Charente-Maritime and the Île de Ré in 4 days

Three medieval towers guard the harbour, including the Lanterne with its sailors' graffiti; climb for the view, then walk the arcaded merchant streets.

One of Europe's largest aquariums, with some 12,000 animals from Atlantic coasts to coral reefs; the shark tank and the jellyfish room stand out.

Circle Fort Boyard by boat, then land on car-free Île d'Aix, where Napoleon spent his last nights in France before Saint Helena.

A once-thriving salt port now stranded in the marsh, ringed by Richelieu's 1630s ramparts with intact bastions, powder stores and market hall.

A 374-metre royal ropeworks in Louis XIV's naval arsenal; learn to braid hemp, then walk to the dry dock where the Hermione replica was built.

The island's capital, inside UNESCO-listed Vauban fortifications, with a horseshoe harbour lined with oyster terraces and ice cream queues.

A 57-metre lighthouse of 1854 at the western tip of Ré, with 257 steps to a gallery over the island and the 1682 Old Tower.

A clifftop village above the Gironde estuary, founded by the English in 1284, ending at the 12th-century Sainte-Radegonde church above the water.