Photo location game · Europe

France landmarks quiz: guess where 36 photos were taken

France in 36 photographs, each pinned to the map with a line of context. Five are dealt per round.

36 places·10 easy, 25 medium, 1 hard·Free

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Quick round · 5 photos

Five France photos. For each one, tap the spot on the map and see how far off you were.

Where they are

31 on the map
Hover or tap a dot to name the place. Marquesas Islands, Devil's Island, Juan de Nova Island, Tubuai and Mount Pelée are outside this map.

All 36 places

by id
Eiffel Tower, Paris, France
Eiffel Tower, Pariseasy

The wrought-iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars, built for the 1889 World's Fair.

Photo: Jorge Royan / CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Colmar, France
Colmarmedium

Half-timbered Alsatian houses along a 'Little Venice' canal.

Photo: karlheinz klingbeil / CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Mont-Saint-Michel, France
Mont-Saint-Michelmedium

An abbey crowning a tidal island off the Normandy coast.

Photo: Benh LIEU SONG / CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons
Annecy, France
Annecyhard

A canal-laced old town beneath the Alps on a glacial lake.

Photo: Guilhem Vellut from Annecy, France / CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Arc de Triomphe, Paris, France
Arc de Triomphe, Pariseasy

The triumphal arch at the top of the Champs-Élysées.

Photo: Tim Adams / CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Château de Chambord, France
Château de Chambordmedium

A Renaissance château with a forest of roof turrets in the Loire.

Photo: Benh LIEU SONG / CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Carcassonne, France
Carcassonnemedium

A double-walled medieval fortress town with conical turrets.

Photo: Mike McBey / CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Pont du Gard, France
Pont du Gardmedium

A three-tier Roman aqueduct bridge over the Gardon.

Photo: Benh LIEU SONG (Flickr) / CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Place de la Bourse, Bordeaux, France
Place de la Bourse, Bordeauxmedium

A classical square mirrored in a thin sheet of water.

Photo: Mariusz Strawinski / CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Château de Montsoreau, France
Château de Montsoreaueasy

A Loire château built right into the riverbed, now a contemporary art museum.

Photo: Marc Ryckaert / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Palais des Papes, France
Palais des Papesmedium

The fortress-palace of the popes during their 14th-century exile from Rome.

Photo: W. Bulach / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Marquesas Islands, France
Marquesas IslandseasyNot on the map above

Steep volcanic islands in the Pacific where Gauguin spent his last years.

Photo: Sémhur ·✉·✍· / CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Montmartre, France
Montmartreeasy

The bohemian hill of Paris, crowned by the white domes of Sacré-Cœur.

Photo: Navin75 / CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Palais Garnier, France
Palais Garniereasy

Paris's opulent opera house, the setting of The Phantom of the Opera.

Photo: Alexander Hoernigk / CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Canal du Midi, France
Canal du Midieasy

A 240-kilometre canal from 1681 linking Toulouse to the Mediterranean.

Photo: M.Strīķis / CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Bourges Cathedral, France
Bourges Cathedralmedium

A Gothic cathedral with no transept and a famous five-portal facade.

Photo: Gerd Eichmann / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Grande Arche, France
Grande Archemedium

A hollow 110-metre cube at La Défense, aligned with the Arc de Triomphe.

Photo: Cristian Bortes from Cluj-Napoca, Romania / CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Vézelay Abbey, France
Vézelay Abbeymedium

A Romanesque hilltop basilica where the Second Crusade was preached in 1146.

Photo: Carsten Steger / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Cluny Abbey, France
Cluny Abbeymedium

The mother abbey of a monastic order, once the largest church in Christendom.

Photo: Carsten Steger / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Devil's Island, France
Devil's IslandmediumNot on the map above

The notorious French penal colony island where Dreyfus was imprisoned.

Photo: Gfievet / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Juan de Nova Island, France
Juan de Nova IslandmediumNot on the map above

A French coral island in the Mozambique Channel, with a lagoon and no inhabitants.

Photo: TAAF / CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Isle of Ré, France
Isle of Rémedium

An Atlantic island of white villages, salt marshes and bicycles, linked to La Rochelle by bridge.

Photo: Jebulon / CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
Palace of Versailles, France
Palace of Versailleseasy

Louis XIV's colossal palace of mirrors and formal gardens outside Paris.

Photo: ToucanWings / CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Montparnasse Tower, France
Montparnasse Towermedium

The lone 210-metre skyscraper Parisians love to hate, with a rooftop view of the city.

Photo: Diliff, edited by Fir0002 / CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons
Luxembourg Palace, France
Luxembourg Palacemedium

A 17th-century palace built for Marie de' Medici, now the French Senate.

Photo: Luis Miguel Bugallo Sánchez (Lmbuga) / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Roubaix, France
Roubaixeasy

The textile town of northern France where the Paris–Roubaix cycling race ends.

Photo: Mairie de roubaix / CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Grand Mosque of Paris, France
Grand Mosque of Parismedium

The 1926 Moorish-style mosque of Paris, with a 33-metre minaret and a tea garden.

Photo: LPLT / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Cannes, France
Cannesmedium

The Riviera resort of the film festival, with a palm-lined seafront boulevard.

Photo: Jenny Andersson / News Oresund / CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Ajaccio, France
Ajacciomedium

Corsica's capital and Napoleon's birthplace, on a bay of red granite.

Photo: Julian Nyča / CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Aiguille du Midi, France
Aiguille du Midimedium

A 3,842-metre needle above Chamonix, with a glass box hanging over the void.

Photo: Martin Janner / CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Tubuai, France
TubuaimediumNot on the map above

A South Pacific island ringed by a lagoon, the main island of the Austral group.

Photo: Jérémie Silvestro (If you can improve this photo development, ask me the RAW.) / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Calais, France
Calaismedium

The French port closest to England, with a Flemish town hall and Rodin's Burghers.

Photo: Velvet / CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Château de Vincennes, France
Château de Vincennesmedium

A royal fortress with the tallest medieval keep in Europe, on the edge of Paris.

Photo: ignis / CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Maison Carrée, France
Maison Carréemedium

One of the best-preserved Roman temples anywhere, in the centre of Nîmes.

Photo: Krzysztof Golik / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Gare du Nord, France
Gare du Nordmedium

The busiest railway station in Europe, a 19th-century facade of 23 statues.

Photo: Matthias Süßen / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Mount Pelée, France
Mount PeléeeasyNot on the map above

The volcano whose 1902 eruption destroyed the town of Saint-Pierre in minutes.

Photo: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

How to place them

Eleven of the 36 are in Paris or at its edge: the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, Montmartre, the Palais Garnier, the Gare du Nord, the Luxembourg Palace, the Grand Mosque and the Montparnasse Tower inside the city, Vincennes on the eastern edge, the Grande Arche at La Défense in the west, Versailles 15 km south-west. Any Parisian photo you cannot pin to a district, pin to the middle of the city; most of them carry a 10 km radius and that covers the centre.

The south has its own cluster in Provence and Languedoc: the Pont du Gard, the Maison Carrée at Nîmes and the Palais des Papes at Avignon sit within 25 km of each other, with Carcassonne and the Canal du Midi further west towards Toulouse and Cannes on the Riviera to the east. The Loire has Chambord and Montsoreau. Alsace has Colmar, on the German side. The Alps have Annecy and the Aiguille du Midi above Chamonix.

Five places are not in Europe at all. The Marquesas and Tubuai are in French Polynesia, in the South Pacific; Devil's Island is off French Guiana in South America; Mount Pelée is on Martinique in the Caribbean; Juan de Nova is a speck in the Mozambique Channel between Madagascar and Africa. They are shown with the others below but left out of the map round, because a map of France cannot hold them.

France is one country. The daily draws from all 167.

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Questions & answers

How many places in France are in the game?

36 places, counting five outside the mainland map. Calais is the top of the map and Tubuai the bottom.

Which photo from France is the hardest?

Annecy, the only one rated hard. At that level the score halves every 451 km past the accuracy radius.

Which one is easiest to score full points on?

Marquesas Islands, which forgives 150 km in every direction before a single point is lost.

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