Angers; Saturday, 26 September, 2026

Thankfully there were no coach parties to obliterate the breakfast this morning so I was able to get a decent spread before heading out of the hotel and wandering down to the city’s river – the River Maine (not to be confused with the river of the same name in Frankfurt this one is a tributary of the Loire rather than the Rhine), and crossing over to the opposite bank and the Doutre district of the city, home to many of the city’s historic mansions and houses.

It’s also home to the Modern Le Quai theatre that has a public roof terrace, which, given it faces the Château d'Angers on the opposite bank of the river, has some pretty good views and despite it being late morning on a Saturday was surprisingly quiet.

There is also a café/restaurant up here which you’re not obliged to visit, but I decided to grab a coffee and spend a bit of time just taking in the stunning view across the river to the castle and cathedral before heading back down to street level to do some more exploring through Doutre.

Much like the old town the tourist board has put together a guided walk through Doutre, though you do need to download a copy of the map for this one as there isn’t a conveniently painted line to follow, but once again it takes you past all of the key buildings and sights on this side of the river, and I probably spent nearly 90 minutes with lots of photo stops to complete the less than 2Km route.

The final stop on the walking tour was the former Hôpital Saint-Jean which has been converted into a museum dedicated to contemporary tapestry, almost as a counterbalance to the Apocalypse tapestry in the castle, and I spent quite a bit more time that I was expecting I would having a look around the exhibition on tapestry production, and then in the former chapel a temporary exhibition of modern tapestries that recreate some of the artwork associated with the J.R.R. Tolkien novels.

From the tapestry exhibition I headed back across the river, stopping off to have a quick look at the outside of the Tour de la Haute-Chaîne or Tour des Anglais, one of the last remaining parts of the old city fortifications. Back on the opposite bank it was about a 15-minute walk to my next stop the Muséum des sciences naturelles.

The museum is both the natural history and the geology museum of the city with the former housing the expected selection of stuffed animals and the latter being like something out of a time capsule with the serried ranks of glass top display cases looking like something from the late 19th century.

Close to the museum is the Jardin des Plantes and I had a bit of a wander around that before starting to make my way back towards the hotel via the Jardin du Mail and the main street running back towards the station.

After a bit of a rest I headed out to grab some dinner, and then with the last of the days light fading I headed back over to Le Quai and to the terrace to take some views of the castle, cathedral and river in the dusk and early night. From Le Quai I then had a wander down to the rive droit banks of the Maine and walk along them to the old bridge back into the city centre and the foot of the impressive staircase that leads up to the Cathedral.

I made the hike up to the cathedral and then had a bit more of a wander through the old town, taking in the Place du Président Kennedy again before heading back to my hotel bed.