La Rochelle, France
Self Catering La Rochelle Holiday Homes, Cottages and Gites
La Rochelle is a city in western France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay - part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department in the Poitou-Charentes region. A visit to La Rochelle is to witness a city which has beautifully maintained its past architecture, making it one of the most picturesque and historically rich cities on the Atlantic coast.
When you rent a holiday home in La Rochelle, you’ll soon discover that its main feature is the "Vieux Port" ("Old Harbour"). This is found at the heart of the city - picturesque and lined with seafood restaurants. You’ll notice when you stay in a La Rochelle Holiday Gite that the old town has been well-preserved. 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). Be sure also to take in the Île de Ré, connected by a 2.9 km (1.8 mi) bridge completed on 19 May 1988 – it’s just a short drive to the north of the city.
When you stay in self catering accommodation in La Rochelle, why not discover the countryside of the surrounding Charente-Maritime? It is charmingly rural and full of history. To the North is Venise Verte, a marshy area of country, criss-crossed with tiny canals and a popular resort for inland boating. Inland is the country of Cognac and Pineau.
Other attractions include: an aquarium, and a small botanical garden (the Jardin des plantes de La Rochelle). The Calypso, the ship used by Jacques-Yves Cousteau as a mobile laboratory for oceanography, and which was sunk after a collision in the port of Singapore (1996) is now on display at the Maritime Museum of La Rochelle.
One of the biggest music festivals in France, "FrancoFolies", takes place each summer in La Rochelle, where Francophone musicians come together for a week of concerts and celebration.
To get to your La Rochelle holiday cottage: La Rochelle is served by the international La Rochelle - Île de Ré Airport. Flight operators include: easyjet, Flybe, Jet2, Ryanair, Aer Lingus. The train station Gare de La Rochelle offers connections to Bordeaux, Nantes, Poitiers, Paris and several regional destinations.
The Poitou-Charentes region is renowned for having one of the most pleasant climates in France. Winters are really mild and thanks to the oceanic climate, summers are hot but not muggy. Poitou-Charentes benefits from 2,400 sunshine hours a year and is the hottest and sunniest place of the whole Atlantic coast.