We visited and stayed in La Rochelle, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France in March 2024. It is a wonderful place with so much to see and do that I have made two videos, this first one concentrating on the extensive harbour and the second one on the old town.
La Rochelle is on the western coast of France, in the Charente-Maritime department and is certainly among the most attractive port towns of France, and a very pleasant place to visit and to pass a few days as well as having easy access (by car) from the beach resorts and villages of the Ile-de-Ré. The tourist office can give you a very good guide for walking around La Rochelle – both within the city and surrounding region. The same brochure also includes many bike rides and bike paths in the city.
The focus of the town is in and around the old harbour, a lovely part of the town and very picturesque with its monumental towers either side of the port entrance, through which you can watch the boats enter. The harbour is very active, with boats, numerous buskers, market stalls selling a wide range of products (mostly ‘arty’) and a general lively atmosphere. The harbour region is well supplied with fish restaurants, and before dinner the walls of the old town are a popular place for an evening promenade, as is the harbour front.
The harbour contains many of the most important monuments including the three towers, the ramparts and the large, modern port section a couple of kilometres south at Port des Minimes.
The three historic towers stand at the entrance to the harbour, are together listed as National Monument. They once formed the most important part of the town defences against invasion from the sea. Looking towards the sea from in the port area, from left to right you can see the Saint Nicolas Tower and the Chain Tower, each side of the harbour entrance, then along the ramparts a little way is the third tower, the Tower of the Lantern. The towers can all be visited, and apart from the interest of the towers themselves, they also each afford very good views across La Rochelle.
The Saint-Nicolas tower is the largest of the three. It’s walls, up to six metres thick, contain a maze of stairways, passages, and rooms eg a chapel. The descent of the tower is perhaps the highlight of a visit: you can choose from the ‘easy’ staircase or the steep, slippery ‘double helix’ staircase. I highly recommend the second if possible, it is extremely impressive.
The Chain tower (Tour de la Chaine) was originally constructed to control access to the port and now contains an interesting series of exhibits covering the role of La Rochelle during the migration of French people to Canada (Nouvelle-France as it was then known) between 1604 and 1763.
Approximately 30,000 set off for Canada and 15,000 stayed (others were tradesmen who travelled under contract). The travellers included 700 young ladies, mostly orphans who were sent on the voyage by the King (hence known as “les filles du roi”) as wives for the early inhabitants.
Across the harbour from La Rochelle old town there is a very popular aquarium. You will also find a small beach in the town just along the harbour from the Lantern Tower. The beach is attractive at high tide although not very impressive at low tide when large stretches of slippery rock must be crossed to reach the sea.