Cholet's two great themes are the Vendée Wars and textiles. Both have dedicated museums in the town centre, and either is reason enough for an afternoon visit. Beyond that, the city is pleasant rather than spectacular: a covered market, a handful of nineteenth-century churches, and a large lake on the southern edge of town that the locals use for swimming, sailing and walking.
The wider Mauges countryside is where Cholet earns its keep as a base. It is unfashionable, lightly visited and full of bocage — hedged fields, small farms, and quiet roads — and the southern Loire Valley chateaux are within an hour's drive.