Pays de la Loire

Pays de Loire: tourism and economic activities

The Pays de Loire region is an astonishing mosaic that was created by combining "pieces" of the former provinces of Anjou, Brittany, Maine, Poitou...

From the Loire Valley castles in Anjou and Touraine to the castle of the Dukes of Brittany in Nantes. From the cathedral of Le Mans to the beaches of Vendée or the ports of Loire-Atlantique, its five departments each have very strong identities, often deep-rooted cultures and even regional languages.

The Pays de Loire offers an interesting balance between large, human-sized towns and their rural character.

- It is the 2nd agricultural region in France. The MIN of Nantes ranks second among French markets of national interest after Paris - Rungis. It comes first for the production of "red labels" and second for the number of hectares of organic production. At the top of French regions for the naval and nautical sector, the wood trade and furniture.

2nd place in France for metallurgy, animal and human nutrition as well as agricultural equipment with large companies such as BN, Lactalis Nestlé, Charal, Tipiak, Pasquier, Fleury Michon...

Tourism: it is the 4th most visited destination by the French. Source: CCI Pays de Loire.

The Loire Valley, a UNESCO World Heritage Site

In 2010, UNESCO listed the Loire Valley, a 280 km long stretch between Sully-sur-Loire east of Orléans and Chalonnes-sur-Loire southwest of Angers, as a UNESCO World Heritage Site as one of its living cultural landscapes. The Loire Valley is now the largest listed site in France. The listing was based on three criteria:

- The quality of the architectural heritage of the historic towns of Blois, Chinon, Orléans, Saumur and Tours and of world-renowned castles such as Chambord.

- An exceptional cultural landscape along a great river that bears witness to an exchange of influences of human values. A harmonious development of interactions between men and their environment over two thousand years of history.

- The landscape of the Loire Valley, and more particularly its numerous cultural monuments which illustrate to an exceptional degree the ideals of the Renaissance and the Age of Enlightenment on the thought and creation of Western Europe.

The castles of the Loire

In Pays de Loire: Anjou is a very popular region on the route of the Loire châteaux

- The imposing fortress of the Château d’Angers which houses the “Tapestry of the Apocalypse”.

- The Brissac castle, which with its seven floors is the highest in France. - The Brézé castle with its underground galleries of more than a kilometer.

- The collection of 260 copper pieces from the china of the Château de Montgeoffroy.

- The castles of Saumur, Serrant, Le Plessis-Macé, Montsoreau, Montreuil-Bellay...

In the Centre region around Châteauroux, Orléans, Tours without forgetting the "Little Carcassonne" of Ainay le Vieil in Berry.

The Loire wine route

The Loire vineyard is the 3rd largest French wine region. With 800 kilometres of identified routes from the Centre region to the Atlantic, the Loire wine route is the longest in France. At 280 kilometres, it is part of the Loire Valley site, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Starting from the south-east of Orléans, the wine enthusiast first discovers the vineyards of Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé. Going west, he finds Cheverny, Vouvray and the wines of Touraine, the Chinon and Saint-Nicolas de Bourgueil. Then come the wines of Anjou and the Côteaux du Layon around Angers and in the Nantais region, the Muscadet and Gros Plant. Renowned for its dry, sweet and liqueur white wines, the Loire also produces often light reds and rosés.

The Loire by bike: 800 km

This cycle route, initiated in 1995, reached its objective of 800 kilometres in 2012 in the Centre and Pays de Loire regions.

The route, from Nevers to Saint-Nazaire, passes through six departments and six urban areas: Orléans, Blois, Tours, Saumur, Angers, Nantes. "La Loire à Vélo" is part of the Eurovélo 6 route that crosses Europe from East to West. It connects the Black Sea and the Atlantic Ocean from Constanta in Romania to Saint Nazaire in France along the Loire, the Rhine and the Danube.