The Vendée is a department indelibly marked by history: the Vendée Genocide and the Wars of the Vendée from 1793 to 1796 have left deep scars on the local collective memory and on the landscape, where castles and manor houses often bear the scars of these revolutionary upheavals.
Le Puy du Fou, a world-renowned night-time show and historical park, has successfully transformed this landscape steeped in memory into an exceptional tourist attraction: its ruined castle, the setting for the original show, has become the symbol of the Vendée resistance. The Château des Essarts, the Logis de la Chabotterie where Charette, the last Vendée leader, was captured, and numerous manor houses in the bocage bear witness to this painful and fascinating history.
The Vendée coast, with the island of Noirmoutier and its salt marshes, the Bay of Aiguillon and its polders, offers a spectacular natural setting dotted with stately homes linked to fishing and maritime trade, which brought prosperity to these coasts before the Revolution.