There are 9 national parks in France and its overseas territories. The most popular among tourists are Vanoise, Mercantour and Ekren Vanoise National Park, located south of the Mont Blanc mountain range and founded in 1963, is the first national park in France and is known for its population of wild alpine mountain goats ibex. In addition, the park is inhabited by chamois, alpine marmots, lynx, hare-rabbits, ermines, bearded, golden eagles and black grouse. Vanoise borders the Italian national park of Gran Paradiso, and both form the largest protected array of Western Europe.

The territory of the National Park Mercantour (Parc National du Mercantour), opened in 1979, includes 685 sq. Km . km and is divided into 2 zones: a central uninhabited zone comprising 7 valleys; and a peripheral zone consisting of 28 villages . And at the foot of Mount Mont Bégo, located in the park, there is the so-called "Valley of Wonders" (Vallée des Merveilles), where visitors can admire the rock paintings depicting human figures , weapons and cattle dating back to the Bronze Age . In addition to the petroglyphs in the Mercantour, you can admire the local flora and fauna . The park is home to a stone oak, Mediterranean olive tree, rhododendrons, firs, spruce, Swiss pines and larch, and etc More than 2 thousand species of flowering plants are planted, 200 of which are very rare: it is edelweiss and curly lilies . The animals in the park are inhabited by chamois, ermines, ibex (alpine mountain goats) and mouflons (a variety of rams), and sometimes even the whistling of marmots .

The territory of the National Park Ecren (Parc national des Écrins) covers 91, 8 thousand hectares of the Alpine area, including the Pelva Massif and the eponymous reserve. The park is famous for its glaciers forming valleys and crevices. In addition, in Ekren there are more than 100 peaks above 3 thousand meters; the local flora is represented by more than 800 protected species of plants, and the fauna - by chamois, marmots and golden eagles. 740 km of trails are laid in the park and about 30 shelters are equipped