La Rochelle travel guide
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Visit La Rochelle: Highlights and Tourist Information
Location: La Rochelle is situated in the Charente-Maritime department (Poitou-Charentes region) in the west of France - it is the prefecture (capital) of the Charente-Maritime department. (General information: La Rochelle is 399 km from Paris and 577 km from the port at Calais).
For a detailed travel guide see La Rochelle (page also includes a photo gallery for La Rochelle)
Popular places to visit near La Rochelle: these include La Flotte-en-Re at 14 km and Ile-d'Aix at 16 km.
La Flotte-en-Re is a listed 'most beautiful village' at 14km and Marans is a listed 'ville fleurie 4*' at 21km. For more places to visit nearby and local tourist attractions see the map and listings below.
Tourist classifications for La Rochelle: Village in bloom (ville fleurie) 3*; La Rochelle has a protected historical centre "secteur sauvegardé" (see also historical French towns);
Photos taken within 10 km
Hover your mouse over photos of La Rochelle for navigation buttons
Selected places to visit and attractions near La Rochelle, France
Some places that we or our contributors have visited and reviewed and can recommend close to La Rochelle
See France This Way travel guides for Charente-Maritime and Poitou-Charentes (the local department and region) for more travel ideas in the area of La Rochelle.
Note that all distances from La Rochelle shown above are direct and real driving distances will be greater.
La Rochelle holidays and travel
If you are planning a visit we suggest you see hotels in and near to La Rochelle (from booking.com and with a great selection of hotels and a best price promise).
For a longer visit popular choices include apartments and holiday rentals. For these we suggest two popular options: holiday villages in Poitou-Charentes and Charente-Maritime gites and villas
Tourist attractions nearby
Below we show places with official tourist classifications and other places of interest to visit nearby that should provide inspiration if you are visiting La Rochelle and wondering what to do next!
- 'Remarkable gardens': Jardins du phare de Chassiron (22km) : Jardins de la Boirie (27km) : Jardins de Chaligny (45km) : Jardins du Bâtiment (45km) : La Roche Courbon (47km) :
- National Monuments: Georges Clemenceau house (42km) :
- Beautiful Villages: La Flotte-en-Re (14km) : Ars-en-Re (28km) : Coulon (48km) :
- Religious monuments: Eglise de Notre-Dame de l'Assomption (Maille) (35km) : Abbaye Saint Pierre et Eglise de Saint Nicolas (Maillezais) (40km) : Abbaye Royale (Nieul-sur-l'Autise) (47km) : Eglise de Saint-Eulalie (Benet) (48km) :
- Town / village in bloom 4*: Marans (21km) :
- Towns of Art and History: Rochefort (28km) :
- Recommended Detour Town: Fontenay-le-Comte (43km) :
- Grand Site of France: Brouage Fortifications (35km) : Marais Poitevin (42km) :
Map of places to visit near La Rochelle & Location Information
Geographical Information
Commune: Rochelle
Canton: Rochelle
Arrondissement: Rochelle
Department: Charente-Maritime
Region: Poitou-Charentes
Postcode: 17000
Distance to La Rochelle
from La Rochelle: 0 km
from Paris: 399 km
from Calais: 577 km
from Nice: 717 km
from Bordeaux: 154 km
from Strasbourg: 722 km
* distances are direct not by road!
Place with full review on France This Way 
Other attractions & sights of interest
More information
We have 6 other places listed nearby (within 6 kilometres of La Rochelle): Aytre, Lagord, Nieul-sur-Mer, Perigny, Puilboreau and Saint-Xandre.
Getting here
Charente-Maritime is in the west of France. Most visitors will arrive by car typically from a channel ferry ports such as Saint Malo, Caen or Cherbourg, a drive af about 4-5 hours. For driving distances to La Rochelle from anywhere in France see driving distances and route planner.
This page in French: Visitez La Rochelle