Most beautiful villages of France

Les Plus Beaux Villages de France (meaning "the most beautiful villages of France") is an independent association, created in 1982, that aims to promote small and picturesque French villages of quality heritage. As of 2015, 155 villages in France have been labelled as the "Plus Beaux Villages de France".

The label is neither the result of a contest or a mandatory requirement. Many villages that could pretend to the label never did so. Communes or communautés de communes have to submit an application form, providing that they meet some criteria. When an application is successful, the village can promote itself as part of the Most Beautiful Villages of France, for instance by displaying road signs at its entrances. Membership is not free, and every village has to pay an annual fee to the association. If a village does not respect the rules defined by the association, it may be excluded. Some villages also decided to quit the network after some years. The main criteria concern the aspect of the village: its population must not exceed 2,000 inhabitants, it must have a rural character and at least 2 national heritage sites.

The label has gained prestige and popularity through the years. It is very selective, as the association wants to keep the number of awarded villages under 200. Villages getting the label can expect a significant rise of visitors, usually between 10 and 50% of their annual figure.

Most of the labelled villages are located in Southern France, especially in the Dordogne and Aveyron, two departments that comprise 10 villages each. Then come Vaucluse (7) and Lot (6).

Following the success of the French label, similar associations have been set up in Wallonia (Les Plus Beaux Villages de Wallonie), Quebec (Les Plus Beaux Villages du Québec), Italy (I Borghi Piu Belli d'Italia), Spain (Los pueblos más bonitos de España), and Japan (Nihon de mottomo utsukushii mura).

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Wikipedia