France is the biggest country in Western Europe. It has borders with six other countries- from north east to the south east, it borders Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy. The south borders Spain. France has over 3200 km of coastline, with rocky cliffs and beaches. In the North of France, the Channel tunnel runs under the English Channel, Connecting France with UK. In the west there is the Bay of Biscay, and the south coast of France is located on the Mediterranean Sea.

Large rivers including the Seine, the Loire, the Garonne, and the Rhone. The tallest mountain ranges in France are the Alps. They take up two-thirds of the eastern border down to the Mediterranean, and the Pyrenees mountain in the South, by the border of Spain. The tallest peak in France is Mount Blanc in the Alps on the Italian border. It is 4,807 meters tall. 

Because France is so large, the weather from one part of the country to another is very different. In Brittany, on the North-west coast, it is often quite mild, with humid winds from the Atlantic Ocean attracting a lot of rain. The north-east has warm summers and cold winters. In the mountainous areas there is plenty of snow in the winter, the snow can stay on the mountains all year long. The south has a Mediterranean climate, with winters that are not so cold and hot summers. 

In the spring a very rough, cold wind called the Le Mistral blows through the Rhone Valley. It can make people's lives unpleasant, and it is said that people that live in that area are often bad-tempered. Le Mistral is so strong that people have to put rocks on their roofs to stop the the tiles from blowing away. Naughty villagers often tell tourists that the wind was so strong it blew the rocks off the roof !

 France is the fourth-biggest car manufacturer, behind Japan, the USA, and Germany. It is also famous for its wine, perfume, and fashion industries. Tourism is also very important to the French economy: every year thousands of visitors go to Paris and other Franch cities.