Where to Stay in Angers, Pays de la Loire

What is Angers known for?

Angers is known as the historic capital of Anjou, the province whose people are called Angevins. Its skyline turns on Angers Cathedral. The timber-framed Maison d'Adam still stands in the old streets below it, while the Musée des Beaux-Arts and the Galerie David d'Angers hold the city's art, and the tapestry work of the musée Jean Lurçat carries the Angevin craft tradition.

Terra Botanica draws visitors to its gardens on the city's edge.

What are the main landmarks in Angers?

Angers gathers its landmarks in the old town of Anjou. Angers Cathedral rises over the medieval streets, and the timber-framed Maison d'Adam stands among them as one of the finest houses of its kind. The Musée des Beaux-Arts and the Galerie David d'Angers hold the fine-art and sculpture collections, while the musée Jean Lurçat keeps the great tapestry works.

On the city's edge, Terra Botanica lays out its botanical gardens.

What is the history of Angers?

Angers began as the Roman town of Iuliomagus, and the site has held a city ever since. Its rise came with Anjou. As the capital of the province, Angers grew into the seat of the Angevin counts and dukes, and the old town that climbs to Angers Cathedral took shape in the medieval centuries when Anjou was a power in western France.

The timber-framed Maison d'Adam survives from that age in the streets below the cathedral. Anjou remained a distinct province until the French Revolution, when its lands passed into the new department of Maine-et-Loire, of which Angers became the prefecture. The Angevin craft traditions carried on, and the city's tapestry heritage found a home in the musée Jean Lurçat.

Its art collections filled the Musée des Beaux-Arts and the Galerie David d'Angers as the town grew beyond its walls. Angers still reads as the capital of Anjou, its Roman origins under the cathedral hill and its Angevin centuries written across the old streets.

Where is Angers?

Angers stands in western France, the prefecture of Maine-et-Loire in the Pays de la Loire region, about 300 km southwest of Paris. A river runs through it. Its water splits the old cathedral town on one bank from the newer quarters that spread across the far side, while the historic centre rises on slightly higher ground above the valley.

Around the built-up area the gentle country of Anjou opens out, with the Lac de Maine on its western edge.

What is the climate of Angers?

Angers has a mild oceanic climate, softened by the western reach of France. Summers are warm rather than hot. Winters stay cool and damp, seldom harsh, with grey skies and steady rain more common than snow across the low country of Anjou.

Rain falls fairly evenly through the year, and the river valley keeps the air soft, which long earned the district its reputation for a gentle growing season.

How do you get to Angers?

Angers sits on the main rail line of western France, with fast trains linking it to Paris some 300 km to the northeast. The rails run fast. Motorways cross Maine-et-Loire and the wider Pays de la Loire toward the Atlantic coast and the neighbouring cities of the region, tying the old capital of Anjou into the national network.

Its station is a short walk from the old town and Angers Cathedral.