Secret France: Eight under-the-radar locations to visit in the country

France's title as the world's most visited country is about to go up a notch with the Paris Olympics - but you can escape the crowds and seek out these bucket-list-worthy experiences on roads less travelled.

As a part-time French resident for the past seven years, I can attest that there are still lots of places where you can get away from the hordes and experience the real France, which is hiding in plain sight. Here are a few suggestions to get you started.

Just remember that the French go on holiday en masse in July and August so even these locales will be busy. If you can avoid these dates, you'll have a much less crowded experience.

Smack bang in the heart of France and part of the Massif Central, the Auvergne region is home to the sleeping giants of La France Profonde, 80 dormant volcanoes that form a spectacular landscape of cinder cones, lava domes, glacial valleys and lakes along the Monts Dore and Chaine des Puys in the Parc des Volcans, the largest natural park in France.

Come here for great hiking and mountain biking, paragliding and hot-air ballooning. As for the crowds, you'll see more cows than people. Those cows are responsible for the fabulous local dry-rind Cantal and Salers cheese, which you can buy from local dairies and farmers markets.

Aurillac, France's unofficial umbrella capital, hosts an acclaimed international street theatre festival every August, while the medieval black-stone town of Saint-Flour sits atop a volcanic dome. Not far away, the Garabit viaduct, a rather less well-known masterpiece by Gustav Eiffel, spans the Truyere River. france.fr/en/auvergne

Don't confuse rustic-chic Cap Ferret with Cap Ferrat, the mansion-dotted "billionaire's peninsula" on the Cote d'Azur. About 80 kilometres west of Bordeaux, Cap Ferret is a fragrant pine-tree shaded sand spit that separates the wild Atlantic Ocean from the Bassin d'Arcachon, a huge shallow bay whose vast tidal range is ideal for oyster cultivation as well as leisure boating.

Plenty of French high-flyers own pine villas tucked into the woods but the atmosphere is low key, with tourism tempered by the real-world rhythms of oyster farmers who live in bright-shuttered waterfront cottages and tend their spindly pole-delineated oyster beds in flat-bottomed pinasse boats.

Visit Cap Ferret's artisanal market for beach towels and baskets; rent bicycles to pedal through the pines to access 20 kilometres of wild ocean beaches across the dunes; feast on oysters and prawns at the many waterfront oyster shacks; rent a motorboat or join a pinasse cruise to explore the Bassin; and head across the bay to slide down the Dune du Pilat, the tallest sand dune in Europe. lege-capferret.com/en

We all want to go to the Paris 1874: Inventing Impressionism exhibition at the Musee d'Orsay, but oh, those long lines. Luckily there are alternatives in Provence and the Cote d'Azur.

You can see 15 original paintings and 40 sculptures by Pierre-Auguste Renoir at the home he built for himself and his wife Aline in Cagnes-sur-Mer.

In the old town of Antibes, the first museum in the world devoted entirely to Picasso is located in the Grimaldi Castle where he worked furiously for three months in 1946. He left 23 paintings, including La Joie de Vivre and Satyre, and 44 drawings, as well as a series of ceramics he made in nearby Vallauris.

You can also visit the studio of Paul Cezanne outside Aix-en-Provence with its view of Mont Sainte-Victoire, his favourite subject. While there are no original paintings here, you'll discover many of the objects that filled his still-life paintings. Aix is hosting a major Cezanne festival in 2025, with an exhibition at the Musee Granet.

Bordeaux, Burgundy and Champagne may draw wine lovers from all over the world, but tiny Jura, nestled against the Swiss border, has been making waves with its natural wines now served in some of the world's finest hipster restaurants.

An hour's drive east of Beaune across the Bresse plain (home to France's succulent AOC-certified poulet de Bresse chicken), the Jura's small, family-owned undulating vineyards rise towards limestone crags, which create dramatic horseshoe-shaped dead-ends to forested valleys. Above the vineyards, Montbeliarde cows graze rich pastures to create milk that's transformed into wheels of the famed Comte cheese.

The market towns of Arbois and Poligny have excellent restaurants and tasting rooms where you can sample Jura's distinctive chardonnay and pinot noir, its unique vin jaune (aged like sherry), its poulsard and trousseau red wines, and the sweet Vin de Paille and Marc du Jura.

Build up your appetite by swimming in turquoise Lac de Chalain and hiking to the exquisite Herisson waterfalls and Cascade des Tufs. jura-tourism.com

Mention the Basque country and most Australians think of San Sebastian and its galaxy of Michelin-starred restaurants or the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, both of which are in Spain. The French Basques share the same language, culture and traditions, including the pelote ballgame played in every village square, yet have retained a more bucolic, agrarian lifestyle in the deep green valleys and foothills of the Pyrenees, which are dotted with whitewashed red- and green-shuttered houses.

There's the fishing port and beach town of Saint Jean de Luz on a crescent-shaped bay and the seaside resort of Biarritz, which Napoleon III transformed from a fishing village when he built a summer palace for Princess Eugenie. A hundred years later, a California screenwriter introduced surfing to Europe right here when he was filming Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises. And there's the half-timbered walled town of Bayonne, where Jews fleeing the Spanish Inquisition brought their knowledge of chocolate making to France.

Head into the hinterland to go hiking and to explore the pretty villages of Sare, Ainhoa and Espelette, and feast on Ossau-Iraty sheep's cheese, trout, pork from black Basque pigs and Espelette peppers. guide-du-paysbasque.com

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Ditch overcrowded Santorini and Mykonos to explore an untamed island with sublime uncrowded beaches and rugged mountain ranges. Welcome to Corsica, the fourth largest island in the Mediterranean with 1000 kilometres of coastline surrounded by aquamarine waters.

Highlights include Lotu and Saleccia beaches on the Desert des Agriates while the GR 20 is one of the most spectacular and toughest long-distance walking trails in Europe, which also includes an excellent day-hike section to lakes Melu and Capitello. There's a lot more to discover such as the prehistoric dolmen structures and menhirs at Filitosa and the Scandola Nature Reserve, one of the richest marine diversity hotspots in Europe which, together with the red rock spires of the Calanques of Piana, you can explore on a boat trip.

Gourmet delights include fabulous seafood, flavourful goats and sheep milk cheeses, and charcuterie made from wild boar, which go down well with delicious Corsican wines made from distinctive local grape varieties. visit-corsica.com/en

Australian Impressionist John Peter Russell lived with his wife Mariana, Rodin's muse, on Belle Isle, Brittany's largest island dangling off the Quiberon Peninsula. He invited Claude Monet to paint here in the 1880s and while 39 of Monet's Belle Isle paintings are in major galleries around the world, Belle Isle remains an enigma. Actress Sarah Bernhardt bought an old fort here precisely because it felt so remote. You can still visit it.

Little on the island has changed since those times. Aquamarine waters warmed by the Gulf Stream glisten in tucked-away coves. Hydrangeas nestle against slate-roofed, lollipop-hued houses clustered in pretty fishing villages.

Go hiking on more than 100 kilometres of walking paths; swim at its 58 gorgeous beaches; feast on Atlantic seafood; and visit Vauban's citadel built to keep out the English pirates. And be sure to explore the jagged granite cliffs along the Cote Sauvage, which looks the same as when Russell and Monet painted here. brittanytourism.com

Two hours east of (and light years away from) the crowded beaches of Nice lie the jagged, soaring limestone cliffs of the Verdon Gorge and the turquoise waters of Lac de Sainte-Croix. Visit in spring (April to June), when the landscape is green and dotted with wildflowers and before it gets too crowded.

Drive (or cycle) La Route des Cretes for jaw-dropping views from the top of 700-metre cliffs or, if you're an experienced hiker, trek the challenging 16-kilometre Blanc-Martel trail, which follows the Verdon River at the bottom of the canyon. Easier hikes include Col de Plein Voir trail.

There are loads of boating opportunities, from kayaking and stand-up paddleboarding on Lac de Sainte-Croix to whitewater rafting adventures between the pretty villages of Castellane and Rougon to the spectacular Samson Gorge.

The pottery village of Moustiers Ste Marie gets busy in summer; the nearby climbing centre of Aiguines is more low-key. Lavender season (mid-June to mid-July) on the nearby Valensole plateau is stunning but draws those selfie-stick-toting tourists. verdontourisme.com/en/