LOIRE ATLANTIQUE HOLIDAY TRAVEL GUIDE

When visiting the department of Loire Atlantique in Western Loire, you can be sure there will be plenty to see and do.

Towns and cities full of historic interest and attractions include the capital Nantes, previously capital of Brittany.

Nantes, a commercial port and childhood home of Jules Verne, has a fine cathedral and is the ideal place to sample Muscadet, the dry white wine produced locally - perfect with seafood.

St Nazaire, the birthplace of transatlantic liners - including the new Queen Mary 2 - also holds an annual world music festival.

Beach lovers are spoilt for choice in Loire Atlantique. Why not spend the day at La Baule; the beach here is enormous and is reputedly the finest in Europe.

There’s family fun at the beaches of Pinochet and Le Pouliguen while St Brevin-les-Pins offers windsurfing, sailing and sand yachting. Piriac-sur-Mer, Le Croisic and Pornic are just a few of many pretty fishing villages.

Walk, cycle or even travel by canoe around the Parc Naturel Regional de Briere, the second largest marsh in France after the Camargue, which has offered safe haven to many rare species of birds, animals and plants for over 30 years.