Vendee or Brittany?

[othersideofforty]

We are looking to travel to France next year, we have a VW Camper van. We will be going from St Malo/Roscoff and wanting to travel probably four hours at the most to a site, so thinking of Southern Brittany or The Vendee. We will have a 16 year old with us, we like relaxing days, but also visiting different towns etc. We have previously stayed in Normandy and explored the DD beaches etc.
Ive just downloaded search for sites, but there’s so many different places on there! 🤪

Ha! There's a relief. I thought it was another baby name thread.

@bluevelvetears im too old for that! 🤣

Brittany is beautiful but it rains a lot there and temperatures can be disappointing. I’d head for the Vendée.

@worrisomeasset thank you, I originally thought the Vendee for the weather, but I have read a few people say that it’s not as picturesque or as much to do as Brittany?

We stayed in La Tranche-sur-Mer in the Vendée a few years ago in our VW van. I recall that there was plenty to do there, although I was happy just to laze around in the glorious weather we had. I’d recommend stopping off in Nantes for a couple of hours on the way down to the Vendée to check out the giant mechanical elephant going on one of its daily walks. We also visited the beautiful city of La Rochelle for the day while staying there.

We stayed in Carnac, Brittany a couple of times and it’s a great base for amazing beaches; and a charming small town. Vannes is lovely and has wonderful food markets. I’d love to go back to explore the Golfe de Morbihan.

@dotdotdotdash and @worrisomeasset thank you, I’ll take a look, there’s so much choice 🙂

Brittany hands down. Beautiful varied coast, lovely towns, people and food. We found the Vendée so very dull!

We've found the weather much better on S coast of Brittany, Carnac, Vannes both lovely and lots to do. Golfe of Morbihan also gorgeous, lots of archaeology and boat trips to little islands.

@MustBeDueSomeBetterFeet and @StanfreyPock thank you for the replies, I’ll take a look at Southern Brittany.
There is so much choice!

I've been to both more than once. I would go with Southern Brittany. The weather is more or less the same as the Vendée, IME, but it is far more scenic and charming. The beaches are nicer, the architecture more picturesque and more places of interest to visit.

@SisterMargaretta thank you, are there any sites you could recommend?

I’d recommend La Grande Metairie site in Carnac; nice pool complex, right near to standing stones and woodland walks and 10 minute quiet cycle or drive to the centre of Carnac.

Isle de Re and Isle de Oleron are nice. Definitely not as charismatic as Brittany but better weather.

@bluevelvetears hahaha me too!

Vendee can get very warm at the height of summer but is lovely, but Brittany is also beautiful. My preference would be the latter but have never camped, just rented homes

I would agree that Brittany is cooler and rainier, as ever since the sodden summer in Carnac (at the Grand Metairie) we have always headed south. …but Brittany is lovely and has so much more to see. The Vendee is warmer but lacking in things to do. For us actually it’s not enough of a payoff to get the warmth.

So, my advice is a bit of a side step. Have you considered the Loire Valley? Has both the sunshine and the sights and can be reached within four hours of St Malo. Get a good site with a pool and you don’t need to be near the sea.

Visit southern Brittany next year - it is special. However I think you will gradually work your way south over the coming years in search of heat.

You can do both! We travelled that way in a VW a year or two ago. We didn't book sites more than a day or two ahead and had no problems (it was August). We used pitchup a lot to find sites. A couple we liked:
Camping les Bleuets in Pornic
Camping le Marais Sauvage (lovely paddle boarding very close if you like that sort of thing)
We also got a Camping Car Park card but we didn't end up using it for various reasons.

@bydwraigwrthymor thanks, we did more than one site when we went Normandy and found it such a pain! I think more than one site is when my daughter isn’t with us in a few years time and we don’t need the awning etc.
@StanfreyPock thanks I think I’m going to go for Southern Brittany.
@Shineonyoucrazy thank you

A few years ago now, but we stayed at Flower camping on the edge of Vannes, good pool, bar etc. Bus or walk into Vannes.

Other site more recently was Camping les Megalithes near Erdeven, smaller, quieter, needed our bikes to get about.

Will try to remember more sites!

Fair enough! We also had a teen with us but slimmed down our set up, we had a sun canopy rather than awning and the teen had a pop up tent.

Brittany is beautiful, enjoy! We stopped at a Flower Camping, Pointe du Talud, was lovely but one of the pricier places we stopped.

We love southern Brittany. Especially between Lorient and Concarneau, particularly Guidel & Le Poldhu