Two medieval harbour towers guard the mouth of a basin of yachts, with white stone quays and café terraces around it.
What Vieux Port looks like
The is a harbour basin guarded at its mouth by two medieval towers. The and the face each other across the entrance, one round and one square with corner turrets. A third tower, the , stands further back from the entrance.
The quays around the basin are lined with white and cream houses of three and four storeys. Café terraces sit under awnings along the ground floors. Yachts and pleasure boats moor in the basin. At low tide the inner end of the basin shows mud and weed beside a stone bridge.
The is a stone gate with a clock tower on the quay, the crossing from the port into the old town. It has one clock face toward the port and one toward the town. From the marina side its arch and clock stand above the moored boats.
The zone around the towers is largely pedestrian. The passage under the Grosse Horloge is open at all times.
Shot in Vieux Port
Two productions have shot in and around the old harbour. Le Bateau d'Émile, a 1962 feature film, used the two towers and the streets around them. Meurtres à La Rochelle, a 2015 TV drama, used the Tour Saint-Nicolas and the Vieux-Port.
Le Bateau d'Émile, 1962
Tour de la Chaîne
The 1962 feature film used the two towers across the entrance. The film also used the Place de la Chaîne and the Rue du Port. Street View
Meurtres à La Rochelle, 2015
Tour Saint-Nicolas
The 2015 TV drama Meurtres à La Rochelle used the Tour Saint-Nicolas and the Vieux-Port. The tower has been closed to visitors since July 2024 for consolidation works. It was still under works in September 2026. The view here is from the western side of the square tower, with the Vieux-Port quay beyond it. Street View
What Vieux Port can double for
Vieux Bassin in Honfleur, Calvados, France
The Vieux Bassin is a harbour basin with a marina, bordered by tall, narrow houses from the 1600s and 1700s, which puts moored boats and tall fronts on the water as the Vieux-Port does. Those fronts are slate-clad, a different facade from La Rochelle's white and cream stone. Slate fronts give Honfleur away in close shots, so keep frames on the basin and its boats and leave the towers out of wide views. Try searching tall slate harbour houses now.
Grand Harbour in Valletta, Malta
Valletta's bastion walls began to be built in 1566 and run along the Grand Harbour, so a stone waterfront under fortifications reads as the same kind of port. The walls are far larger than La Rochelle's towers. The bastioned waterfront is a looser match for the small basin and its quays. The scale of the bastions gives Valletta away, so keep the frame tight on the harbour edge and out of the walls' full height. Try searching bastion walls along harbour now.
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