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Size isn't everything but the largest towns are the liveliest!

There are a few ways to classify the size of a town, but the most usual (and probably the most effective) is to use the population as measured in the most recent census of the country.

Hence the schedule below represents the 'most populated' biggest French towns and has been prepared on this basis. The list is in descending order and uses data from 1999. The populations have changed, but the ranking according to size remained unchanged at 2005:

1. Paris

2. Marseille

3. Lyon

4. Toulouse

5. Nice

6. Nantes

7. Strasbourg

8. Montpellier

9. Bordeaux

10. Lille

In this guide as a whole we have focussed on the smaller places and towns that tend to get visited by visitors to the country (not forgetting that Paris is by far the most popular destination in France, and of course, the biggest town!) We will right this injustice as soon as time permits!