Oleron Island and the Basin of Marennes

Marennes-Oléron consists of 15 municipalities, a territory that is rich in diversity.  Here you will find a remarkable architectural heritage, areas of semi-wilderness, charming villages, fine sandy beaches as well as fishing port.  People live well in Marennes-Oléron, where each generation finds its own happiness.  The Ile d’Oléron and the Marennes basin, with such contrasting landscapes, ecological wealth and particularly clement weather, is an entrancing area.

Discover the abundant forests and marshlands with their richly varied flora and fauna – on foot, on horseback or by bike.

Marennes-Oléron is also a heritage area where marine monuments, churches and vernacular architecture live cheek by jowl with ancient fortifications.  Off the coast at Boyardville is the majestic Fort Boyard, “a stone ship” that is nowadays one of the country’s most famous monuments.

And when you’ve exhausted all that there is to see and do, when all the family is at table, the good life carries on for whether its oysters, mussels, fish, seafood, local fruit and vegetables all dusted with sea-salt and washed down with a local wine, you really are “beunaise” (at home in local dialect) on the Ile d’Oléron and the Marennes basin.

Oléron Tourist