Hotels in Poitiers, France

A little about Poitiers...

Poitiers is a city on the Clain river in west central France. It is a commune and the capital (préfecture) of the Vienne département and of the Poitou-Charentes région. The center is picturesque and its streets are interesting for predominant remains of historical architecture, especially from the Romanesque period; Poitiers is associated with great historical events from the Late medieval era.

Attractions:
Baptistère Saint-Jean (IVth century) — the second oldest church in France
Palace of Poitiers — the seat of the Dukes of Aquitaine
Église Notre-Dame-la-Grande — oldest romanesque architecture church in Europe
Cathédrale Saint-Pierre, Poitiers's cathedral (XIIth century)
Musée Sainte-Croix, the largest museum in Poitiers
Église Sainte-Radegonde-de-Poitiers
Église Saint-Hilaire-le-Grand (XIth century)
Hypogée des Dunes (underground chapel)
Église de Montierneuf
Parc du Futuroscope (European Park of the Moving Image, some 10 km (6.2 mi) north of Poitiers; theme is visual communication technology in ultramodern buildings)
La Fanzinothèque
Le Confort Moderne

Transport:
Poitiers has a railway station on the TGV Atlantique line between Paris and Bordeaux. The station is in the valley to the west of the old town centre. Services run to Angoulême, Limoges and La Rochelle in addition to Paris and Bordeaux. The direct TGV puts Poitiers 1h40 from Paris' Gare Montparnasse.

Poitiers - Biard Airport is located 2.4 km (1.5 mi) west of Poitiers and offers flights to Lyon, London-Stansted and Birmingham

Education: The city of Poitiers has a very old university tradition. The University of Poitiers was established in 1431 and welcomed many famous thinkers ( François Rabelais; René Descartes; Francis Bacon ). It is the second oldest university in France. Poitiers is nowadays one of the biggest student cities in France; it has more students per inhabitant than any other city in France. There are more than 27000 university students, nearly 4000 of them foreigners, from 117 countries. The University covers all major fields such as sciences, geography, history, languages. It had engineering (ENSMA; ESIP) and business schools (ESCEM; IAE).

Since 2001, the city of Poitiers has hosted the first cycle of "South America, Spain and Portugal" from the Paris Institute of Political Studies.