Nouvelle-Aquitaine

Nouvelle-Aquitaine, created in 2016 from Aquitaine, Limousin and Poitou-Charentes, is the largest region in France, bigger than Austria, and it feels like several countries. Its name recalls the medieval duchy of Aquitaine, whose heiress Eleanor married first a French and then an English king, so that much of the southwest was English for three centuries. Bordeaux, its capital, grew rich on that link, shipping claret to London long before the famous châteaux existed.

The Atlantic coast runs for hundreds of kilometres, from the islands of Ré and Oléron to the pine forests of the Landes, the Arcachon basin with the Dune du Pilat and the surf beaches of the Basque Country. Inland, the Dordogne and Vézère valleys hold medieval castles, cliff villages and the painted caves of the Ice Age, among them Lascaux. The Limousin is green, empty upland of granite, lakes and chestnut woods, and the Pyrenees close the south with Basque villages of white houses and red shutters.

Then there is wine and brandy: Bordeaux and Saint-Émilion, Cognac in the Charente, Irouléguy in the Basque hills. For a traveller done with Paris, the region’s charm lies in choosing one landscape and slowing down, a week of cycling on Ré, canoeing on the Dordogne or walking in the Basque hills. In July and August the coast is busy; spring and autumn are glorious and calm.

• Dune du Pilat and the Arcachon basin
• Pine forests and surf beaches of the Landes
• Castles and cliffs of the Dordogne valley
• Granite plateaus and lakes of the Limousin
• Green hills and white villages of the Basque Country
• Islands of Ré and Oléron

Facts

• Created on 1 January 2016 from Aquitaine, Limousin and Poitou-Charentes, it is the largest French region by area.
• The Prehistoric Sites and Decorated Caves of the Vézère Valley, including Lascaux, were inscribed by UNESCO in 1979.
• Cordouan Lighthouse, at the mouth of the Gironde, was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2021.