What to see in Nouvelle-Aquitaine

Aquarium de la Rochelle

In the town centre, facing the Old Port, discover one of the largest private aquariums in Europe.

Bassin d'Arcachon

A large lagoon open to the Atlantic in the heart of the Landes forest massif, Arcachon Bay combines oyster farming, stilt huts (cabanes tchanquées) and the neighbouring Dune du Pilat. A territory of variable geometry, between high tide and low tide.

Beynac-et-Cazenac

Seat in the Middle Ages of one of the four baronies of the Périgord, the castle withstood every assault and was taken only by Richard the Lionheart and Simon de Montfort.

Biarritz

A chic seaside resort of the Basque Country, cradle of European surfing, whose Grande Plage and Rocher de la Vierge overlook the Atlantic Ocean.

Canyons d'holzarté et d'Olhadubi

South of Larrau, these are the Holzarté and Olhadubi gorges. Few dare to explore this canyon, so narrow, inhospitable and deep.

Cap Ferret

The tip of the Gironde peninsula between the Atlantic Ocean and Arcachon Bay, famous for its red-and-brick lighthouse and its oyster huts.

Château d'Abbadia (Domaine d'Abbadia)

The Abbadia estate forms a promontory with superb views over the ocean and also over the hinterland.

Château de Bonaguil

The most beautiful fortress in France: a castle of the thirteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth and eighteenth centuries, listed as a Historic Monument.

Château de Castelnaud

Facing the Château de Beynac, whose implacable rival it was in the endless conflicts that punctuate the history of the Middle Ages.

Château de La Rochefoucauld

Historic home of the La Rochefoucauld family, still present after a thousand years. By the quality, diversity and elegance of its architecture, the Château de La Rochefoucauld deserves to be considered one of the most remarkable in France.

Col d'Aubisque

A mythical Pyrenean pass at 1,709 metres, the scene in 1910 of the first high-mountain stage in the history of the Tour de France.

Gouffre de Proumeyssac

Already famous in the eighteenth century for its terrifying legends, the Proumeyssac chasm was only explored in 1907.

Grotte de Lascaux

Located in the Dordogne near the village of Montignac-sur-Vézère, in the heart of the Périgord Noir, the Lascaux cave is the masterpiece of prehistoric art.

La Corniche Basque

The Basque Corniche is a unique natural site. It is 6 km long on the part belonging to Urrugne.

La Rochelle

Prefecture of Charente-Maritime and a great historic Atlantic port, famous for its medieval towers guarding the entrance to the Old Port.

Le Marais Poitevin

The second-largest wetland in France by area, the Marais Poitevin lies on the edge of two Atlantic coast regions (Pays de la Loire and Poitou-Charentes) and straddles the three départements of Vendée, Deux-Sèvres and Charente-Maritime.

les cascades de gimel

First mentioned in Abel Hugo's La France pittoresque in 1883, the waterfalls were made famous by the painter Gaston Vuillier, who laid out a park in a way that respected the site.

Arcachon

A seaside resort created in the nineteenth century on the shores of the bay, famous for its Ville d'Hiver with extravagant villas nestled in the pine forest.

Banc d'Arguin

A sandbank at the entrance of Arcachon Bay, a nature reserve and bird refuge, facing the Dune du Pilat.

Bayonne

Historic capital of the Basque Labourd at the confluence of the Adour and the Nive, whose Gothic cathedral overlooks a district of colourful half-timbered houses.

Château d'Usson

The Château d'Usson is original in its history and architecture. It stands today at Les Égreteaux, but only since the end of the nineteenth century!

Château de Beynac

It is probably from the course of the Dordogne that the fortress looks most impressive.

Château de Pau

It was probably before the eleventh century that the first wooden fortification was built, on a rocky spur between the Gave de Pau and one of its tributaries, the Hédas.

Dunes de l'Ile d'Oléron

The Île d'Oléron is the largest of the French islands after Corsica. It is separated from the coast by the Pertuis d'Antioche and the Pertuis de Maumusson.

Dunes de l'Ile de Ré

The Île de Ré stretches for nearly 30 km. It is formed of a series of islets, now joined, the three main ones being Ré, Loix and Ars.

Forêt des Landes

With nearly a million hectares of maritime pine, the largest man-made forest in Europe, planted from the nineteenth century to fix the dunes and drain the marshes.

Gorges de Kakuetta

A spectacular 2 km canyon in Haute-Soule, with walls reaching 350 metres high, discovered in 1906 by the speleologist Édouard-Alfred Martel.

Grottes du Régulus

Troglodyte dwellings among the most original in France, since they are dug into living cliffs.

Hossegor

A seaside resort renowned for its powerful waves that make it one of the world's surfing meccas, built around a marine lake ringed with pines.

La Dune du Pilat

Nestled between ocean and forest, the largest dune in Europe proudly overlooks the entrance to Arcachon Bay from its 109 m. The beauty of its landscape, endlessly sculpted by wind and tides, makes it a true wonder of nature, ephemeral and fragile.

La Fosse de l'Ermitage

The Braconne is a vast state forest resting on karst crossed by underground rivers.

La Grotte d'Harpéa

The Harpéa cave is a rock shelter in the commune of Estérençuby, in Basse-Navarre, at about 850 metres' altitude, a few metres from the Spanish border.

La Grotte du Grand Roc

Set into a magnificent cliff overlooking the Vézère, the Grand Roc cave is an exceptional jewel.

La vallée des Eaux-Claires

In the commune of Puymoyen, the Eaux-Claires valley is bordered by high cliffs suited to climbing.

Le Courant d'Huchet

The immense beaches of the Aquitaine coast are all bordered by dunes. Behind these dunes a string of lakes has formed.

Le gouffre de la fage

In the Limousin between Périgord and Quercy, the Gouffre de la Fage is all the magic of the underground world...

Les Eyzies

A village nestled at the foot of high troglodyte limestone cliffs, nicknamed the "world capital of prehistory" for the exceptional density of its Palaeolithic deposits.

Les pierres Jaumâtres

Located at 602 metres' altitude and a league from here on Mont Barlot, the Pierres Jomathres pile up as impressive granite blocks, formerly called Pierres aux Matres, Gallo-Roman mother goddesses who became the fairies.

Les portes d'Enfer

Here, the Gartempe appears in its wildest state.

Orgues de bort les orgues

Basalt organ pipes: overlooking the town by 350 m, the Bort organs are formed by phonolite flows, whose end is cut into columns 80 to 100 m high, over a length of 2 km.

Univerland Le Bugue (ex-Parc Aquarium du Périgord Noir)

The largest private aquarium in Europe at Le Bugue-sur-Vézère. With more than 3 million litres of water and more than 600 fish, the Périgord Noir Aquarium is without doubt the largest private open-air freshwater aquarium.

les Sources de la Touvre

The main spring of the Touvre, called locally the gouffre, shimmers at the bottom of a cirque whose limestone escarpments are covered with woods and criss-crossed by picturesque paths.

les cascades de Murel

The path starts in the continuation of the road and leads in 5 minutes to a first fall of modest height.

les grottes du Quéroy

About thirty chambers carved by underground water in the limestone plateau: a developed route of eight hundred metres of galleries lets you discover the limestone concretions, stalactites and stalagmites.

Abbaye de Saint-Savin-sur-Gartempe

The abbey ensemble is made up of the church, the conventual building, the abbot's lodging and the gardens.

Ainhoa

It is one of the most typical villages of the Basque Country.

Angles-sur-l'Anglin

Angles-sur-l'Anglin, ranked among the "Most Beautiful Villages of France", is in Poitou, on the borders of Berry and Touraine.

AquaPark Biscarrosse