La Tremblade

La Tremblade is a port town and seaside resort on the Arvert peninsula in Charente-Maritime, southwestern France. This small town with about 4,500 inhabitants (about 10,000 when including the surrounding villages), and famous for its flat oysters just like the surrounding Marennes-Oléron region.

Understand


La Tremblade is in the southwest of Charente-Maritime, covering the western end of the Arvert Peninsula between the Gironde and Seudre estuaries. It's part of the greater Royan area, itself forming a municipality that also includes the villages of Arvert, Étaules and Chaillevette and the surrounds, and faces the town of Marennes. Two sectors dominate the economy: on one hand fishing and oyster farming, and on the other hand beach and ecotourism (during the summer the population more than doubles).

Part of the Marennes-Oléron oyster basin (bassin ostréicole de Marennes-Oléron), which is one of the biggest in Europe, the nearby Port of La Grève is France's most important oyster port. It's a 2 km long canal next to the Seudre River with small barges (bâtas and plates), and thousands of hectares of clear ripening basins where oysters get their unique colour and flavour. Indeed, they may have the appearance of rice fields when they're sparkling in the sun.

The western part of the municipality, facing the Atlantic, has a different character. Until the early 19th century it consisted of vast sand dunes. Then thousands and thousands of pines were planted, and now much of it comprises the Coubre state forest, 8000 hectares in size and part of a set of coastal pine forests continuing south across the Gironde and northwest. There's a dense network of paths in the forest for walks in the green, the coastline of 20 km which retains the white sand dunes is great for sunbathing and the waves coming in is great for surfing and to some extent swimming (one has to be careful as the currents can be strong).

History


Unlike some other parts of Charente-Maritime, the peninsula hasn't been inhabited since prehistory. In the Middle Ages the thick forest and wild coast was administratively lands of different monastic communities by the lords of Mornac - Aléard and Gombeau.

The Clunian community settled in the southwest of the present municipality near a pond connected to the Atlantic by the Barrachois Canal, founding the Notre-Dame de Buze priory with many buildings. Further north, the monks of the Order of Grandmont founded the priories of Notre-Dame de La Garde and Notre-Dame de La Couronne. The religious communities also started cultivating the land, and eventually a small village named Trembledam emerged around the La Garde priory. Named after the French word for aspen (tremble), a common tree around here, this marked the beginning of La Tremblade. Its port became important for exporting wheat, wine, but especially salt and was frequented by merchants from all over Europe.

With relatively strong connections to Northern Europe through sailors and merchants, the Protestant Reformation gained a foothold here during the 16th century. As such, the French Wars of Religion had a major on the region with the aforementioned priories being sacked, burned and abandoned.

With the end of the wars, La Tremblade became a major port. From here, ships departed to the colonies of New France in North America, as well as to Africa, and shipyards were set up. Moreover, the oyster farming which the region is known for today was started around 1650. The green oysters of Isles d'Arvert were prized by the nobility and the French king alike. Nevertheless the counter-reformation struck hard on the region around the 1680s and many Protestants had to flee to England and the Netherlands.

La Tremblade became a parish in the 18th century, the seigneurial house of the barony of Arvert was moved there in 1758 and the city became the cantonal capital during the French Revolution. Now several new buildings were erected, together with infrastructure modern for its time.

The city became a sea resort during the 1860s – first a sea villa was built by a certain Joseph-Édouard Perraudeau, then many more would follow, making La Tremblade a tourist destination which it still is. During WWII, the town became a German stronghold and was bombed by the Allies multiple times and burned by the Germans when they left. After the war, it was rebuilt and continued functioning as a resort town.

Climate
La Tremblade has an oceanic climate of the Aquitaine type, with a microclimate that's more Mediterranean which means maritime pines, green oaks, olive trees, mimosas, eucalyptus, agaves and the like thrive here. There are 2250 hours of sunshine a year. Yearly rain is generally around 750-800 mm, and droughts aren't unheard of especially during the hotter months.

Winds generally come in from the west (the Atlantic), meaning warm breezes in the summer but much stronger winds in the autumn and winter; a few times every century a big storm hits the region such as in January 1924 and December 1999.

By car
The main roads in La Tremblade are the D14, D25 and D728e. D14 comes in from Arvert and Étaules (connecting to Royan) and Saujon, where it connects to the N150 coming in from Saintes and the A10 autoroute between Paris and Bordeaux. D25 is a bypass on the town's western side, and it comes in from Royan going along the coast to La Palmyre and through the State Forest of Coubre. D728e comes in from Marennes-Hiers-Brouage across the Seudre River, and Marennes has roads in from Saintes (D728), Rochefort (D123 and D733) and Île d'Oléron (D26)

By train
La Tremblade's railway station is just served by the tourist train Le train des mouettes. The closest railway stations with scheduled service are in Saujon and Royan are about 20 km away. They're served by the local TER Poitou-Charentes network.

By plane
There are general aviation fields in Marennes and Royan. The closest passenger airports are in Bordeaux (115 km south) and La Rochelle (55 km north).

By bus
Intercity buses don't go to La Tremblade, just to Rochefort (25 km away) and Saintes (40 km away). The departmental Cara-bus has bus lines to La Tremblade, most importantly lines 6 and 115 from Royan.

By bike
La Tremblade is on the long distance biking route EuroVelo 1 between Norway and Portugal, following the coast.

By public transport
The local Cara bus network connects to nearby towns and villages (see link in Get in above). In July and August the free tourist train La coquille filante takes you from downtown to Ronce-les-Bains (morning) and Port de La Grève (afternoon)

By car
Getting in and around the town and municipality by car is usually hassle-free around the year. The exception would be the seaside hamlet of Ronce-les-Bains which gets busy in July and August. Parking is free around town and at the beaches, and again, it can be difficult to find a vacant spot during the busier summer months.

Sea journeys
These depart from the Embarcadère de La Grève

Water sports


Like elsewhere on the coast, surfing is extremely popular among people of all ages and social classes. Almost 20 km of coastline is directly exposed to the Atlantic, and there are some great spots for experienced surfers such as La Coubre and La Pointe espagnole though there are also some more sheltered places for beginners like Pontaillac in Royan. Many other water sports such as windsurfing, sailing, canoeing and standup paddleboarding are practiced in the region.



For children




Cinema


There are also cinemas in the nearby towns of Marennes and Mathes.

Casino




Buy
The main shopping streets are Place Gambetta, Boulevard Pasteur, Rue de la Seudre, Rue du Général Leclerc and Rue Foran downtown, and Avenue Gabrielle in Ronce-les-Bains. There are two supermarkets outside town, Intermarché and Super U, other than this there's a E.Leclerc hypermarket in Marennes across the river and even more in Royan.

Local specialities
The local, Saintongenaise, cuisine is based on land products, seafood and wine.

The Marennes-Oléron oysters are famous far beyond the region. Oysters are refined or "clarified" in the old salt marshes where they mature to different taste levels; fine de claire with an iodized taste, fine de claire verte with a stronger taste, spéciale de claire which is more fleshy and pousse en claire with a hazelnut-like taste. They're traditionally eaten either raw or hot but without any condiments. However, nowadays it's popular to have sausages, crackers and fresh cream served alongside.



Another specialty of La Tremblade is velouté trembladais, fish soup made with fish too small to be sold individually. It includes croutons and butter and is often served with rouille sauce. Chaudrée, the fish soup you can encounter all over Charente-Maritime is made with white wine and potatoes. A specialty of next door île d'Oléron is l'éclade de moules, mussels cooked on a pine needle fire. Mouclade is another mussels dish, made with creme sauce and white wine. Dishes with sardines can be found on many menus and then there are pibales, an eel dish from Mortagne-sur-Gironde south of Royan.

There are local meat dishes as well: grillons (rillettes of meat cooked in its own fat), Saintongenaise rabbit or beef stew (made with cognac and/or Pineau des Charentes), and the cagouilles (little grey snails) served the Charentaise way with white wine and vegetables. On the expensive side, there are caviar de cagouille, i.e. snail eggs.

Local desserts include galette charentaise (a cake with butter and caramellized angelica), les merveilles/beignets (fritters) and millas (a kind of cheese cake).

On the beverage side, the region is known for cognac and Pineau des Charentes (fortified wine drunk as an aperitif). The famous Bordeaux wine region begins across the Garonne river, though there is definitely viticulture in Charente as well.



Mid-range




Splurge


You can also eat at the Casino (listed in Do above) and some of the accommodations (listed in Sleep below).

Budget
Per local laws you cannot camp where you like, including sleeping in your car outside designated camping areas.



Connect


You can hear the main national radio stations, and the following local stations: Demoiselle FM (102.2 MHz), Vogue Radio (103.1 MHz), France Bleue La Rochelle (103.6 MHz), Mixx Radio (106.5 MHz). The regional tv station France 3 Nouvelle-Aquitaine has an office in nearby Royan.

On the newspaper side, the daily newspaper is the Sud-Ouest based in Bordeaux but with an editorial office in Royan, and the weekly newspaper Le Littoral based in Marennes.

There's 4G coverage by the operators Bouyges Telecom, Orange, SFR, Free Mobile in much of La Tremblade but there may be some spots in the coverage in the Coubre Forest.

Stay healthy
The nearest hospital is the CHR Malakoff in Vaux-sur-Mer (a suburb of Royan), 18 km from central La Tremblade. It's a public hospital with an emergency room operating 24/7. In addition there are many private clinics in Royan.