To make the geography ( if not the choice ) simpler , we 've divided the country into just five Paris and its vicinity ( known to the French as the Ile-de-France ) ; the Northeast ( Picardy , Champagne-Ardennes , Lorraine , Alsace , Burgundy , and the Jura ) ; the Northwest ( Normandy , Brittany , and the Loire Valley ) ; the Southeast ( Savoie , the Rhone Valley , Provence , the Cete d 'Azur , and Corsica ) ; and the South ? ­ west ( Berry-Limousin , P ? ? rigord , the Atlantic Coast , the Pyr ? ? ? ­ n ? ? es , and Languedoc-Roussillon ) .
France can be thought of as consisting of three major geographic regions .