Family Holidays: Vendee family holidays and breaks

Take the Family holiday rating 4½ stars out of 5

Why

With a great range of local activities and facilities, not forgetting a multitude of safe sandy beaches, this makes Vendée the perfect destination for a stress free family holiday. Often described as one of the best kept secrets in France, with lush countryside, a superb climate and miles of sandy coastline, Vendée, situated along the Atlantic coast, is a region that boasts a climate that comes close to that of the popular south coast. Whether you would like to stay in a family holiday village with all the facilities on-site, a self catering villa or apartment with shared pool, your own private villa or choose a hotel, you will be spoilt for choice in this great holiday destination.

Away from the coast the pace of life slows down, and seaside resorts are replaced with fantastic countryside, sleepy hamlets with narrow streets to wander through and small Romanesque churches, all of which provide a great alternative to a day of one of many beaches.

Top left: Vendee beach
Top right: Family at Poitevin Marshes

Bottom left: Vendee beach scene
Bottom right: Popular beach sailing

When

The summer is long and sunny in the Vendée with most visitors coming from early May right through to October. However, an ever growing number of people enjoy an Easter or spring break, taking advantage of the mild climate for golf, walking and thalassotherapie (sea and water spa treatments).

How

If you are travelling by car, the western channel ports are the most convenient for this region with regular ferries from UK sailing into Caen, St Malo, Cherbour and Roscoff.

By air there are regular flights from Gatwick to Nantes, check deals with British Airways, and Ryanair operate flights from Stansted, East Midlands, Shannon and Dublin into Nantes. From Nantes you have just over an hours drivr to St Jean de Monts, so fly drive is a very convenient option.

Stay

The major resorts, such as St Jean de Monts and Les Sables d'Olonne, whose profile was given a boost by Ellen McArthur's Golden Globe exploits, do have a small number of hotels. However, the vast majority of visitors choose to go self catering.

There is a good choice of holiday villages, a very French concept, until recently little known in the UK, where a development of modern holiday homes are built around a shared swimming pool. Alternatively villas with private pools are a popular choice and there is a wide range of apartments and good quality campsites.

Do

The fabulous beaches of the Vendée are, without doubt, the main attraction and provide an excellent opportunity to balance relaxation with a good range of watersports, windsurfing, dinghy sailing, jet-ski and yachting. Sand yachting and kite surfing are also growing in popularity.
Horse riding is well provided for with no less than 4 equestrian centres in St Jean de Monts alone.
Thalassotherapie. Les Thermes Marines at St Jean de Monts offers a whole range of spa treatments. Massage, seaweed wraps and boasts the largest swimming pool in France with sea-water seated to 34oC.
Golf. The course at St Jean is part links and part in the forest (CHECK) and offers a challenging game. It is just one of several courses in the area which can be played using a Vendee Golf pass with reduced green fees.
Cycling. It is unsurprising that this relatively flat region should attract many cyclists. There are numerous cycle tracks through the forests which flank the sea shore or a 6 seater ‘rosalie’ is a fun way to explore the resorts ‘en famille’.
Canoeing. For a change from the seaside you can explore the salt marshes by canoe or the Marais Poitevin, right in the south of the Vendée, is truly beautiful and a flay bottomed boat is the perfect way to explore its verdant leafy glades.
Ile de Noirmoutier. The pretty island, where time stands still, is joined to the mainland by a bridge but at low tide can be reached along a cobbled causeway or ‘gois’. But do beware, this is completely submerged at high tide.

Eat

Fresh seafood is available in abundance both from the markets and in most restaurants where ‘moules marinieres’ and ‘plateau de fruits de mer’ always figure on the menus.
The wines of the Loire and fresh crisp Muscadet are popular accompaniments. When choosing your Muscadet, always go for ‘sur lie’ on the label which is invariably marginally more expensive but well worth it for the improved quality.
If you eat out, menus start at around xx euros with a simple children’s menu from around xx euros. If you are self-catering, regular markets are alive with colour and are the best place to pick up the local produce e.g. Brioche Vendéene (a sweet tasting bread).

Cost

A house for 4 in a holiday village with a shared pool in peak season will cost around £505 per week, whereas you could rent a villa with private pool for 8 (ideal for 2 families sharing) for around £1157.