Tourist attractions French Atlantic Coast

A more effective trip back in time than any epic movie, the enchanting, beautiful estate of Puy de Fou (composed of 50ha of woodland) is the backdrop for historical shows featuring incredible special effects. Covering the years 1000 to 1900, severa..

This 33-acre zoo is set in the magnificent forests and dunes of La Palmyre. A marked trail, dotted with lakes and ponds, takes visitors past some 1 600 animals from every corner of the globe. Carnivores live next to small pandas and suricates. Parrot..

The Musee Bonnat was built in 1897 to house the artwork and collection of Bayonne artist Léon Bonnat (1833-1922) who made a fortune painting portraits of the upper classes of his day. The thematically arranged collection (13C-19C) blends different sc..

The museum (Musee basque et de l’histoire de Bayonne) is located in the Maison Dagourette, a 17C townhouse which is also a historic monument. The up-to-the-minute displays highlight its rich ethnographic collections devoted to Basque culture and life..

The rear terrace of the Château du Puy du Fou overlooks a huge lake and 23 hectares which are the stage for the grandiose Cinéscénie sound-and-light show. The epic spectacle, with music by Nick Glennie Smith, is run and performed by an organisation t..

In the Futuroscope you can fly, fall and even leave the solar system without getting out of your chair, thanks to the digital technology that takes you into the fourth dimension where science and simulations come together to give you a taste of the f..

Partly occupying the Perrin de Boussac residence (1567) on one side and abutting the 17C ramparts on the other, this resolutely contemporary facility houses a remarkable museum dedicated to cognac and its history. 1 200m 2 of exhibits provide a fasci..

Covering 12 000m, the baths of Chassenon are the most important surviving examples from Roman Gaul. Beyond the cold and tepid rooms, the hot pools , still showing their original tiles in places are particularly impressive, as is the ingenious hypoc..

Hewn from a single block of rock, this is France’s highest monolithic church. Those excavating it in the 12C were able to incorporate earlier caves used by previous Christian worshippers. The present church was undoubtedly built to house relics broug..

Leave the car at the point where the D25 from Royan ceases to follow the coastline and head into the woods to access a stony platform. The Gironde, Grave Point, Cordouan Lighthouse , Coubre Point and its lighthouse make for an impressive panorama...

The Church of St Pierre cuts a solitary figure, rising among the cypresses of its old graveyard. A Unesco World Heritage site, this masterpiece of Poitou Romanesque built of warm-hued stone stands near the village of Aulnay-de-Saintonge. Noteworthy f..

Sited among cedar trees, this magnificent Renaissance castle has since 1933 been known for its successful blending of ancient and contemporary art. Its original owners (the Gouffier family) had a collection of Muses including Diana the Huntress and..

One of Europe’s earliest necropolises, Neolithic people erected these funerary monuments some 2 000 years prior to the building of the pyramids. Running around the five well-preserved Bougon tumuli and the remains of a Cistercian priory, the muse..

Discover the simple pleasures of an 18C Bas-Poitou dwelling, named after the estate’s owners from the 12C onwards, the Chabots, and hiding place of leading Royalist François Athanase de Charette de la Contrie, or “Charette”, whose capture on 23 March..

From Ciboure harbour, turn right and take Rue du Phare up to the lighthouse, then to the semaphore (on Rue du Sémaphore) to admire the view stretching southwest over the Basque Coast from Cabo Higuer (Cape Fig) in Spain to Biarritz. In the foregrou..

The explorer and astronomer Antoine Abbadie (1810-1897) commissioned Viollet-le-Duc to build him a castle that would suit his taste for the Middle Ages and science. This amazing Neo-Gothic building, boasting crenelated towers and pepperpot roofs, is ..

The Osseau Valley was once known as Ursialensis vallis , or ‘‘Bear Vallley’’. It stretches out for 70km from Pau to Laruns (lower Ossau). The valley is dotted with a multitude of medieval-looking villages, including Bielle , with its 15C and 16C ho..

The Aspe Valley is accessible from Oloron (N 134) and stretches all the way to the Col de Somport . This rugged mountain valley personifies the harmony of a well-preserved natural environment, thanks to its forests where the few remaining bears ar..

At the heart of the Landes de Gascogne Reginal Nature Park, Marquèze seems unchanged since the late 19C. In the airial (farm enclosure), the master’s house is recognisable on account of its broad eaves. Nearby the shepherd’s house is of more modest..

This medieval castle was built in 1306 by Cardinal Gaillard de la Mothe, Pope Clement V’s nephew. It formed one of a pair of 12C-14C fortresses behind a single set of walls. From 1866, Viollet-le-Duc restored and remodelled the building; note the ext..