The national parks of France is a system of ten national parks throughout metropolitan France and its overseas departments, coordinated by the government agency Parcs Nationaux de France. The French national parks protect a total area of 3,710 square kilometres (1,430 sq mi) in core area and 9,162 square kilometres (3,537 sq mi) in buffer zones in metropolitan France. This puts over 2% of the total area of metropolitan France under some level of protection. French national parks draw over seven million visitors every year.
| Name | Photo | Department | Area | Established |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vanoise National Park (Parc national de la Vanoise) |
Savoie | 70031250000000000001,250 !1,250 km2 (483 sq mi) | 6 July 1963 | |
| Port-Cros National Park (Parc national de Port-Cros) |
Var | 70007000000000000007 !7 km2 (3 sq mi) | 14 December 1963 | |
| Pyrénées National Park (Parc national des Pyrénées) |
Hautes-Pyrénées and Pyrénées-Atlantiques | 7002457000000000000457 !457 km2 (176 sq mi) | 23 March 1967 | |
| Cévennes National Park (Parc national des Cévennes) |
Mainly Lozère and Gard, also Ardèche and Aveyron | 7002913000000000000913 !913 km2 (353 sq mi) | 2 September 1970 | |
| Écrins National Park (Parc National des Écrins) |
Isère and Hautes-Alpes | 7002918000000000000918 !918 km2 (354 sq mi) | 27 March 1973 | |
| Mercantour National Park (Parc national du Mercantour) |
Alpes-Maritimes and Alpes-de-Haute-Provence | 7002685000000000000685 !685 km2 (264 sq mi) | 18 August 1979 | |
| Guiana Amazonian Park (Parc amazonien de Guyane) |
French Guiana (overseas department) | 700433900000000000033,900 !33,900 km2 (13,089 sq mi) | 2007 | |
| Réunion National Park (Parc national de la Réunion) |
Réunion (overseas department) | 70031054000000000001,054 !1,054 km2 (407 sq mi) | 2007 | |
| Guadeloupe National Park (Parc national de la Guadeloupe) |
Guadeloupe (overseas department) | 7002173000000000000173 !173 km2 (67 sq mi) | 20 February 1989 | |
| Calanques National Park (Parc national des Calanques) |
Bouches-du-Rhône | 7002520000000000000520 !520 km2 (201 sq mi) | 18 April 2012 |
Famous quotes containing the words national parks, national, parks and/or france:
“It is not unkind to say, from the standpoint of scenery alone, that if many, and indeed most, of our American national parks were to be set down on the continent of Europe thousands of Americans would journey all the way across the ocean in order to see their beauties.”
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)
“Success and failure in our own national economy will hang upon the degree to which we are able to work with races and nations whose social order and whose behavior and attitudes are strange to us.”
—Ruth Benedict (1887–1948)
“Towns are full of people, houses full of tenants, hotels full of guests, trains full of travelers, cafés full of customers, parks full of promenaders, consulting-rooms of famous doctors full of patients, theatres full of spectators, and beaches full of bathers. What previously was, in general, no problem, now begins to be an everyday one, namely, to find room.”
—José Ortega Y Gasset (1883–1955)
“I shall not bring an automobile with me. These inventions infest France almost as much as Bloomer cycling costumes, but they make a horrid racket, and are particularly objectionable. So are the Bloomers. Nothing more abominable has ever been invented. Perhaps the automobile tricycles may succeed better, but I abjure all these works of the devil.”
—Henry Brooks Adams (1838–1918)