Poitevin
Business groups
Just a 50-minute drive from La Rochelle, the promise of an extraordinary journey! You're in the heart of the Marais Poitevin, also known as the Venise Verte (Green Venice). A regional nature park and Grand Site de France, the Marais Poitevin is a hundred-thousand-hectare protected area that has been man-made since the Middle Ages.
Imagine a boat gliding slowly along a waterway flowing at the bottom of its chlorophyll cradle, providing a Zen-like, relaxing effect... You're there! From one of the many piers scattered along the waterways, board a «flat» and let yourself be guided through this green setting. You'll discover the lush vegetation of the marsh, with its pollarded ashes, willows and alders. You'll even pass by pastures where you'll discover the diversity of local agriculture.
But a boat trip isn't the only way to discover the Green Venice of the Marais Poitevin. A walk or bike ride along the paths, a picnic on the banks, or even a stroll through the villages... There are a thousand and one ways to visit the marshes.
Poitevin
Nature
Nature
bus operators
Closer to La Rochelle, just a 20-minute drive away, the Marais d'Yves national nature reserve offers a year-round opportunity to come into close contact with a rich, rare and preserved natural environment. Located on the Charente coast between La Rochelle and Rochefort, this French nature mecca boasts a wide variety of environments: muddy foreshore, dry dunes and pannes, marshes and reedbeds, wet meadows, tamarisk hedges, copses and thickets...
Baie d'Yves is one of France's leading sanctuaries for migratory birds. In winter, the reserve is home to some 20,000 waders, 1,500 ducks and several hundred greylag geese. In all, no fewer than 250 species of bird frequent the bay.