Guérande is a medieval town known for centuries for extracting sea salt. In its vicinity, there are salines, some of which can be visited. Also noteworthy are the local city fortifications, which have been preserved almost intact since the Middle Ages.
The salt marshes near Guérande were known in antiquity and the Romans were the first to obtain salt here. Currently, they are one of the largest salinas of this type in France. The landscape of the coastal part of the Guérande area consists of basins in which saline seawater evaporates, and from which the deposited salt is then removed. Part of the salina can be visited in the company of an employee guide who shows what working in such a place looks like.
The second of Guérande's attractions are its fortifications. Built at the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries on the site of the earlier walls, they are among the best preserved in France. There are four gates leading to the Old Town, the most impressive of which is the Gate of St. Michael. Currently, it houses the Guérande Fortification Museum. Inside the walls is enclosed the Old Town, the buildings of which come mainly from the 15th and 16th centuries. Its decoration is the Saint-Aubin church with a romanesque nave, but with a later façade in the fiery gothic style. In the vicinity of the church, in narrow streets, you can see many historic tenement houses, which today house restaurants, handicraft shops and small workshops.
