Hello-
We have an opportunity to visit Poitiers (France)....... I know absolutely nothing about this town or the region. Has anyone visited here? Things to do in this town or surrounding area? Would we need a car or are trains accessible? Books, websites you can suggest?

Thanks! Just beginning to do my research on this area......

There is an impressive Romanesque church in Poitiers and another one well worth a visit in St. Savin, about 30 mi. east of Poitiers.

Here are some pictures, if interested:

http://www.photoworks.com/members/sl...mp;id=36882842

Sorry about that, I should have used TinyURL.com

Again sorry. I wish that this site allowed editing. The reference does not work properly. You might want to re-post to get rid of my mess.

Got off the train once in Poitiers for the night and found a neat old-looking town. Don't know much about the area but the town is a good base if there is much around it

Visiting Poitiers France information
Sitting on a hilltop overlooking two rivers, Poitiers is a country town with a unique charm that comes from a long and sometimes influential history – as ...
france-for-visitors.com/atlantic/poitiers/index.html

Hi ab, I love Poiters. Every yer we spend a few day with friends near there in a village called Bonnesand next door to the Chateau Touffou.
In Poitiers, the churges are very beautiful, easpecially the Church of Notre-Dame-la-Grande that has an incredible facade and a beautiful interior.
The Baptistry of St-Jean is a must see. and several more churches or cathedrls.
Our favorite places to visit are, the medievle cité of Chauvigny wher ther's a wonderfu birds of prey show and a bat cave. The other, is the beautiful Angles-sur Anglin.
I love visiting Romagne, that has La Vallee des Singes, where all the monkies run wild and you watch gorillas from across a body of water. In Tremouille, this year. We visited the I'll aux serpents where you se snakes, aligators and other creatures.

look up Futuroscope for an interesting day out.

I visited Poitiers for about five days after completing a walk on the "Chemin de St. Jacques." We spent the time relaxing and enjoying the surrounding area. It's a very pretty little city, and as someone else already mentioned, the Romanesque is quite spectacular. We rented a car and spent a couple of days visiting the places described in this New York Times Travel Section article from 2002. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpag...53C1A9649C8B63

(If the link doesn't work, go to the search function of www.nytimes.com and type in poitiers and romanesque). This article gives very good advice. The churches, the countryside, the other towns (such as Saintes) were truly lovely, and the food was terrific in lots of these little places. It's not very touristy at all, we enjoyed ourselves completely. I can give more specific information about the itinerary, etc, if you have questions. LR

Hi ab, I love Poitier's. Every year we spend a few day with friends near there in a village called Bonnes and next door to the Chateau Touffou.
In Poitiers, the churches are very beautiful, easpecially the Church of Notre-Dame-la-Grande that has an incredible facade and a beautiful interior.
The Baptistry of St-Jean is a must see. and several more churches or cathedrals.
Our favorite places to visit are, the medievile cité of Chauvigny where there's a wonderful birds of prey show and a bat cave. The other, is the beautiful Angles-sur Anglin beautiful village.
I love visiting Romagne, that has La Vallee des Singes, where all the monkies run wild and you watch gorillas from across a body of water. In Tremouille, this year. We visited the I'll aux serpents where you see snakes, aligators and other creatures.
sorry for typos

Another vote for Chauvigny and the lovely Angles-Sur-Anglin!

We usually pick up and drop our rental car in Poitiers - all the car rental companies have offices directly opposite the train station - and there is a direct train to CDG airport, which is very convenient.

I would advise you to rent a car because you will always see more and be able to visit smaller villages - and save lots of time. The roads are very nice and wide to drive on - not like the very narrow ones in Provence etc.

I visited Poitiers couple years ago, and stayed for 3 nights. The old town centre is full of interesting buildings, beutiful Romanesque churches as mentioned by previous posters, plus one of the oldest gardens in France.

The tourist centre has a map for walking tour in town, you could easilly follow the colour lines on the pavements to see all sites.

Usually I am not into theme parks, but spent a whole day at the nearby Futuroscope- full of modern tech wonders and strange buildings. There are direct buses from train station to the park;

If you don't wish to drive, train and bus are quite convenient.