Things to do in Angoulême
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Angoulême
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Best months, warm long days, the lake and river beaches opening, and Musiques Métisses in early summer.
September may be the best single month, harvest light, full restaurant life and the Circuit des Remparts.
Cold and quiet in a normal year, but the comics festival in late January is the city's defining weekend when it runs.
Heat peak and independent closures mid month, redeemed at the end by the Francophone Film Festival.
Sound cheaper shoulder months for the museums and food version of the trip, with cooler mural walking.
The greyest month and the one to skip unless business brings you.
What's on
- Festival International de la Bande Dessinée d'Angoulême late January
The world's big comics festival. The 2026 edition was cancelled after an organiser boycott, and a new organiser is set to run it from 2027, so confirm dates before booking.
- Musiques Métisses early summer, usually May to June
France's pioneering world music festival, founded in 1976, across a long weekend.
- Festival du Film Francophone d'Angoulême late August
French cinema's rentrée festival of premieres, with a good natured public atmosphere across the city.
- Circuit des Remparts Mid September each year
Historic cars racing the unchanged 1279 metre ramparts circuit, plus rallies and a concours d'élégance.
Best things to do in Angoulême
Musée de la Bande Dessinée
The main comics museum on the riverbank, tracing bande dessinée through original artwork and rotating artist exhibitions.
Les Murs Peints
Around thirty building scale comics murals across the city, and walking the trail is the best introduction to Angoulême.
Cathédrale Saint-Pierre d'Angoulême
A 12th century Romanesque cathedral whose crowded sculpted facade is the finest monument in the old town.
Le Trésor de la Cathédrale d'Angoulême
The cathedral treasury reimagined by Jean-Michel Othoniel, a theatrical guided visit through colour, glass and goldsmith work.
Musée d'Angoulême
The city museum behind the cathedral, strongest on African and Oceanic art and on Charente archaeology and prehistory.
Musée du Papier
A small museum in former paper mills built over the Charente, telling the industry Angoulême grew rich on.
Le Vaisseau Moebius
The Cité BD second site on rue de Bordeaux, with library, cinema and exhibitions that reward checking what is on.
Hôtel de Ville d'Angoulême
The town hall built around the surviving towers of the old comtal château, best seen on a guided visit.
Where to stay in Angoulême
Le Plateau / Vieille Ville
best all round base
The historic upper town with the cathedral, market hall and restaurant quarter, and everything walkable except the hill home.
Saint-Cybard and the riverside
Cité museums and calm
Flat quarter by the comics museum, paper museum and FRAC, quiet at night and a twenty minute uphill walk to Plateau dinners.
Gare and Champ de Mars
one night stops, trains and budget
Flat and functional around the station, chosen for logistics rather than atmosphere, ten to fifteen minutes uphill to the Plateau.
Dirac countryside
slow couples weekends with a car
Country house staying ten minutes south, ideal for a Charente weekend built around dinner, less so as a festival base.
Saint-Yrieix-sur-Charente
families and summer lake days
Beside the Grande Prairie lake and Nautilis, a drive or bus ride from the Plateau and a summer proposition.
Think twice about
- Soyaux and Champniers commercial strips
Safe but characterless retail zones built around cars and roundabouts, with nothing walkable. A poor base for visiting the Charente.
- Angoulême station forecourt
Fine for trains but deserted feeling late at night, and the least pleasant walk home in the centre for a multi night stay.
Best restaurants in Angoulême
Domaine du Châtelard
The special occasion table of the area, acclaimed modern French cooking above a lake, with a keen lunch menu.
Restaurant Le Saint André
The consensus best bistrot in the centre, contemporary French cooking and a leafy terrace on square Saint-André.
Midi Minuit
A French restaurant and wine bar on rue de Genève that regulars argue serves the best lunch in Angoulême.
Chez Paul
The classic bistrot of place Francis Louvel, with a garden terrace and fresh, well presented French cooking locals return to.
Le Chergui
The city's Moroccan address, couscous and tagines served with an exceptionally warm welcome in a cosy room.
Jardin de Kashmir Angoulême
The most reviewed restaurant in town, an Indian and Pakistani kitchen that reliably feeds mixed groups and budgets.
Halles d'Angoulême
The cast iron market hall where produce stalls and small cooking counters make the best cheap lunch in the centre.
Le Marquant City
A simple steakhouse on rue Saint-Roch whose well priced grilled steak draws an unusually high rating for its band.
Outdoor things to do in Angoulême
Plan d'Eau de la Grande Prairie
The city lake with a flat 3km loop, a supervised summer swimming beach, sailing and play areas for families.
Centre Nautilis
A large aquatic centre with a 50 metre pool and summer wave pool, lazy river and slides, best visited in the morning.
Golf d'Angoulême - L'Hirondelle
An 18 hole par 70 course inside the city, hilly and technical, with the ramparts and rooftops accompanying the round.
La Flow Vélo
The riverside cycle route out of Angoulême toward Châteauneuf, past Cognac vines, Trois-Palis and a river beach swim.
Jarnac Sports Canoë Kayak
Canoe hire for a gentle drift down the clear, tree lined Charente at Jarnac, with descents arranged by the club.
Les Visites Hennessy
The flagship Cognac visit, crossing the Charente by boat to the cellars before a walk through making and blending.
Rémy Martin
The prestige Cognac day, touring the Fine Champagne estate by small train and tasting up through XO and rarer blends.
Château de La Rochefoucauld
A fairytale family château over the Tardoire, visitable from cellars to attics, with town, riverbanks and forest to walk.
Best hotels in Angoulême
Hôtel Le Saint Gelais
The best in town address, a small stylish hotel with garden and pool in a converted religious building inside the ramparts.
Domaine du Châtelard
A country house in 80 hectares above a private lake, ten minutes south, and the true luxury stay of the area.
Mercure Angoulême Hôtel de France
A grand old four star on the market square, the reliable central choice with a lift, front desk and classic rooms.
Hôtel du Palais
A characterful three star on the prettiest square of the Plateau, above the restaurant terraces of place Francis Louvel.
ibis budget Angoulême Centre
The honest budget bed in the lower town, clean and standardised, a short walk from the station and the Plateau climb.
Camping du Plan d'Eau
A four star lakeside campsite with pool and activities, the summer family budget base beside the Grande Prairie lake.
Is Angoulême expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | €55 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | €110 a person |
| Splurge | €220 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Le Trésor de la Cathédrale d'Angoulême: a few days ahead
- Hôtel de Ville d'Angoulême: a few days ahead
- Office de Tourisme du Pays d'Angoulême: a few days ahead
- Golf d'Angoulême - L'Hirondelle: a few days ahead
- Les Visites Hennessy: a few days ahead
- Rémy Martin: weeks ahead
- Hôtel Le Saint Gelais: weeks ahead
- Domaine du Châtelard: weeks ahead
- Book hotels months ahead for late January festival dates, late August film festival and mid September Circuit des Remparts.
- Book the Trésor de la Cathédrale days ahead, visits are guided only in small groups via the tourist office.
- Book Friday and Saturday dinners at Le Saint André and Domaine du Châtelard, and Cognac tours days ahead in summer.
- The Cité museums close on Mondays, so order museum days and countryside days accordingly.
Is Angoulême safe?
- Standard French city cautions suffice, watch bags in festival crowds and at the station.
- Plateau cobbles and steep gradients are treacherous in rain for unsteady walkers.
- Nautilis enforces strict swimwear rules, proper swimwear only and no swim shorts.
- In wet winters the Charente can flood riverside paths and low car parks in Saint-Cybard. Emergency number 112.
Angoulême travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Les Sources de Fontbelle is permanently closed despite starred listings in older guides, do not plan around it.
- Landing accidentally on a festival weekend means sold out rooms and double prices in an otherwise cheap city.
- The comics museum is scholarly and largely in French, visitors expecting a theme park rate it poorly.
- On Cognac tours, buy the standard visit and a glass of the good cognac afterwards rather than the top tasting tier.
Getting around Angoulême: public transport and more
- Walk everything on the Plateau, but respect the climbs, the mural loop alone gains about 244 metres over 8km.
- Take a taxi from the station with bags rather than hauling a suitcase up to a Plateau hotel.
- Use TGVs for Paris in about two hours and Bordeaux in about thirty five minutes, and regional trains to Cognac.
- Park on the Plateau or at Saint-Cybard and walk, the old town is largely pedestrianised and narrow.
- Hire hybrid or e-bikes for the Flow Vélo, whose surfaces are often limestone and rough path.
Who Angoulême suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Good |
| Couples | Good |
| Bachelor parties | Not ideal |
| Families | Great |
| Bachelorette parties | Not ideal |
Make Angoulême your trip
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