The fishing port of La Cotinière, on the west coast of the island of Oléron, at the centre of the Côte Sauvage, is an excellent place to visit which will delight all the family, children and parents.

We strongly recommend that you keep an afternoon free during your stay on the Atlantic coast to enjoy the lively atmosphere and colourful sights of the port of La Cotinière.

A large car park right by the port, between the church and the sea, will allow you to park without too much difficulty.

On the quay, the sailors and the wholesale fish merchants work surrounded by ambling tourists, highlighting the contrast between those who work and those who are on holiday.

Fishing for sardines

The unloading of sardines from the boats is particularly spectacular, making it the perfect scene for photographers and video enthusiasts to capture.
The sardine was formerly one of the main fish of La Cotinière. Fishing for sardines was recently relaunched and the sardines of La Cotinière are now preserved in oil and put into tins, prepared for consumers who are looking for a product of high quality.
From June until September, the boats of La Cotinière bring back every day several hundred kilos of sardines. They are unloaded, then sorted and put into cases directly on the quay, which attracts a lot of interest from the holiday-makers.

The auction

But sardine fishing is only one of the activities of La Cotinière. Close to the quay, there are also the larger fish which are sold by computerised auction, where one can watch the operations from a glass panelled gallery.
You can watch the cases of fish rolling by on conveyors in front of the relaxed buyers whose orders are handled by the computer system and the prices are displayed on a big screen. This is a far cry from the auction of the past and from its physical and verbal excitement!

The pier

Continuing the walk along the pier, after leaving the auction, go first of all up to the lighthouse at the entry of the port and then down to the end of the pier, where one is rewarded by beautiful views over the whole port and the beach, with the church in the background, which is dedicated to the sailors lost at sea.

The church