Phare des Baleines Île De Ré

For an overview of the island, follow the crowds to Phare des Baleines, the island's scarlet-tipped, 59m-tall lighthouse on its northwestern tip. Scale the dizzying, 257-step spiral staircase inside the 19th-century lighthouse (1854) for a sweeping coastal panorama and learn its history in the neighbouring Musée de la Mer, snug against a second older lighthouse (1682), now defunct and hence called the Vieille Tour (old tower).