Angers doesn't get the tourist crowds of nearby Tours or Amboise, and that's exactly its appeal. Barely 90 minutes from Paris by train, this compact city in the western Loire Valley manages to pair a fearsome medieval fortress with tram lines, green parks and a genuinely oddball selection of attractions.
The Château d'Angers is the obvious starting point — 17 bastion towers and 600 metres of wall built under Saint Louis in the 13th century, its stripes courtesy of local shale and white limestone. It survived a demolition order from Henri III only because the king died before the job was done. Inside hangs the Apocalypse Tapestry, woven between 1373 and 1380 and originally 130 metres long. Its survival story is far-fetched: after the Revolution it was cut up by locals for carpets and horse blankets, and when a search began in 1843 most of the missing pieces turned up in a rubbish dump. Around 60% was recovered.
Across from the castle, the old La Cité quarter is a tangle of cobbled streets and buildings from the 12th century onwards. The Cathedral of St Maurice has stained glass nearly 900 years old and an organ with some 4,600 pipes. Behind it, the restored Maison d'Adam still carries around 50 carved wooden figures — though its Adam and Eve vanished during the Revolution.
Art lovers should seek out the Galerie David d'Angers in the old Toussaint Abbey, where plaster moulds by the sculptor (who Victor Hugo called the Michelangelo of Paris) sit under a glass roof — and entry is free in the final hour. Over the river in La Doutre, a district most visitors skip, the Lurcat Museum displays the modern tapestry 'Le Chant du Monde', inspired by its medieval predecessor.
Angers is also a drinks town. Every bottle of Cointreau in the world is made here, and the factory offers tours and cocktail masterclasses; Giffard has produced its menthe pastille liqueur since 1885. Families should make a beeline for Terra Botanica, a plant-themed park a short tram ride out with treetop rides, orchid greenhouses, a 4D raindrop film and picnic spots. Nearby, the Île Saint-Aubin — reachable only by hand-pulled ferry from April to October, since it floods each winter — is a car-free island of wildflower meadows and a small café.
Wine country surrounds the city: Château d'Épiré offers tastings in a cellar that was once a church, and seven-storey Château de Brissac, France's tallest castle, is a short drive away with 500 acres of parkland. In town, head to Place du Ralliement or the riverside quays at Port d'Angers for apéritifs with a castle view, or the Halles Coeur de Maine food market.
Angers suits travellers who like their Loire Valley trip with a bit of everything — history, art, gardens, liqueur and an island ferry — without the coach-party crush. It works as a day trip from Paris or a two- or three-day base for exploring Anjou's vineyards.
