Theme Park for all the Family

Poitiers' best-known attraction is the giant high-tech film theme park called Futuroscope: Le Parc Européen de l'Image, 8km north of the city, a collection of virtual-reality rides which draw onlookers into the action on screen, with the result that you feel you're flying, being flung around, rocketing down a ski slope or catapulting through the solar system in a vertigo-inducing 3-D nightmare. Not for young children or faint-hearted adults. The futuristic cinema pavilions are set in several acres of greenery around a series of undulating lakes, and the fifteen screens take some getting around, with plenty of walking between them, so it's wise to arrive early to beat the huge queues. To see everything in the park in one day, with time off for lunch, takes about ten exhausting hours, and as well as seeing the screen entertainment, you should give yourself time to ride the oversized floating bicycles on the park's lakes. To orientate yourself, head first for La Gyrotour where a lift takes you to the top of the high rotating tower and you can get the full effect of the futuristic scenario.