City of La Rochelle

Situated near the Old Port, you can buy fresh products every morning in the central covered Market. On Wednesday and Saturdays (and during most of the summer), you will see all of the streets surrounding the main area covered in stands occupied by local farmers selling their products.

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La Rochelle’s main feature is the “Vieux Port” (“Old Harbour”, map), which is at the heart of the city, picturesque and lined with seafood restaurants. The city walls are open to an evening promenade.

The old town has been well preserved. Three medieval towers are a prominent tourist attraction at the entrance to the harbor: The Chain Tower (map), The Lantern Tower (map) and Saint Nicolas Tower (map). From the harbour, boating trips can be taken to the Île d’Aix and Fort Boyard (home to the TV show of the same name, map).

Nearby Île de Ré is a short drive to the North. The countryside of the surrounding Charente-Maritime is very rural and full of history (Saintes). To the North is Venise Verte, a marshy area of country, crisscrossed with tiny canals and a resort for inland boating. Inland is the country of Cognac and Pineau. The nearby Île de Ré is accessible via a bridge from La Rochelle.

The *French Riviera (Côte d’Azur, map), in southeastern France, is the second leading tourist destination in the country, after the Parisian region. Main cities on the French Riviera include Nice (map), Antibes (map) and Cannes (map); Cap Ferrat (map) is also a popular destination.

Provence – numerous famous natural sites can be found in the region, as the Gorges du Verdon (map), the Camargue (map), the Calanques National Park (map) and the typical landscape of *Luberon.

Loire Valley – This World Heritage Site is noteworthy for the quality of its architectural heritage, in its historic towns such as Amboise (map), Angers (map), Blois (map), *Chinon (map), *Orléans (map), and Saumur (map) >> +*Châteaux of the Loire Valley)

French Alps are the portions of the Alps mountain range that stand within France, located in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (map) and Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur regions. Notable towns in the French Alps include Grenoble (map), Chamonix (map), Annecy (map) is called “the Venice of Savoie”, Chambéry (map), Évian-les-Bains (map) and Albertville (map).

Corsica – is the fourth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea after Sicily, Sardinia and Cyprus. It is a popular attraction for tourists with both cultural aspects (cities *Ajaccio and *Bastia) and geographical features (Parc naturel régional de Corse, map).

The coach companies compete with rail on price, which means they usually are somewhat cheaper than trains, sometimes much cheaper, especially if booked in advance. Trains will be more comfortable and sometimes much faster.

Yélo – Local buses.

⇒ Public transport (parisinfo.com) • Getting to France (uk.france.fr)