Marché Central

La Rochelle


Every morning La Rochelle's 19th-century covered market bustles with stallholders selling fresh fruit and vegetables, fish splayed on beds of ice, meat and every size of oyster waiting to be shucked. On Wednesday and Saturday mornings fruit, veg and other food stalls fill the surrounding streets. Inside the market hall, don't miss the cheese counter selling creamy, hand-moulded Beillevaire butter.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby La Rochelle attractions

1. Musée du Nouveau Monde

0.11 MILES

La Rochelle's role as a departure point for North America is interpreted at this museum, housed in an elegant courtyard-clad mansion built in 1750.

2. Musée des Beaux-Arts

0.14 MILES

La Rochelle's Museum of Fine Arts, housed inside a stunning neoclassical building, hosts an impressive collection of 15th- to 20th-century art.

3. Tour de la Grosse Horloge

0.33 MILES

The gateway to the old city, Tour de la Grosse Horloge is a steadfast Gothic-style clock tower with a 12th-century base and 18th-century top.

4. Tour St-Nicolas

0.44 MILES

The only tower to be decked out like a house, this 37m-high pentagonal stone tower has leaned slightly to one side ever since building was complete in…

5. Tour de la Chaîne

0.46 MILES

To protect the harbour at night in times of war, an enormous chain was raised between the two 14th-century stone towers at the harbour entrance to La…

6. Tour de la Lanterne

0.57 MILES

Easily mistaken for an ornate church spire, the conical 15th-century Tour de la Lanterne is La Rochelle's beauty queen. It was so named because of its…

7. Aquarium La Rochelle

0.58 MILES

La Rochelle's state-of-the-art, family-friendly aquarium is home to 12,000 marine animals and 600 different species. Visits begin by descending in a…

8. Musée Maritime

0.79 MILES

In a series of boldly coloured, red, blue and yellow canopied hangars at the Bassin à Flot, the Maritime Museum evokes the history of La Rochelle port,…