Ile d'Aix

Aix is small, a crescent about three kilometres long and six hundred metres wide, and no private cars are allowed, so movement is on foot, by bicycle or by horse cart. Vauban fortified it and Napoleon had it strengthened further; he came here in July 1815 after Waterloo, spent his last days on French soil in the commander's house, and surrendered to the British from the shore. That house is now the Musee Napoleonien, kept with his furniture and effects, and an African museum stands beside it. The Fort Liedot on the island later held prisoners. Two lighthouses and a beach complete a walkable circuit.

History

In Roman times the island seems to have been joined to the mainland at low tide, and it took its present shape around 1500. In 1067 Isembert de Châtelaillon gave it to the order of Cluny, which founded a small convent, and until 1286 it lay on the border between French and English Saintonge, falling to the English for about 15 years in the Hundred Years' War. After Rochefort became a royal naval base in 1665, Vauban fortified the island, works completed by Ferry in 1704; the British took it in 1757 and destroyed its ramparts, and again in 1759, holding it until 1763, after which the forts were rebuilt by officers including Montalembert and Choderlos de Laclos, author of Les Liaisons dangereuses. Napoleon visited in 1808 and ordered the commander's house and Fort Liédot, and from 12 to 15 July 1815, after Waterloo, he spent his last days in France here before surrendering to HMS Bellerophon (Wikipedia, Île-d'Aix).

Highlights

• The Napoleon museum - the house of his last days in France, with his effects.
• The car-free lanes - bicycles, walkers and horse carts only.
• Fort Liedot - a nineteenth-century fort used as a prison.
• The island circuit - a walkable loop past beaches and two lighthouses.

When to go

May to September; ferries run year-round with reduced winter service and cancel in rough weather. Bicycles are hired on arrival and the island is walked in a few hours.

Before you go

Facilities are limited to one village with a handful of places to eat. Ferries fill in summer. There is no vehicle access, so luggage must be carried.

Nearby

Fort Boyard lies offshore; Rochefort is inland.

Key facts