopedia article and how often that article is read in a year. The list is rebuilt as places are added, so the order and the counts on this page are always current.
Questions people ask
- What are the most beautiful water wonders in France?
- On our list, Lake of Sainte-Croix ranks first, followed by Lake Annecy and Lavezzi Islands.
- Who painted the Aiguilles de Port-Coton?
- Claude Monet painted the rocks of Port-Coton on Belle-Île in a series of canvases in 1886; he also painted the cliffs and needle of Étretat many times.
- Why is the Lake of Sainte-Croix turquoise?
- The Lake of Sainte-Croix is fed by the Verdon River, whose water carries fine limestone particles and minerals from the gorge; these scatter light and give the reservoir its turquoise-green colour.
- Why is Bora Bora surrounded by a lagoon?
- Bora Bora is an extinct volcano that is slowly sinking, while the coral reef that grew around its shores has kept pace near the surface, leaving a wide lagoon between the reef and the central island.
- How many lakes, waterfalls, islands and beaches are on this list in France?
- The list covers 5 lakes, waterfalls, islands and beaches.