La Rochelle's Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle, founded in 1832, is one of the most important natural history museums in France outside Paris — a slightly old-fashioned set of galleries filled with stuffed animals, mineral specimens, and an exceptional ethnographic collection brought back by 19th-century explorers from the Pacific, Africa, and the Arctic.
The high point is the small but striking African gallery, with Dogon masks and Senufo carvings collected by missionaries and traders. The whole museum has the slightly dusty charm of a museum that has not been over-modernised. Allow ninety minutes. Combine with a visit to the Jardin des Plantes behind, the small botanical garden that grew up around the museum in the 19th century.