French lakeside and river towns off the beaten path.

Less-touristed lakeside and river towns in France, for travelers seeking fewer crowds but all the beauty.

Lascaux Cave's prehistoric paintings draw visitors to Montignac-Lascaux on the Vézère river, but that's only one thread in a country where 279 towns owe their shape, economy, and identity to moving or standing water. From Cauterets, where thermal springs and the Gave de Pau define daily life inside the Pyrénées National Park, to Moulins, the old Bourbonnais capital on the Allier, and Abondance, whose valley cattle gave the world both a cheese and a breed, these are places water built.