⚠️ Timetables, opening hours, prices and access conditions may change without notice, for reasons beyond our control (season, weather, decisions by operators, venues or local authorities). Before every trip, check the information with the relevant authorities and service providers.
Begun in 1630 on Richelieu’s orders and reworked under Louis XIV, it has been a listed monument since 1929 and hosts exhibitions and rampart walks.
A white lighthouse with black bands, first lit in 1836: 224 steps lead to the view, plus a museum and a compass-rose garden.
A sea fort ordered by Napoleon to guard the Charente estuary, visible from the east coast and approached on boat cruises.
Open-air museum run by the island’s community of communes, bringing the salt worker’s craft to life among huts, pans and rowing-boat trips.
Official websiteport-des-salines.fr→About forty colourful huts in the Moëze-Oléron nature reserve, with guided tours on oyster farming and tastings on reservation.
Official websitefort-royer-oleron.fr→Free summer evenings on the harbour in July and August, with oysters, mussels, live music, a dance and fireworks.
Five days of maritime heritage in late June: sea demonstrations, sea shanties, talks, exhibitions and local crafts.
Charente-Maritime’s leading fishing port, whose auction hall and quays can be discovered on guided tours run by the tourist office.
Finished in claires, former salt pans, they gain a distinctive flavour and sometimes a green tint from a microscopic alga.
A blend of grape must and cognac, white or rosé, served chilled as an aperitif or with melon and made by the island’s winegrowers.
Mussels in a creamy sauce scented with saffron or curry, and a Charentais fish stew: two seaside classics.