Paddy,

How does the fly/drive work out pricewise. Are you going Waterford to Lorient?. We are thinking about doing that this year as the ferry is quite expensive. The only downside is the inability to bring back any wine. We were in the Vendee once and stayed at La Yole(Avoid It). We usually go to Brittany and have loved it. The year we went to the Vendee we also spent sometime in the Brittany and to be honest i did not really notice any difference in the weather.

Marym

We are flying Belfast to Paris and then driving down. We did this last year also - took about 5 1/2 hrs driving to Marennes in very south vendee (saves 2 days of our holiday compared with driving and ferrying whole way). Flights to Paris from Dublin or Belfast are very competitive if you book early. Car hire is expensive for us as we need a 7 seater but still by booking well in advance it is about £1000stg for 3 weeks. Seats on a plane can be got for around £100 stg each return. I think this is cheaper than the ferry when cabins etc are included - although no wine haul is a problem as you say.

I've been in Brittany a few years (la trinite sur mer - v nice spot) always got fair bit of cloud and a few days rain. Psycologically I think southern half of the vendee is a few degrees hotter although last year we got storms!

Hi there

We have stayed in couple of campsites in the Vendee, we had a trailer tent at La Saviniere in La Tranche sur Mer and a caravan (twice) at Moulin de la Salle in Olonne sur Mer.

Both of these sites had "statics/cabins" on them

La Saviniere was in the grounds of a private school. there were no pupils around though - they had all gone elsewhere for their own holidays. It was very clean and tidy. lots of trees and shade. There was a big sandy play area where the kids played and you could also play volleyball there. Also a pool a bit small but there was always a lifeguard at it and it was next to a bar/cafe so you could have a refreshment while the kids were in the pool. There was no big slide when we were there. There were some organised activities as well - I remember a boules competition also a football match with the French v the Rest (Brits, Irish Dutch and Belgians) - all great fun. You could go for a wander through the woods to the beach - having said that we always got lost. The site is well away from the main road - so shouldn't be any worries on that score. There were some cracking beaches nearby but we always drove there.

Moulin de la Salle was also well kept, had hedged pitches and quite a few bungalows. Entertainment as well - discos, karaoke, puppet shows - all done for the French audience - this campsite seemed to cater more to a French audience. There is a good pool here with a waterslide. It's not near a busy road and there is a beach fairly nearby. Olonne sur Mer is near Les Sables D'Olonne a good big town - pleasant for a wander.

We had really good holidays at both these sites and wouldn't hesitate to go back to either. We found that there was sometimes a bit of a sea mist in the Vendee in the morning but it always burned off quickly.

Hope this helps - if you need any more info just ask

Hi all,
Considering Camping in the Vendee in August 2006, could be as many as 4 families (8 adults, 5 children), I'm a complete virgin can any one give advice on best way to do it?. We have two weeks including travelling there and back. leaving from the North East and we have to go weekend to weekend.
Type of advice :
Best crossing ?
overnight stop ?
Best sites in the Vendee (children are 10 to 15) ?
Tent or Mobile home (seperate families)

Any advice would be appreciated.

Hello,
I have stayed at Vendee twice. The first time was 3 years ago during the last 2 weeks of July at Les Genets and the second time was 2 years ago for 3 weeks end of July beginning of August at Le Litterol. There was 2 families (4 adults and 3 children - 3,8 and 10). We hired a mobile home direct with the site on both occasions and our friends took a trailer tent. We took the crossing from Poole to St. Malo. The first time we arrived in France at tea time and stayed over night at a hotel so we were fresher for the journey down. The second time we took an early crossing and went straight to the campsite. I prefered going early and going straight there. Our friends however went the following year and took a night crossing and had a cabin where they could get their head down and wake up ready for the journey down. They said that this was a good way of doing it.

Les Genets is within walking distance of a few restaurants and shops but you will really need to drive into the centre of St. Jean de Monts. Our mobile home was basic but then we probably paid a quarter of the cost of going with companys like Eurocamp etc. You can also use the site next door which I believe belongs to the same people. The pool was good and I believe they have made further improvements since our stay and there was a play area, games room and bar.

Le Litterol is not really in walking distance to any restaurants if my memory serves me right. It is near the beach but it is just rocks but nice to stroll along and explore the rock pools. We experienced extremely poor service in the site restaurant on the first night and did not return. The pool was very busy but then we did go during the height of the season. There were loads of teenagers looking as if they wanted to cause mischief. There was table tennis, tennis courts and a enclosed football area and play area. The site was reasonable.

We were really disappointed with the food in France (surprisingly enough!). It would be poor quality, lukewarm and/or we would have poor service. I did love however going down to the site shop first thing in the morning to collect the freshly made croissants (um I can almost smell them now)

hi, the dog,
i have been to the vendee several times stopping at le bois masson, this is a site that is owned by haven europe, we have taken our own caravan but there do have statics and tents to hire. Plenty to do on site for the kids. pool with slides, games room, table tennis tables, take- away. You can also use the other site across the road called le bois dormant, this is the busier site. Not too far from beach which is brilliant. My kids bought body boards and went to the beach most days to use them.
I would recomend getting an over night ferry, as we live in the north east also and it is a long drive on this side to the ferry ports.
Web site for haven europe- http://www.siblu.com. hope this is of some help to you. not going this year having a change but hope to go back again soon.

theresa

Hi everybody...just stumbled across this section of holidaytruths website...was originally trying to get some details from the France section, but there seems to be more French campers here.

We just spent 2 weeks in Bonne Anse plage campsite in La Palmyre about 50 miles sth of La Rochelle and 20 mins drive from Marennes. I would have to say this camp site was 9/10. Could only fault it for the ignorant staff in the bar. Other than that, top notch. We went (2 familes) from Rosslare to Roscoff, and ret from Cherbourg. 14 nights. 5 adults, and 8 kids ranging from 15 down to 2. We had 2 6-berth cottage style mobile homes between us and were adjacent to each other.
Very large pool for adults, excellent size pool for 3-8 yr olds and toddler pool. 3 large water shutes and one small one entering the toddler pool.
Stayed between 25th Jun-10th July. Plenty space at the pool every day. Never overcrowded. Very strict but for our benefit I'm sure.
The nearby town of La Palmyre is beautiful. Lovely beach, plenty of shops & restaurants. 2 min drive from camp site. Very long promanade and we spent many evenings fishing off it when we had high tide.
We booked direct thro their web site although they have Keycamp & Eurocamp on site.
I would go back in an instant, but I'm not the type of person to go back immediately to a same venue...I like to see other parts of the world, but I will go back in a few years. Plenty to do within 10 mins for the older kids like quad bikes, gocarts. There are plenty of pony trekking places for the little girls in our party and Luna Park was only 10 mins away also.
Paddyl, we spent a day up near Marennes and passd thro it a few times also. I've seen Sequioa Park on web and considered it only it was so close to where we stayed before and I do like to be beside the seaside.
We arrived in Roscoff about 11am local time and drove to campsite in about 6hrs. Same on way back to Cherbourg.
Now that my sister feels comfortable enough to drive thro France, we might fly/drive next year and meet them there. Their family too big to make the savings on the fly/drive.

So I'm looking for recommendations for 2006.
We are considering Vendee and Aquataine region. Vendee impressed me as there were loads of little rivers/canals for fishing which keeps me occupied.

The few I have looked at so far are:

Le Littoral
Sylvamar
Le Ruisseau
Le Clarys Plage
Les Viviers
Le Vieux Port

Looking for a well run site, plenty to do in the neighbouring towns and lot of activities for kids of all ages. Nice big pool a bonus with plenty water slides.

Sylvamar & Le Vieux Port are ones I'm looking closer at but not sure of the surrounding amenities yet, so a little more surfing required.

Hi all,
I've just returned from a campsite in the Vendee close to St Jean de Monts called Zagarella.I travelled from Cork via Roscoff with Brittany Ferries and it took approx 6 hours to make it down.
The campsite was very safe for small children.It's the first campsite I've ever stayed at where I've allowed my children to go to the play areas on their own.It's extremely friendly and the campsite owner offers excellent hospitality.There's a good bar, the waterpark is a bit on the small side compared to the bigger ones in Brittany, but has a good waterslide and is very clean.It also has a great and safe toddler zone with little slides for them.There's an indoor pool and Jacuzzi too.
There's no supermarket on site, which was a bit frustrating but the reception organised bread/milk etc for you if you ordered it.There's a games room, a tennis court and a small gym.
My only real problem was that the pitches were a bit small and the grassy surface was reduced to dust by the sun.This made for frequent washing of children and mobile home floors.Basically nothing stayed clean for more than 10 mins.
St Jean de Monts is a beautiful resort and zagarella a nice campsite, but if you have children older than nine or ten, I'd suggest a different campsite with more organised activities.
I'm planning to go back to Vendee next year for 3 weeks and will be reading with interest your thoughts on the other campsites in the area.
There's also a new flight to Lorient from Cork with aerarann which would make fly drive very attractive.I envy the English holidaymakers who have a relatively inexpensive Channel crossing The Ferry crossing to France sets us back in the region of €1300.
Sins

Sins,
your price of €1300 was relatively cheap from Brittany ferries to what I was quoted. They we looking at €1800'ish from me.
Do you mind me asking when you travelled over?

I can certainly recommend Bonne Anse Plage campsite a little further south of Vendee.

We are travelling out on the 13th of August with Brittany Ferries and paying 982 including 2 2 berth cabins roof rack and bike carrier. The Cork Lorient fares are quite dear. Ryanair doing Shannon Nantes. This would be much cheaper.

marym, is that price each way or return?

I just cannot see why I was being charged 1800 euro and other people getting quoted much lower? my sister was also quoted closer to 2k just because she needed an extra cabin, which is why we opted for Irish Ferries at 400euro cheaper

This is return. It was booked through a travel agency last april. I must say i expected it to be more expensive. I think the "loading "coming back is much cheaper than other times of the year. We come back on the Sat and the kids do not go back to school until thurs.

That is serioulsy cheap....BF only travel on Sat so I'm guessing the return is just being charged at the end of season.

Our price was going out last week June coming back 1st week July, 1x2berth cabin, no roof rack, no bike rack and they wanted 1800.

and we're planning next year to use them, but I'm thinking of looking at alternatives again.
But that ferry looks so comfortable and modern I'm tempted.

I travelled on 2 nd July but booked through keycamp.Perhaps they get a better rate than if you book as an individual???
My ferry cost was €449 going out for the car (2nd July)
€134 for 4 B cabin
€374 coming back for car (15 July)
€134 for 4 b cabin
Even allowing for a possible addition of €400 approx for not taking a landbridge crossing, it doesn't come even close to €1800.
certainly the Pont aven makes for a very easy and enjoyable crossing with loads of car space.(I remember using another ship some years ago and having to climb out car windows with two toddlers)
It also makes the crossing in less than 14 hours and you get a good night's sleep with no engine noise, vital to face your 6 hour drive at 7 am next morning.To get the best price, I'd recommend booking on line with Brittany ferries.Sit down and key in a variety of dates, pick the keenest priced ones and then book.
Thanks for the recommendation for la Bonne anse plage.I checked the direct prices with the campsite and they're quite expensive but the facilities seem to be exellent.it's at the top of my list for next year.
My husband is keen to return to St Jean de monts but having browsed the various sites, I think all the sites are a bit small in terms of waterparks and pitch size.
Can anyone tell me what the problem is with La Yole, I can't find anyone to freely recommend it.
Sins

Sins,
I'll do that with BF as soon as their schedule comes out.

Ya, I can highly recommend the Bonne Anse Plage. Book direct through the site though as the camp owned units had the best plots. The few keycamp ones we saw on site were not in the best positions.
We had the cottage style mobile homes (2 x 6 berth) and they were top quality. They were both beside each other which was handy for us.

The only beef we had on site was with the entrance to the pool. You have to walk thro a shower before entering the pool complex. This didn't bother me as I was planning to use the pool every time I entered, but my mother who was only going down to sit with us, had to endure it.
Also, no shoes/sandals allowed at the pool area...had to be left outside...again not a big problem...plenty of cubby holes to leave them and no chance of them being stolen. Also, no t-shirts allowed by anybody in the 2 large pools. Kids could only wear them in the toddler pool. Also, no inflatables except for arm bands in the large pool after 1st July. I had no issues with them but my sister wanted to put a t-shirt on her 4yr old as she got burnt, but they didn't allow her in the pool.
Also, front gates close at 11pm, so if you get back after that, you park up outside. Stops people driving thro the camp site late at night.
At least you know the owners are thinking about the tenants and it suited me.

I can sympathise with your mother.If I were to go to the pool, it would not be to swim.My kids usually prefer different pools to each other so I seem to spend most of my time walking from toddler pool to plunge pool.Going through a shower to do that would be annoying to say the least.Just how wet do you get going under this? Sorry for all the daft questions!
Sins

Top to bottom soaked....we used to walk down to the pool area in shorts and t-shirt...strip off except for shorts/swimwear and walk through...by the time you walk thro you will be soaked.
You soon dry off through in a few min.
Wear a swim hat if you need to keep the hair dry.