Off Rochefort, Oléron island is the biggest island off the French Atlantic coast. Benefiting from a mild climate perfect for mimosa flowering, Oléron island offers visitors attractive fine sand beaches and beautiful forests of maritime pines. Lovers of relaxation and walks will be delighted!
The Oléron island is also famous for its oyster breeding. The Oléron Oyster House situated in Saint-Trojan-les-Bains explains how oysters are cultivated and displays the associated instruments.
In Saint-Pierre-d'Oléron, the Oléron island museum is dedicated to popular arts and traditions.
Not to be missed, La Cotinière is a delightful picturesque and lively fishing port.
46 metres in height, the Chassiron lighthouse is open to visitors. There is a panoramic view from the top.
The island of Oléron is the largest island on the French Atlantic coast. The "light" island is famous for its wonderful sandy beaches, but also for a haunting kind.
From south to north, from east to west, the eight municipalities of the island of Oléron offer many possibilities of visits: Saint-Trojan-les-Bains "seaside" and forest, Le Grand-Village-Plage and port saline, Le Château-d'Oléron and its impressive fortified citadel, Dolus-d'Oléron and marsh birds, Saint-Pierre-d'Oléron, with its pedestrian streets and its fishing port Cotinière, Saint-Georges-d'Oléron and small villages, Chaucre, Domino, Boyardville... La Bree-les-Bains and its authentic, narrow streets, and finally, the northern tip of the island, Saint-Denis-to Oléron where stands the lighthouse of Chassiron, 46 meters high.
The Oléron island has many small villages. I need to think outside the box to find out, turning a flowered hollyhocks pink alley, the architecture of these small villages Chaucre, Arche, La Rémigeasse... Many villages with fishermen's houses with green or blue shutters in the whitewashed façade.
Oléron, it is of course also landscapes of great diversity with beautiful sandy beaches on the edge of beautiful pine forests, but not only... A Chassiron, north of the island, there are limestone cliffs overlooking the Atlantic, or on the northwest coast of sandy beaches with few rocks, ideal for the practice of fishing on foot.
On foot or by bike, the island offers a wide variety of scenery to discover: large state forests, marsh areas for them to bird watching, agricultural land which cultivation of the vine, cereals...
Oyster farming is a secular activity on the island where the colorful huts of oyster ports retained their typical appearance. Fishing is also an important activity as evidenced by the fishing port of La Cotinière, first Charente-Maritime fishing port. The arrival of the boats in harbor at high tide is a true spectacle.
The vineyard work remained as an ancient activity. The Oleron vineyard appellation "Cognac" and allows growers to develop the famous "Pineau des Charentes" and excellent local wine.
The Oléron island has several exceptional sites such as the Château-d'Oléron citadel built according to plans by Vauban, the lantern of the dead in Saint-Pierre-d'Oléron twelfth century and holds a record: c is the highest in France. The Romanesque church of the eleventh century Saint-Georges-d'Oléron, meanwhile, is the oldest monument of the island. The iconic lighthouse Chassiron, striped black white, guiding sailors to enter the sluice of Antioch is the most visited site in the island of Oleron. Less known but equally surprising, include among others finally the halls of Saint-Georges-d'Oléron and the mill of La Brée-les-Bains.
