The historic capital of the island: a harbour set around its islet, ramparts designed by Vauban and listed by UNESCO, and the Ré way of life at its very best.
The beating heart of the island since the seventeenth century, Saint-Martin-de-Ré sets its harbour and its islet at the heart of a star of fortifications drawn by Vauban and inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list. Along the quaysides, terraces and shops keep the town alive all year round, a rare privilege on the island.
The market here is the most urban on the island: white-fronted harbour houses looking out on to the boats, private mansions in the historic quarter, townhouses with a patio or a walled garden. Addresses inside the ramparts are few and keenly contested; our local roots open the door to properties before they ever appear online.
Saint-Martin was a stronghold before it was anything else. Its strategic position on the Atlantic, an outpost guarding La Rochelle and Rochefort, led Louis XIV to entrust its defence to Vauban. The King's engineer built here one of his masterpieces: a star of fourteen kilometres of ramparts, sized to shelter the population of the entire island in the event of invasion. These fortifications, among the major Vauban sites in France, have been on the UNESCO World Heritage list since 2008.
The two monumental gateways into the town, the porte de Toiras to the south and the porte des Campani to the north, are too narrow and too precious for the motor car and are now reserved for pedestrians and cyclists: you enter the town at walking pace, as people did in the seventeenth century. La Citadelle, raised at the end of the seventeenth century facing the sea, tells another chapter of that history: for many years it was from its quaysides that convoys left for the penal colonies of French Guiana and New Caledonia. Today the ramparts have become one of the finest walks on the island, between the theatre of the harbour and the open ocean horizon.
A lock-gated basin arranged around a central islet lined with terraces: one of the most distinctive harbour landscapes on the Atlantic coast, alive from morning until night.
Built in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries and so heavily fortified that it was nicknamed the Grand Fort, the church still carries the scars of the sieges it endured. Climbing the 117 steps of its bell tower and lookout opens a 360° view over the rooftops, the ocean and, on a clear day, the Vendée coast.
Housed in the hôtel de Clerjotte, it retraces the history of the island and the traditions of its people, between permanent collections and exhibitions that mark the seasons.
Shipowners' residences, fishermen's cottages that are now highly sought after, and a few curiosities such as La Vinatrie, a half-timbered house of medieval origin and a witness to the Ré wine trade.
An oasis of greenery between the ramparts and the harbour, where the merry-go-rounds have delighted children for generations.
Beyond the moat of the Citadelle lies the beach of the Martinais: lifeguarded in season and home to a sailing school, perfect for a morning swim or a whole day with the family.
As in every village on Ré, life here goes on all year round, and it grows livelier year after year, carried by ever more people who choose the island as their permanent home. The morning opens at the market and in the cafés along the quaysides; the rue du Marché and the rue de Sully line up boutiques and galleries all the way to the church; in the evening the setting sun sets the harbour façades ablaze while the masts clink. On the place de la République, under century-old chestnut trees, games of pétanque draw out the summer evenings.
Outside the walls, the quartier des Salières gathers the services of everyday life: healthcare practitioners, shops, a secondary school and the AquaRé water centre, the only public swimming pool on the island. That completeness makes the village as much a home of the heart as a sensible choice, for holidays and for living here all year.
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Request a valuationDreaming of a life in Saint-Martin-de-Ré? BARNES Île de Ré, a luxury estate agency, offers a selection of harbour houses, private mansions and townhouses inside the UNESCO-listed fortified town, a step from the market and the quaysides… See prices village by village · Our properties for sale in Saint-Martin-de-Ré
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