Luxury holidays in Poitou-Charentes

When to go

When schools break up for summer, the region’s beaches fill with families; only go in July and August if you don’t mind sharing with them. Autumn is a great time to visit: the Atlantic is as warmed by the summer sun as it will ever be, and the grape harvest (September to October) brings festivals.

Getting there

• Planes

  The region’s smaller airports include Poitiers | Limoges and La Rochelle. For internal connecting flights | try Airlinair (www.airlinair.com) and Brit Air (www.britair.com). For direct flights from the UK | Bordeaux is less than two hours away from Angoulême | and BA and EasyJet can take you there from London.

• Trains

  Poitiers and Angoulême are on the TGV route from Paris to Bordeaux (www.tgv.com). UK travellers should take the Eurostar and connect at Lille (eurostar.co.uk).

• Automobiles

  Angoulême is four and a half hours by road from Paris | seven hours from Calais. You can rent a car at Bordeaux airport or book car-hire pick-up at Poitiers rail station.

• Taxis

  It should be easy to hunt down a cab in bigger towns such as La Rochelle, Rochefort and Angoulême. In villages, c'est pas évident, though your hotel should be able to organise one for you.