Discover Loire Country
Pays de la Loire, long described as "discreet", is a transition region between Brittany, Normandy and Centre-Val de Loire that now claims its own identity. Nantes, historical capital of the Dukes of Brittany and a gateway to the Atlantic, has become a contemporary urbanism laboratory — Machines de l'Île, Voyage à Nantes, Estuaire — turning art into a permanent urban itinerary. Le Mans, famous for its 24-hour race, also hosts a magnificent medieval core ("Plantagenet city"). Angers, a city of art and history, raises its seventeen-towered castle and keeps the "Apocalypse Tapestry", the largest medieval tapestry in the world (14th century). Along the coast, Vendée shines with the beaches of Saint-Jean-de-Monts and Les Sables-d'Olonne, the island of Noirmoutier and the famous Puy du Fou (a historical park ranked best in Europe several times). In the west, the Guérande salt marshes, classed Grand Site de France, perpetuate a thousand-year tradition and produce France's most reputed salt. The Loire à Vélo crosses the region east-west to Saint-Nazaire. On the table, rillettes du Mans, Anjou rillauds, Guérande salt, Muscadet (now with 7 recent commune crus: Clisson, Gorges, Le Pallet…), Anjou wines (Savennières, Coteaux du Layon, Saumur-Champigny), Touraine fouées and Nantes lamb's lettuce build a discreet yet very rich gastronomic palette. Recommended season: April to September.
