Only west wide 19 and it miles may three be, east-tomiles but you could spend days cycling among Île de Ré’s beaches, salt pans, vineyards and smallholdings without retracing your tyretracks. Sparse and unspoilt, albeit with fashionable pockets, it’s a destination beloved of Parisians, who enjoy their Atlantic coast rusticity with a side order of chic. Until a bridge to the mainland was completed in 1988, the island was known as a day-trip destination with fine 17th-century fortifications and excellent oysters; now its towns and their beaches bustle from April to November. If tourism has taken off, development has not - in fact, a fun holiday challenge would be to spot anything - a lean-to, a view, even a donkey - that is not delightfully picturesque. Exploring by bike, and fitting in some surfing or horse-riding, are terrific groundwork for long lunches, picnics and sunset drinks.
Windswept dunes on the beach at Rivedoux-Plage
PHOTOGRAPHS: PHILIP LEE HARVEY/LONELY PLANET
Ditch your suit case
With breakfast tables amid roses, figs and wisteria in a quiet courtyard garden, La Maison Douce is a peaceful former convent close to the port. Its 14 rooms and suites feature painted wood in soft greys and greens, and wafting cotton voile (from £130; lamaisondouce.com). Suitably grand but not remotely flashy, Hotel La Baronnie is an antique-filled hotel particulier once bought for Marie-Antoinette by Louis XVI. The 22 rooms mix French and Asian textiles and art, and there's a dainty pool in the barn-like spa (from £190;hotel-labaronnie.comhttp://labaronnie.com;). By the church square in Ars-en-Re, hidden behind austere walls, are the arty, sparsely furnished rambling rooms of Hotel Le Senechal, with wooden floors, stone walls and. It has sitting rooms and flower-filled courtyards for lounging, as well as a diminutive dipping pool (from £65;hotel-le-senechal.comhttp://hotel-le-senechal.com;).
Read the complete article and many more in this issue of
Lonely Planet
Purchase options below
If you own the issue,
Login to read the full article now.
Single Digital Issue
February 2019
 
This issue and other back issues are not included in a new Lonely Planet subscription. Subscriptions include the latest regular issue and new issues released during your subscription.