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In the course of their travels throughout Fascist and Nazi Europe, French intellectuals produced diverse narratives that explored confrontations with political otherness. Embodying the new regimes, the figure of the dictator gradually became an indispensable component of these travel narratives. Meeting this figure in the flesh, understanding the reasons for his success as well as the follies of mystical nationalism, determining the regime’s intentions towards France by dialoguing with its mastermind, manifesting one’s admiration, touting one’s expertise, becoming an author and an authority figure on account of having met the dictator in person: such were the various objectives of the French intellectuals who met with the Fascist and Nazi dictators.