Eurocamp in Vendee - campsite recommendations?

[gerbo]

We are hoping to book a week long hol in the Vendee, with Eurocamp, after weighing up options about travelling there, weather, seaside vs lakeside, etc.!

Our budget isn't huge (£1000 all in?) so were thinking of a cheaper band camp (A-C) for one week in a tent.

Toddler friendly would be good as we have 1 dd who will be 2.25!

Questions -

1. Any sites to go for/avoid? (I know La Garang... is meant to be good but it's band F!)

1. Is it important that it's Toddler Friendly or not?????

1. Is it worth going for more expensive and paying the supplement? Why are they better anyway?!

1. It's not going to be all booked up already is it?

Thanks in advance mnetters for any advice.

Can't really help Gerbo as we haven't been, but will watch your thread with interest as its a possible for us this year.

Have you thought about taking your own tent? works out much cheaper that way if you have or can borrow some equipment. Also other Mumsnetters have advised me that you can book directly with the sites and this bring the price down.

hi sering - have heard about those options too, but to be honest (and i hope this doesn't sound too lazy) now i'm back at work (teaching) the thought of gathering up tons of camping stuff from friends and rellies and then returning it all (after a toddler's been at it!) is too much - time poor in our household, sadly...

so i thought i'd let eurocamp take the strain!

it appears that if you go the last week of the summer hols (21-27 aug) it's way way cheaper than the week before for some reason, and for £1000 all in we reckon we could afford a small mobile which is pretty cool.

hopefully someone else'll write on here and tell us more about the vendee.

very excited about booking our first family holiday abroad soon!

We love Bel in La Tranche, have been there for the past 4 summers. Dd had plenty to do - she was there aged 2years-5years. It's close to the town and the beach (walkable) and it's a small friendly and pretty quiet site.
Not sure what price range it is though.

Another vote for Camping Bel at La Tranche - we went there last year, and if it wasn't so far, we'd be going back. And booking direct is MUCH cheaper than booking through Eurpcamp (as I discovered when chatting to the owner!)

Very child friendly - kids swimming pool, lots of playparks including a toddler one right next to the washblock, and the owner puts on disney films in the evening outside the bar for the kids to watch. The supermarket is just around the corner, the beach the same distance in the other direction, and the centre of town is about 15 mins flat walk away. Loads of cycle tracks around as well if you like that.

Ooh, Gerbo, just read the bit in your post about the end of August - we went last week in Aug/first week in Sept last year.

The first of Sept it completely changed - everything closed, the supermarket prices got cheaper (!) but the weather dropped dramatically - the lady who worked on the site had told us that it would, but we didn't really believe it, but it dropped 20 degrees celcius in a few days, and went from hot sunshine to pouring rain. So, avoid September!

Sorry to butt in but we have been thinking of going there? Although its just an idea feel free to big it up ha ha

...the Vendee looks nice, but just seems a little far to drive for my tastes.

(if this is not the case, someone tell me quickly before I book!)

...have been to Guilvinec Plage for the last three years. An easy drive from Roscoff or St Malo.

Fancy something different this year, though, and if possible a bit further afield....

It is lovely, it was sunny and hot (well, till September anyway!) when we went. Dh and Dfil drove and took our caravan, and I flew with the dd's which made the journey much more bearable for all of us. It nobviously made it more expensive, although we did get cheap flights, but I don't think we could afford to do this this year and so with the kids in the car, I wouldn't want to travel that far.

The first time we went to France, we stayed at a site in the Vendee called St Hilaire de Riez Les Biches. We were with Keycamp, but it is a Eurocamp site too. We liked it - there are a lot of trees on the site, so you don't feel too crowded by the other vans, though they are pretty close. It was a quiet site too - one thing that had worried me before we went was the possibility of noise keeping me awake, but it was fine.

The pool is nice, and has a toddler pool, though they are not heated. It's a smallish site so the facilities aren't vast, but there's a bar, a pizzeria, kids club and a takeaway. We found it friendly, but the weather was not terribly reliable - in fact, it rained quite a lot, which is why we went further south, to the cote d'azur last year.

St Hilaire de Riez, Les Biches

retiredgoth - La Tranche, which is considered the bottom of the Vendee, more or less, is about 3 1/2 hours easy drive from St Malo. Never tried it from Calais, that would have been too far.

thank everyone for info - we've given up on la garangeoire, as we didn't realise the ferry wasn't priced in (D'OH!!!) which added a considerable amount on!! We found that Camping Bel, La Tranche is quite a bit cheaper (as it's a quieter site i guess) so we're going for a tent there for 9 nights - very exciting!!

think it'll suit us better anyway, i would've been worried my dh would be twitchy about noise on a large site...and the beach is right there apparently.

hopefully will book tonight - woohoo - first ever family holiday!!!