France
Île de Ré
Salt pans and whitewashed villages linked by cycle paths through hollyhock-lined lanes.
Salt pans stretch flat to the horizon, the water tinted pink in the afternoon light, and a cyclist pedals between whitewashed villages where every shutter is painted a shade of green or blue and hollyhocks lean out of the walls. The Île de Ré is a low, quiet island off France's Atlantic coast, reached by a curving bridge from La Rochelle, its rhythm set by the tides, the salt harvest and the creak of bicycle chains.
Ten villages share the island, all built the same way — whitewashed walls, shutters in green or blue, lanes narrow enough for the hollyhocks to meet across them — and 138 kilometres of cycle paths link them through salt marsh, pine forest, vineyards and nature reserves, so that the car can stay on the mainland. The salt marshes are still worked by hand, the sauniers raking the crystals from the surface of the pans in summer, and the island's salt and fleur de sel carry a protected geographical indication. At the western tip the Phare des Baleines lighthouse looks out over the open Atlantic, and along the north coast the oyster beds sell their catch from shacks at the waterline. The whole island is cycled in a day, but nobody who comes here is in that kind of hurry.
Couple
Cycle between villages, stop at a salt pan to watch the fleur de sel being raked, eat oysters at a waterside shack. The island's rhythm — slow, tidal, sunlit — suits two people with nowhere to be.
Family
Flat cycle paths, shallow beaches, a lighthouse to climb and salt pans to explore. The island is made for children who like poking around in rockpools and riding bikes.
- Salt pans worked by hand stretch across the flats — the island's fleur de sel carries its own protected name.
- Cycle paths link whitewashed villages through hollyhock-lined lanes — the island is flat, quiet and made for bikes.
- Oyster shacks on the north coast serve plateaux with Pineau des Charentes while the tide creeps across the flats.
- The Phare des Baleines lighthouse at the western tip gives views over the whole island and the open Atlantic.
Fleur de sel raked by hand from the island's own salt pans — mineral, faintly floral, sold in the villages by the bag.
Oysters and a glass of Pineau des Charentes at a shack on the north shore, the tide coming in over the flats.
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