Westcoast France

From Île de Ré to Biarritz — via La Rochelle and the Bassin d'Arcachon — the French Atlantic coast has a character that exists nowhere else. The coastline is wilder, the beach shacks simpler, and the oysters better than you'd expect. But there is culture too: fortified towns, fishing villages and an Atlantic way of life that is quieter than the south — and all the better for it.