🧂 WELCOME TO LES PORTES-EN-RÉ, BETWEEN THE OCEAN, SALT MARSHES AND FORESTS 🌳
👨👩👧👦 Population: 593 (according to INSEE (equivalent to ONS) in 2020)
📏 Surface area: 8,51 km2
This village offers its gentle way of life, its authenticity and the feeling of being at the end of the world.
A pretty, peaceful little town in winter, it comes alive in summer around its little Place de la Liberté. A number of restaurants, terraces and shops give it an extraordinary charm, with charming houses nestling at the end of beautiful flower-lined alleyways. A market full of flavour and colour is held around the square every day in summer, and is a popular meeting place for locals and tourists alike.
Les Portes en Ré is also an unspoilt village in the heart of a protected environment, with the Maison du Fier, located at the entrance to the Lilleau des Niges bird sanctuary.
👩🏫 THE HISTORY OF LES PORTES-EN-RÉ 🚪
There are traces of prehistoric settlements in Les Portes-en-Ré. However, the real settlement of the village seems to date back to the 11th century, when the land was first cleared and the first salt marshes built. Until the 17th century, the village was commonly known as “Les Portes d’Ars”, as it was the gateway to the islet of Ars, which was then separated from the Île de Ré. Established as a commune in 1790, the village’s economy was based on the salt harvest. With the decline of the salt industry in the 20th century, the population fell to 349 in 1946.
A holiday resort surrounded by spectacular beaches, Les Portes-en-Ré is a small village that invites you to escape and relax.
🌿 THE LILLEAU DES NIGES NATURE RESERVE 🦆
Situated in the heart of the salt marshes, the Lilleau des Niges Nature Reserve is a veritable paradise of nature, welcoming thousands of birds from Europe, Africa and North America throughout the year: white stilts, brant, avocets, little egrets, blackbirds… Because of their privileged geographical location on the great Atlantic migration route, the Nature Reserve and the Ile de Ré as a whole play a major role in welcoming waterbirds. Of the 323 bird species observed on the island, 227 have been recorded in the Reserve.
Access to Lilleau des Niges is forbidden to motorised vehicles and is exclusively on foot or by bicycle. The area around the nature reserve and its educational trail offers ideal conditions for birdwatching and for ornithology enthusiasts. As well as birds, which are the reserve’s main attraction, 168 species of plant and 12 species of fish have also been recorded.
A cycle path crosses the entire reserve in the middle of the marshes, which offer a magnificent spectacle of wild flora and fauna in all seasons.
