What do you get when you mix a bit of France with exotic ingredients? A ticket to the fantasy islands of Guadeloupe, French Polynesia and Reunion Island.

Mention the name of a place and our mental projector start whirring with images.

It’s like a series of postcards from a place that we have visited or read about as part of our plans to visit. So with Italy, it’s a hive of Vespas buzzing along Corso Vittorio or a main course of fish flavoured with Sicilian agrumi. Mention Spain and it’s a passionate dance of tapas, Gaudi’s flying buttresses and a late night in Madrid. As for France, it’s the fairytale castles of Avignon, the food markets of Paris and Jura’s rolling vineyards.

And yet France also extends its offerings to frilly cocktails, palm trees and sand as soft and white as talcum powder. Because France is not just Europe: its borders extend to the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans.

The French territories consist of a flotilla of small islands scattered all around the world. And yet, despite their individual size, together, they add up to more than 2.5m people and a combined land area of almost 120,000km². And collectively they form a veritable brochure of exciting destinations. So if you’ve had your fill of wine, cheese and croissants, choose from a specials menu of active volcanoes, creole cuisine and Caribbean dance.

Guadeloupe

Frequently referred to as the pearl of the French Caribbean, the French archipelago of Guadeloupe, located between Dominica and Antigua, consists of five islands: Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Les Saintes, Marie-Galante and La Desirade.

The two biggest islands are Basse-Terre and Grande-Terre and from above, they look like a butterfly. Indeed, they are as beautiful, colourful and exotic as a butterfly. Separated by a narrow strait that is crossed with bridges, the two islands have an individual identity: while Grande-Terre is largely flat and boasts a beauty of white sand beaches which can serve as a backdrop to your castaway fantasies, the lush and mountainous Basse-Terre is in fact an active volcano.

Guadeloupe has such dreamy landscapes that it’s what you make of it. You can rent a gite and have a quiet holiday on some hidden beach, only interrupting your nap for a cocktail or three and a lunch of traditional bokit, which is a naan like bread stuffed with meat and vegetables. Or else you can choose the more adventurous trail and move your muscles at the Parc National with its various hiking options.

French Polynesia

We might be familiar with Tahiti through the masterpieces of Paul Gauguin. However, French Polynesia is more than big flowers and dusky maidens.

This French territory in the South Pacific Ocean consists of 118 islands that are dispersed over what is the largest marine territory in the world. The names of the islands – from Windward Islands to the Tuamotu Archipelago – conjure up dreams of fantastic forests, paradisiacal myths, tropical beaches, and palm-fringed lagoons. But this is no fantasy because the islands here are indeed a combination of volcanoes, blue coral atolls, endemic species, turquoise lagoons and legendary hospitality.

When travelling to French Polynesia, it’s best to pack your dancing shoes because you will get to exercise your moves. In Polynesian culture, dance and music are considered to be a means of communication. And there’s always a festival going on, whether music, dance or sports. The biggest one is the Heiva i Tahiti festival in July, which includes stone lifting competitions, coconut tree climbing and javelin-throwing events.

This is one of the best places in the world to hike and dive. Hiking follows an adventurous trail of mountains and caves while rocky depths, lagoons, coral formations and reefs make diving a spectacular and unforgettable experience.

All this activity will help you work up an appetite. Which is good because French Polynesia has a delicious cuisine where fresh tuna and mullet, breadfruit, papaya, suckling pig and coconut milk are larder staples.

Reunion Island

Together with Mauritius and Rodrigues, Reunion Island forms the Mascareignes archipelago, right in the heart of the Indian Ocean. The island is a mix of cultures and flavours, courtesy of a chequered past during which it served as a trading post of the East India company and a pirate hideout.

Reunion Island boasts a magnificent landscape: primitive forests, waterfalls, lush vegetation, lagoons, sandy beaches and tropical gardens. That means that you can enjoy yourself from 40 metres under the sea to more than 3,000 metres above. You have the same choice when it comes to investing in your waistline: from curry and rougaille to cari and combinations of vanilla and fresh fruit, the flavours are natural, local and delicious.