La Rochelle is a lively, sparkling seaside town with a great reputation for seafood, three urban beaches and the best vieux port on the French Atlantic. Spend a day strolling under the arcades of the rue du Palais, exploring the maritime museum, and the aquarium, open until 11pm in the summer. Spend the late afternoon watching the pleasure boats and the evening on the seafront, eating a platter of shellfish. Sleep at Des Tours La Rochelle, a family-run chambres dhtes with a pool, five minutes drive from the centre (doubles from 75 B&B, each named after one of La Rochelles medieval stone towers).

In the morning, join the avenue de la Repentie and drive across the bridge (16 toll) to the le de R, an island of nautical chic and sandcastle charm, the kind of place Monsieur Hulot might have gone on holiday. Lots of traditional marinire tops, bicycles with baskets, ice-cream and excellent campsites. Two of its main towns, Saint Martin and La Flotte, are pleasantly breezy, even in high summer, with a permanent sound of fluttering mast wires in the harbour, a sprightly market in La Flotte and seafood bistros. Hire a bike and cycle out to the lighthouse near Saint-Clment-des-Baleines, a great ride past the salt pans of Loix and the black-and-white church spire at Ars-en-R. Spend three nights at Le Snchal (doubles from 79) or at the eco-campsite Camping Les Baleines (pitch from 19.50) near La Conche beach.

On day five, drive down the E602 coast road, past Rochefort to Marennes and over the bridge to Olron, mainland Frances oyster capital and its second largest island (after Corsica). First stop is the Chateau dOlron, for a visit to the citadel and a plate of oysters in one of the colourful floating cabanes; try the red-and-black painted Cabane du Sans Souci .

Stay in Hotel LEcailler (doubles from 58), which serves trays of crab and crayfish overlooking La Cotinire harbour. Or, for a couple of days calm in the pine forests of the west coast, try Hotel Le Vert Bois, which has a heated pool, a space for bikes, table tennis and apartments (doubles from 70).

Just off Olrons northern coast is Fort Boyard. The oval-shaped Napoleonic fortress, usually only accessible to contestants in the eponymous TV gameshow and former soap stars, can be part of an islands day trip (adult 20, child 13, under-four 4). More rewarding is the car-free le dAix, a 20-minute ferry ride from Fouras, which has a museum dedicated to Napoleon, as this was his last stop on mainland France before exile on Saint Helena. The islands Hotel Napoleon (doubles from 80) has, of course, a Chez Josphine restaurant.

On day seven, head eastwards on the D728 to Saintes, past the many signs for Pineau des Charentes. Saintes has a huge Roman arch and the ruins of an amphitheatre, which can take up an afternoon if the visit includes the crypt of the Basilique St-Eutrope.

Spend a night at the tastefully decorated chambres dhtes Les Persiennes (doubles from 75) just outside the centre, which also does an evening assiette gourmande to eat on the terrace (12), a lunchtime picnic (8) and, most spectacularly, chicken marinated in Pineau and then flambed in cognac.

Leave Saintes for a detour north on the dead-straight D137 to the Chateau de la Roche Courbon in Saint-Porchaire, a sumptuous 18th-century castle, which has its own prehistoric caves, turrets, and has launched a new escape game for summer 2017.

From there, drive east through the vineyards towards Cognac, the smell of which can be detected long before arrival. Most of the big brandy companies offer guided tours of their warehouses, with Camus being well-recommended spiders in the roofs of its distilleries are so drunk they make crooked webs. Spend two nights at the Maison Gaudin B&B (doubles from 72) in the old town, which has a little pool in a tranquil garden. Madame Gaudin, the owner, suggests Le Bistro de Claude nearby for a typical Charentais three-course lunch (25).

Return towards La Rochelle via medieval Saint-Jean-dAngly and Surgres on the D731, where, at Migron, theres a museum focused on cognac also with permanent exhibitions of coffee, cigars and chocolate. Otherwise, Bordeaux is just 1 hours south on the E5. Total distance: 220 miles Brittany Ferries sails from Portsmouth to Le Havre, Caen and Cherbourg, and from Poole to Cherbourg; Condor Ferries sails Portsmouth-Cherbourg. Ryanair flies to La Rochelle from Stansted and easyJet flies from Bristol and Gatwick

See more here:

France road trip: La Rochelle, Cognac and the Atlantic coast islands - The Guardian