Experience the best of Saint Nazaire

Saint-Nazaire stands at the mouth of the Loire, where the estuary opens onto the Atlantic. Its shipyards built the liner Normandie in the 1930s and, much later, the Queen Mary 2, and the cranes still dominate the skyline. A vast concrete German submarine base from the Second World War, part of which now holds exhibitions, sits beside the old harbour. Heavy bombing flattened the centre, so most of its streets are post-war.

A long cable-stayed bridge carries the road across the estuary towards Saint-Brevin. To the north the Brière marshes, a regional nature park, form a maze of reed channels and thatched cottages where flat-bottomed boats still glide. To the west, the walled town of Guérande looks over salt marshes where sea salt is raked by hand, and La Baule has a long crescent of sand.

The hand-harvested fleur de sel of Guérande flavours the region's salted-butter caramels and its fish. Oysters, langoustines and fish stews dominate menus, with Muscadet from the vineyards around Nantes to wash them down. The coast is mildest and brightest from late spring to early autumn.