Have you stayed at a great campsite in the Vendee that you would recommend?

[Tobermory]

Looking for somewhere to caravan next summer. 'Domaine des Forges' top of the shortlist at the mo, where else is lovely?

Have two small children who will be 2 and 5. We like 'fairly' quiet ie. not too much late night rowdiness. I expect my elder DD may join in there was a kids club but its not a priority. On our wish list...
Decent sized pitches - with privacy and shade
Good pools- DH would prefer to not have to pack speedos!
Takeaway/restaurant on site
Bread/croissants avaiable in the morning
A mix of nationalities, not too overrun with Brits!
Nice beaches close'ish, though not nec in walking distance.

We have been to Camping Les Dunes at Les Sables d'Olonne. The overall area is lovely - the town is fairly chic, with plenty of places to have lunch. We never went in the evening, but I believe it is fairly vibrant. The hypermarket was nearby and very easy.

The Camping had standard size pitches. The overall site is small so nothing is too far from the centre. The pool complex is very good and has lifeguards. Baggy shorts seemed the standard swimwear for northern European men. There is a bar, ice cream bar, pool (of the billiards variety), pizza restaurant, shop (with fresh bread), launderette. There is evening entertainment every night, some amazingly good and others fairly cheesy. We didn't notice any noise on the site away from the evening entertainment, even when I was waiting up for my 16yo to come back at 2am.

We were with Carisma, whose pitches were in one area - mix of Brits and Irish. There were loads of Dutch people there too. Probably there were 5 or 6 tour operators using the site. Carisma provided children's clubs which were fine - children were happy to go there each day (mornings only, iirc). They also did some family activities, the highlight being the very boozy beach barbecue.

It is on the edge of a large beach, although far from the best beach in the area. It was good that you could just walk to it not have to pack for a whole day's outing. There is also a forest with good walking and biking trails (you can hire the bikes from the site), and plenty of children's play equipment on site.

We would be very happy to go back there if they had bigger accommodation (we took 4 bigger kids/teens with us).

Mindthegappp, thanks for that, loads of info! Especially interested in 'boozy beach bbq'!
Will go and have a google at your recommendation.

It's top of your list already Tobey, but just to say, we stayed at Domaine des Forges this summer and it was a brilliant site. Pitches were massive, had out own tap, hired a fridge, quiet at night, loads of room for kids to play... we'll be going back. Oh, and a fab little Moules Frites place in the village too!

Watching with interest.

Has anyone been to le clarys plage or les litterol?

When is best to book? Would Jan/Feb be too late?

How do you pay the deposit? Some say cheque but how does that work with an english chequebook?

OITB - moules frites recommendations...excellent! The reviews on the uk campsite website were pretty good but its always good to hear from the horses mouth. Not calling you a horse of course! Some people said not much in theway of play areas, did you find that?

Was also lookign at 'La Garangeoire' but form what ive heard is mega quickly booked up.

EnormaSnob, we have only ever booked through camping/caravanning club and wouldnt know where to start bookign directly.

have been to 'la tranche' at jard sur mer several times and also ile d'oleron which is ace and bois d'orees near royan. all fab with a good mix of stuff to do for all ages.do ell your dh that he can't avoid speedoes. compulsory each and every single campsite we have ever been to in france (13 years now...)

Camping bel at La Trance is a lovely site for smaller children. Walking distance to lovely little town, beach and supermarket. All quiet by 10.30, really relaxing. they do kids fils and the odd evening of entertainment near the bar.

La Tranche

Camping Bel is on our short list too, read lots of v positive things but put off by lack of covrtered pool. There was a covered pool at the site we stayed at this year - no speedos required there overthemill - and it was great in providing a bit of shelter from the sun.

We went to Camping Bel this year with Eurocamp. Most of the pitches for tourers were pretty tiny. Pool was quite nice and kids loved the kids club and nightly films. You'd need to be pretty relaxed about bedtimes though as they didn't start until quite late. Bread man delivered to the site every morning at 8.30 am which was lovely.

We've just booked for Garangeoire for next July as our boys will be 9 and 11 then and would enjoy the extra activities there.

We stayed at Camping Bel this summer as well - lovely campsite, small and friendly. Sites for tents were a good size, the ones for caravans looked fine, afaicr. The pool was nice, although a bit cold for little ones in June/early July - I htink it was ok for slightly bigger kids who can swim. So maybe a covered pool would have made it a little warmer....

Bread man in the morning, kids club, kids films at night. As someone upthread has said already, they didn't start until about 8.15pm, but honestly I think all the campsite kids stayed up at night, even the babies!! They all sat around happily watching and then everyone toddled back of to bed - it really was a good thing to do. We could sit and drink wine and the kids could watch the film, the baby was either asleep in the buggy or one of us would stay back at the tent with her. Actually, on a few occasions we left DS to watch the film without us, even though he is young.

Close to town, hypermarche, beach. Really nice.

Domaine des Forges is fab. We have stayed there the last 2 years. If you do go there try and get on the older part of the site as they expanded it a lot last year and the new part is much more open as the hedges etc haven't grown up yet.

We went to La Garangeoire this year with les Castels. I think we booked it in Jan or Feb, certainly not earlier. Not sure if it's your own caravan, but we hired one and I don't think the Castels caravans were quite as nice as the Eurocamps/Keycamp ones, but fine. Our DC were 4 and 5 at the time. The site was very clean, and although it's big it was pretty quiet at night - they were quite strict about noise after 10ish.

Pools were lovely. There was pony riding on site, large grounds, takeaway and restaurants on site.

We were there at the end of June/start July and there were loads of Irish people, because of the school holidays starting earlier there, but by the time we left it seemed to be getting more mixed, and if you're going later in the season then it might be very different.

It's probably about 5 miles for the sea - easy drive anyway.

la garangeoire is best site we've stayed at during around 12 years of this type of holiday. Has a lot going on but can't imagine there would be much roudiness at night after 12ish - we met a security gaurd with a big dog early on the morning we left patrolling the park.

didn't like the vendee much though as bit soulless. and don't travel on a sat in school hols

canvas and thompson have best pitches at la garangeoire. some of the others were a bit pocky - but i am fussy about my hols!