The Charente archipelago islands of Aix, Oléron and Ré are often omitted from French itineraries, despite offering pine forests, oyster beds, salt marshes and antiquated villages. The islands share a mild, oceanic climate and sandy botany.
Île d'Aix, a few miles off the southwest coast of France, was the last place on French soil that Napoleon set foot. After defeat at Waterloo in 1815, the emperor handed himself over to the British Navy. Today the island has a wholly civilian population of about 200, making it one of the smallest communes in France.
On Ré and Oléron are great oyster beds, and salt marshes where paludiers harvest salt using traditional wooden hand tools. Wealthy Parisians have owned property here for aeons, especially on Ré, which is a fast train from Montparnasse, taking just two and a half hours to nearby La Rochelle.
Oléron, the largest island at 67 square miles, is busier and less bourgeois but similarly full of fresh air and tranquillity. There are well-run and egalitarian campsites on Ré and Oléron, and shacks along the coast selling a half-dozen world-class oysters for a few euros.