Angoulême's old town

A fortified plateau turned city heart

Angoulême's upper town is one of the finest illustrations of the French medieval city: a naturally defensive limestone promontory, girded by ramparts from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance, whose street plan has not fundamentally changed since the 12th century. Gently sloping streets, cobbled lanes, hidden inner courtyards behind carved carriage gates — to walk the upper town is to traverse eight centuries of history in a single afternoon.

The plateau runs roughly 700 metres north to south and 400 metres east to west. The built density is high, with old blocks of blond limestone cheek-by-jowl with 19th-century bourgeois buildings. It is in this fabric that the most precious elements of Angoumois architectural heritage are found: Saint-Pierre cathedral to the south, the town hall with its medieval towers at the centre, and the large squares that structure urban life.

Les Halles: the 1880 covered market

At the heart of the upper town, Les Halles is the plateau's most lively public building. Built in the 1880s in the style of the era's metal market halls — exposed iron framework, cast-iron pillars, double-pitched roof, ashlar stone base — the covered hall hosts a fresh-produce market every morning, Tuesday to Sunday, drawing residents and visitors alike. You'll find regional vegetables and fruit, Charentais and Poitevin cheeses, poultry, fish from the Atlantic coast and a solid charcuterie offer.

Les Halles is an essential meeting point of Angoumois life. Around it, several cafés and bistros open early in the morning to welcome traders and market regulars. Saturday is the liveliest market day, with extra outdoor stalls on the adjacent square. For visitors, the morning market visit is one of the best ways to absorb the city's daily life and taste Charentais regional produce before even beginning to tour the plateau.

The plateau's main squares

The upper town is organised around several large squares that give Angoulême its character of a handsome provincial city. Place du Champ de Mars, also called Place de New York since the twinning with the American metropolis, is the largest on the plateau. Open to the north-west, it affords a rare vista over the Charente's hilly landscape and regularly hosts cultural events, flea markets and, each autumn, the celebrated Circuit des Remparts with its vintage automobiles.

Place Louvel, at the plateau's centre, is the commercial and café heart. Shaded by plane trees and lined with terraces, it is the quintessential promenade space. Place des Halles, in front of the covered market, buzzes during market hours and becomes a relaxation spot in fine weather. Place Marengo, quieter, offers a tranquil setting with its fountain, near the upper town's hotel district. These squares work as a network, linked by streets along the plateau's flanks where façades bear witness to every passing century.

Shopping streets and private mansions

Trade in the upper town is concentrated primarily along three axes. Rue Hergé — named in homage to the creator of Tintin — is the main pedestrian artery, lined with shops, bookshops including several specialised in comics, cafés and restaurants. Rue de Périgueux, longer, links the centre to the north of the plateau and mixes food shops, crafts and services. Rue Marengo extends the shopping network eastward with a more diverse offer including fashion, home goods and restaurants.

Between these arteries nestle 17th- and 18th-century private mansions, witnesses to the prosperity of the bourgeois and noble families who had their homes built on the plateau. Some display pilastered gateways, cobbled courtyards and formal gardens hidden behind high walls. A few are accessible during the Journées du patrimoine in September, offering a rare glimpse of preserved interiors. Others have been converted into hotels, company offices or association premises, maintaining an active presence in city life.