Marché de Cholet — Place du Marché Couvert
Every Saturday morning the covered market hall and surrounding streets around Place du Marché Couvert fill with the best of Vendée and Anjou produce, from creamy Maraîchine butter to fat Muscadet grapes. It is loud, fragrant and completely irresistible.
What to buy and taste
Look for the rillauds de l'Anjou — crispy, caramelised pork belly cubes that are the local answer to rillettes and disappear fast. Pair them with a wedge of local goat's cheese from the Deux-Sèvres stalls just across the border.
The flower vendors cluster near the covered hall entrance and sell seasonal bunches at prices that will make city dwellers weep with envy. The honey stall run by a third-generation apiarist from Saint-Macaire-en-Mauges is worth the detour alone.
Beyond the food stalls
A smaller Wednesday market focuses on clothing, household goods and plants — useful if you're self-catering and need to stock up mid-week without the weekend crowds.
Arrive by 9:00 on Saturdays for the widest choice; by 12:30 the best charcuterie is usually sold out and traders begin packing up. The café terraces on the square make an ideal debrief spot over a café crème.
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