Vendée (85) and more towns are coming soon.
Top 20 must-see sights in the region
A selection drawn from all the towns already covered in this guide.
Château d'Angers
A medieval fortress with 17 towers, home to the Apocalypse Tapestry.
See on the map →Château de Baugé
King René's hunting lodge, built in the 15th century, with a palm-tree vault unique in Anjou.
See on the map →Museum of Textiles and Fashion
A former industrial laundry from 1881 where looms are still running, dedicated to Cholet's famous handkerchief.
See on the map →Royal Abbey of Fontevraud
The largest monastic city surviving from the Middle Ages, founded in 1101, now a cultural meeting centre.
See on the map →Place Napoléon
A vast central square adorned with the equestrian statue of Napoleon I, the heart of the emperor's grid-pattern town plan.
See on the map →Vieux Château de Laval
An 11th-century château housing the Museum of Naive Art and Art Brut, in tribute to Henri Rousseau.
See on the map →Saint-Julien Cathedral
A cathedral blending Romanesque and Gothic styles, with one of the finest sets of medieval stained glass in France.
See on the map →Castle of the Dukes of Brittany
A Renaissance fortress housing the Nantes History Museum, with free access to the courtyard, ramparts and moat.
See on the map →Saint-Nazaire Submarine Base
An immense concrete structure from the Second World War, converted into a cultural and exhibition space on its rooftop.
See on the map →Château de Saumur
A white 14th-century fortress overlooking the Loire, with its equestrian and decorative arts museums.
See on the map →Saint-Maurice Cathedral
A Gothic cathedral with a medieval polychrome portal.
See on the map →Hôtel-Dieu Apothecary
A near-intact 17th-century pharmacy, with over 600 faience jars and Italo-Moorish albarelli.
See on the map →Notre-Dame Church of Cholet
A neo-Gothic church with twin spires rising to 65 metres, one of the visual landmarks of the town centre.
See on the map →Abbey Church and Plantagenet Effigies
A royal necropolis holding the effigies of Eleanor of Aquitaine, Henry II and Richard the Lionheart.
See on the map →Saint-Louis Church of La Roche-sur-Yon
A 19th-century neoclassical church, part of the town's Napoleonic grid-pattern plan.
See on the map →Château-Neuf de Laval
The Renaissance wing of the château, a former courthouse, around Place de la Trémoille.
See on the map →Cité Plantagenêt
A medieval old town of cobbled lanes, timber-framed houses and a Gallo-Roman city wall.
See on the map →Les Machines de l'île
A mechanical, dreamlike universe in the former shipyards, with the Grand Éléphant and the Carrousel des Mondes Marins.
See on the map →Escal'Atlantic
An immersive museum dedicated to transatlantic ocean liners, housed inside the submarine base.
See on the map →Cadre Noir of Saumur
The national riding school where the famous horsemen train, listed as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
See on the map →