Poitou-Charentes

This popular holiday destination situated at the crossroads of the Atlantic, the Marais Poitevin and Charente features many attractions for visitors, combining a keen sense of history with an impressive gastronomic heritage. More recently, it became an important seat of learning and scientific discovery with the opening of the Futuroscope Museum in Poitiers.
Blessed with a mild climate and a fair share of sunshine, the coastline is pleasantly dotted with a string of resorts giving onto superb sandy beaches and rolling dunes interspersed with pine trees. The maritime past of the area can still be seen in many seaside towns: La Rochelle and its old harbour guarded by the Saint-Nicolas and La Chaîne turrets, the former military port of Rochefort founded by Colbert...
The nearby islands of Oléron, Ré and Aix are definitely worth a visit. You will be charmed by the sheer beauty of the site, the prevailing peace and quiet and the flocks of migratory birds that have come here to nest. All around lie the oyster beds where the famous Marennes Oléron variety is cultivated.
The Santiago da Compostela pilgrimage route encouraged the construction of a great many buildings, including around 600 Romanesque sanctuaries reflecting the beliefs and legends of the Middle Ages. Take time to admire the façade of Notre-Dame-de-la-Grange in Poitiers or to visit Chauvigny and Saint-Savin-sur-Gartempe. There, hemmed in between Vendée and Poitou, lay the Golfe des Pictons. It was drained by Cistercian monks who subsequently remodelled the land to give it its present appearance - a labyrinthine network of dams and canals that you can visit in a flat-bottomed boat known as a plate.

More tourist information: http://www.cr-poitou-charentes.fr/fr/