Touring site French Atlantic coast - any recommendations?
Discussion
Looking to book a fortnight in France next August (2014) and looking for any recommended sites. I thought somewhere around La Rochelle, but am open to suggestions.
There's me and the wife and our 10 year old son. We will take bikes too. Ideally near to a beach, good on site facilities - hot, clean showers and not miles from civilisation. A pool would be good too.
The plan is to sail Plymouth to Roscoff as it's only an hour down the road. Don't really want Brittany as it will be too much like home (Devon) and would like to motor south for the better weather.
The floor is yours............
There's me and the wife and our 10 year old son. We will take bikes too. Ideally near to a beach, good on site facilities - hot, clean showers and not miles from civilisation. A pool would be good too.
The plan is to sail Plymouth to Roscoff as it's only an hour down the road. Don't really want Brittany as it will be too much like home (Devon) and would like to motor south for the better weather.
The floor is yours............
Saint-Hilaire-de-Riez. Stayed at a Keycamp/Eurocamp site there in one of their chalets but the site isn't only for chalets. It's a mixed-use site (chalets, tents, touring caravans). General leisure cycling is great in this area. There's miles of wide cycle paths separate to the roads on mostly flat ground.
We also stayed a bit further south, in Les Sables d'Olonne. The site was great, the beach was great, and although there were some great dedicated cycle routes, there aren't many dedicated cycle paths that follow the roads like those in Saint-Hilaire-de-Riez. Good for recreational cycling but not so if you prefer to get around on a bike (and follow the roads). That said, none of the roads have heavy traffic around that region anyway. I love it there.
We also stayed a bit further south, in Les Sables d'Olonne. The site was great, the beach was great, and although there were some great dedicated cycle routes, there aren't many dedicated cycle paths that follow the roads like those in Saint-Hilaire-de-Riez. Good for recreational cycling but not so if you prefer to get around on a bike (and follow the roads). That said, none of the roads have heavy traffic around that region anyway. I love it there.
mike9009 said:
I cannot remember the exact sites we stayed at in that region, but I have not come across a bad one.
We enjoyed staying on the two island in that region, Ile de Re and Ile de Oleron. Both beautiful but also reasonably quiet......
Mike
Just come back from a couple of weeks in France and I can fully endorse the 'two islands' We enjoyed staying on the two island in that region, Ile de Re and Ile de Oleron. Both beautiful but also reasonably quiet......
Mike
Used the Aire de Services at Martin de Re (sp?) on the Ile de Re and at St Denis on the Ile d'Oleron. Both about 10 euro a night and the one at St Dennis has all the electric hook ups you could need plus showers, washing machine etc.
Both are about a 5/10 minute walk from the town/harbour with plenty of bars/restaurants etc.
One tip - at Martin de Re go to the bars on the far side of the harbour. They're far cheaper and just as nice.
Be careful in France in August - it's their traditional holiday time and Aug 15th is Assumption Day, a really big Bank Holiday for them. Pitches fill up quickly, and a lot of shops etc are closed so make sure you get supplies in prior.
BB
We live about thirty mins from Oléron and like to go in the VW with the bicycles because there are lots of good cycle tracks. Our two favourite sites are Le Pins , La Cotinière with direct access to the beach , and over the other side of the island at Saint Denis (we use the camping municipal, but there's at least one other with pool)
Right, my area of expertise 
The Ile de Re is lovely, but full of Parisians and pricey, it's criss crossed with dedicated cycle routes with enough pretty villages to keep you occupied.
The municipal camping in St Martin is very good, but has no pool and the beaches on them north aren't great (it's a 2-3k cycle to the south coast though). Camping de L'Ocean on the south coast between Ars and La Couarde is pretty good, near the beach, nice pools (no slides iirc) but a few k from the villages. Camping Sunelia Interlude (it's a chain, if you can't tell) is swisher, there's no road to cross to the beach (and that stretch is less stony) and the bar/deck area is lovely and the pool has slides etc. Further west, around the lighthouse there are a couple of sites we haven't stayed at that look ok. And on the far tip in Portes en Re the municipal camping is a hole, part chav fest and part boat park although the pool complex is new. Luckily right on the tip beyond Portes is an Aire 100m from a spectacular beach and with a decent looking restaurant.
All of these are pricey €70+ a night, except the Aire and Municipal camping in St Martin, and busy. Even before the bank holiday we struggled to get in a few sites.
Further north is Noirmoutier, which has similar geography to Re but is much more developed as there's a tidal causeway. As a consequence there's a town and dual carriageway and it's not all stunning, it's also cheaper.
We stayed In the Camping municipal Clair Matin which was fine (2* so wasn't expecting much) and the much nicer Indigo (also a chain, but concentrate on cleanliness and making it chic rather than all singing, all dancing pools etc) camping next door.
I've got a couple of recommendations for further north if you want them too...
The Ile de Re is lovely, but full of Parisians and pricey, it's criss crossed with dedicated cycle routes with enough pretty villages to keep you occupied.
The municipal camping in St Martin is very good, but has no pool and the beaches on them north aren't great (it's a 2-3k cycle to the south coast though). Camping de L'Ocean on the south coast between Ars and La Couarde is pretty good, near the beach, nice pools (no slides iirc) but a few k from the villages. Camping Sunelia Interlude (it's a chain, if you can't tell
) is swisher, there's no road to cross to the beach (and that stretch is less stony) and the bar/deck area is lovely and the pool has slides etc. Further west, around the lighthouse there are a couple of sites we haven't stayed at that look ok. And on the far tip in Portes en Re the municipal camping is a hole, part chav fest and part boat park although the pool complex is new. Luckily right on the tip beyond Portes is an Aire 100m from a spectacular beach and with a decent looking restaurant.All of these are pricey €70+ a night, except the Aire and Municipal camping in St Martin, and busy. Even before the bank holiday we struggled to get in a few sites.
Further north is Noirmoutier, which has similar geography to Re but is much more developed as there's a tidal causeway. As a consequence there's a town and dual carriageway and it's not all stunning, it's also cheaper.
We stayed In the Camping municipal Clair Matin which was fine (2* so wasn't expecting much) and the much nicer Indigo (also a chain, but concentrate on cleanliness and making it chic rather than all singing, all dancing pools etc) camping next door.
I've got a couple of recommendations for further north if you want them too...
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